Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The present state of institutions in Kashmir exemplifies this maxim. It is conclusive, complete, and not very hard to comprehend. There is no error of judgment in this particular matter. Still, for all those who need more than first and second opinions, need tangible evidence, there is plenty at hand. The institutional disease here has cause, reasons and effects. Whether it is a financial institution, an educational institution or a health care institution – how is it that so much wrong has gone unnoticed over the years? It is very simple, no rocket science, as some people would think. Many institutions in Kashmir, despite being in the public domain, have enjoyed unbridled financial power, a power that has made it impossible to scrutinize their murky deals and wayward functioning. Every year millions of rupees, and it is public money, is spent on information dispersion. Unfortunately, some of the institutions have retained this power, this financial strength, and exercised this power to thwart any effort aimed at highlighting the deep-rooted institutional mess. As this financial power handle is abused, the institutions become inscrutable. Remove this financial weapon that the degenerate institutions employ to protect their interests, their wrongdoings and a whole lot of skeletons will drop out of the closet. It cannot happen though in the present state of affairs as it needs a robust and clean public information infrastructure. When the information system is also alleged to have holes, it just cannot happen. For argument’s sake, if institutions are deprived of just one financial power, which is all that is spent on information, and rather the same is routed through a clean information system, the institutions will have no choice but to perform and stop all wrongs. The institutions will become more transparent and exposed to public scrutiny. If it doesn’t happen, the institutions will continue to cover their tracks with the potent tool they have in their hands. There is no check and balance in place. The Right to Information was supposed to open the institutions to scrutiny. But it failed somewhere down the line, mostly because of institutional non-cooperation and shoddy implementation. There is no second opinion on this – that we either allow the institutions to collapse completely or make way to prevent further abuse of power.