GD and Essay Topic: All you need to know about Right To Information

The Right to Information Act, 2005 provides the Indian citizen with a system for obtaining information from public authorities. For every Indian citizen, RTI is a fundamental right.

By Akila Narayanan

This page was first published on October 12, 2020

Right to Information (RTI) is an Act of the Indian Parliament setting down the rules and procedures relating to the right to information for people. It superseded the 2002 Freedom of Information Act. According to the provisions of the RTI Act, any Indian citizen may request information from a "public authority" (a government entity or "state instrumentality") required to respond promptly or within thirty days. In case of involving the life and freedom of an applicant, the details must be submitted within 48 hours.

GD Topic: The Right To Information Act

The Act also mandates that each public body computerise its records for universal distribution and proactively publish those categories of information such that people need minimal recourse to formally request information. Parliament passed this legislation on June 15, 2005, and it came into full effect on October 12, 2005. More than 4,800 RTI applications are filed per day. More than 1,75,00,000 applications had been submitted in the first ten years after the Act's came into force. For every Indian citizen, RTI is a fundamental right.

• The Right to Information Act, 2005, provides an average Indian citizen with a system for obtaining information from public authorities. The Act imposes a duty on the part of the government to provide information to Indian people. It sets out a structure that would control this flow of information, including Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Federal and State Information Commissions. The Commissions pursuant to s.18 also have the power to hear people's complaints about the provision of information. Under this Act, a time limit is also set in which the authorities need to respond to such queries. In addition, it includes some provisions related to Right to Privacy of the person.
• Right to Information Act empowers the Indian people to get government information. Parliament passed the 'Access to Information' Bill, and was given President’s consent on June 15, 2005, turning the Bill into an Act. Except for Jammu and Kashmir, this law came into force on October 12, 2005.
• The principal object of this right is to make it easy for any conscious citizen to make accessible their desired information. If a department or agency refuses information then the Central Information Commission can lodge a complaint against them.
• It was granted the status of Fundamental Rights, incorporated under Article 19A of the Indian Constitution. Any citizen may obtain information about the government or institution’s function, position, mode of operation and other. All people are to carry out the information with the aid of the right, and to shift the working of the government towards open and more sensitive governance.
• This is a positive attempt to enhance government and official functioning and to bring about transparency. The RTI would be a revolutionary step in controlling the country's corruption and in regulating the bureaucracy among the officers occupied.
• It is important for office bearers to be accountable for posts for a healthy democracy. A common citizen has the right to know which plan the government has come up with for him. Is this proposal worth the effort? Is the strategy being properly implemented? Which was spent according to the budget? In a case like this, the right to know becomes very relevant in ensuring accountability and transparency.

Historical Background

• The RTI Act gained strength after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, granting everyone the right to search, obtain knowledge and ideas through any media and without regard to frontiers.
• The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that everyone shall have the right to freedom of speech, the right to discover and impart all sorts of knowledge and ideas. "Knowledge is the currency of democracy, and vital to the growth and creation of a healthy civil society”, says Thomas Jefferson.
• However, the Indian Parliament enacted the RTI Act with a view to setting out a realistic framework for people to access information as a matter of right.
• In the case of Mr. Kulwal v / s Jaipur Municipal Corporation, Evolution of the RTI Law began in 1986, by judgment of the Supreme Court, in which it held that the freedom of speech and expression provided for in Article 19 of the Constitution specifically implies the right to information, because without information the freedom of speech and expression cannot be completely exercised by the people.

Aim of RTI Act

• For inspiring the people
• Fostering openness and accountability
• Stop corruption and
• Increasing the engagement of citizens in democratic processes

Why Should a Country Adopt RTI Act

• Scandals and corruption
• Intoxicated and foreign advocacy
• The knowledge system and modernisation

Challenges of RTI Act

Different forms of information are obtained that have no public interest, and may often be used to manipulate the law and threaten the authorities. These include:

• Asking for voluminous and desperate details
• Achieving attention by RTI filing
• RTI filed as a vindictive instrument for threatening or manipulating public authorities
• The RTI cannot be practised because of the analphabetism and ignorance among the majority of the country’s population.
• Although the purpose of RTI is not to establish a grievance redress process, information commission notices also allow complaints to be remedied by public authorities.

Intention of RTI Act

• The RTI Act did not create a new agency to enforce the legislation. Instead, in each sector, it instructed and ordered officials to shift their attitude and obligation from one of secrecy to one of communication and transparency.
• The Information Commission was carefully and intentionally appointed to be the highest body in the country with the mandate to order any office in the country to provide information under the provisions of the Act.
• And it allowed the Commission to impose fines on any official who refused to obey the order.
• Right to knowledge was seen as the key to promoting participatory democracy and leading people-centered governance.
• Access to information will enable the poor and the poorer parts of society to demand and receive information about public policies and activities and thereby contribute to their welfare. It showed early success by revealing corruption at high levels, such as in the Commonwealth Games organisation, and allocating mobile broadband spectrum and coal blocks.
• Freedom of information opens government documents to public inspection, providing people with a critical tool to educate them of what the government is doing and how effective it is, thereby making the government more accountable.
• Improves public authority decision making by abolishing needless secrecy.

Purpose of RTI Act

• The RTI Act was designed to promote social justice, accountability and responsive government, but due to certain impediments generated by systemic failures, this act has not achieved its full objectives.
• As the Delhi High Court observed, abuse of the RTI Act has to be dealt with appropriately; otherwise the public will lose confidence and trust in this "sunshine rule".
• It is well understood that the right to information is necessary to enhance governance but not appropriate. Far more needs to be done to implement transparency in governance, including the security of whistleblowers, decentralisation of power and the integration of authority with transparency at levels.
• This law provides us with a priceless opportunity to redesign governance processes, especially at the grass roots level where there is maximum interface for the citizens.

About the Author

Akila Narayanan is a PGDM student from Thiagarajar School of Management, with a keen interest in Marketing and Finance. She is currently based in Madurai. She has done her graduation from Velammal College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai. She has been also awarded first prize by DM of Madurai for a social welfare project titled, “The Life Saving Block Detector”.

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