Tag: right to information

Right to Information

The Right to Information Act 2005 requires prompt responses to citizens’ requests for government information. This is an initiative of the Department of Personnel and Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Claims and Pensions to provide an RTI portal for citizens to quickly find information on the details of welfare agencies. magistrates, PIOs, etc. in addition to accessing RTI/disclosure related information posted on the web by various public authorities under Government of India as well as State Government.

It includes permissions –
I. check work, documents, records.

ii. notes, extracts or certified copies of documents
or recordings.

iii. certified material sampling.

iv. get information in the form of hard copies, discs,
disc, tape, video tape or anything else
electronic or print.

Purpose of the Right to Information Act:

The fundamental purpose of the Right to Information Act is to empower citizens, promote transparency and accountability in government operations, curb corruption, and make our democracy real. effective for the people. It goes without saying that a well-informed citizenry is better equipped to ensure the necessary vigilance over governance tools and to make government more accountable to those under control. . The law is a big step forward in providing information to the people about government activities.

The RTI Bill was passed by the Indian Parliament on June 15, 2005 and came into force on October 12, 2005. On average more than 4,800 RTI applications are filed each day. In the first ten years of the law’s entry into force, more than 17,500,000 applications were filed.
Although the right to information is not considered a fundamental right in the Constitution of India, it protects the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) and the right to life and individual liberties under Article 21 are guaranteed by the Constitution. Authorities under the RTI Act 2005 are known as public authorities. The Public Information Officer (PIO) or first appellate body in public agencies performs the quasi-judicial function of adjudicating petitions and appeals, respectively. This law was enacted to strengthen the fundamental right in the Indian constitution of “freedom of speech”. Since RTI is implied in the right to freedom of speech and expression under Section 19 of the Constitution of India, it is an implied fundamental right.

When it comes to RTI, there are watchdogs at many levels to ensure that the law is followed in spirit and in writing. The law adopts a “do or cancel” approach, in addition to setting out a mechanism for disseminating information. Every government organization must appoint a staff member as a Public Information Officer (PIO). When a department receives an RTI request, the PIO is responsible for providing the information to the requester within 30 days. Failure to do so may mean that the PIO may be fined. The longer a PIO causes an applicant to wait, the greater the penalty imposed on them. There have been cases where PIOs were asked to deduct an amount of thousands of rupees as a penalty. Each state has an information committee, consisting of a chief information officer and several information commissioners. Former judges, IAS, IPS officials with unverifiable backgrounds are appointed to these positions. Above them hierarchically are the Central Information Commission and below them are the first and second appeals agencies to ensure that applicants get the RTI information they have requested.

Right to Information as a tool to Fight against Corruption

Our ruling party has declared the battle against corruption to be a top priority. However, corruption is still widespread in the country, with numerous cases of political and bureaucratic corruption, public funds theft, fraudulent procurement practices, and judicial corruption. It is the abuse of authority and money by governments and individuals for personal gain, such as lobbying or diverting funds intended for public welfare into private sectors.

Corruption is a problem that, like a weed in a crop, threatens government transparency and citizen accountability. However, where there is a problem, there is also a solution: RTI.

Yes, Information is power but not by itself. Information, on the other hand, is an essential first step in the exercise of economic and political power. Changes in who can do what are brought about through opening up information channels.

In India, the government passed the landmark Right to Information Act in 2005 after a statewide movement driven by grassroots and civil society organizations. Since then, social activists, civil society organizations, and ordinary citizens have used the Act to effectively combat corruption and increase government transparency and accountability.

Right to Information laws give citizens the legal right to access information stored by their governments, bringing much-needed transparency to the government’s otherwise opaque operations. More than 80 countries have now passed such legislation, with the number expanding every year. The RTI Act of India is widely regarded as a robust and effective statute. Over the last six years, ordinary Indian residents have used the RTI to demand a wide range of information from their government.

The RTI Act of 2005 was enacted by the Government of India to provide transparency to an environment riddled with intrigue, secrecy, and corruption. This law has been used quite effectively by Indian citizens to bring about both large and little changes. The RTI Act has profoundly altered the power dynamic between the government and the governed, bringing together individuals who wield state authority in any form on the one hand, and millions of people who are impacted by the state’s decisions and operations on the other. No other law in India’s statute book allows citizens so much ability to question any public authority in the country in such a straightforward manner. And every citizen needs to take advantage of this power which is given to them by asking questions to their government by filing RTI requests, rather than assuming that they are answering us because it is their right to inquire.