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Right To Information

The Right to Information Act of 2005 is a fundamental right in India that empowers citizens to question government operations and promotes transparency and accountability. It aims to combat corruption and inform citizens about government activities, although challenges such as poor record-keeping and misuse of the Act hinder its effectiveness. The Act is essential for enhancing governance, but additional measures are needed to ensure its success and protect whistle-blowers.

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20 views2 pages

Right To Information

The Right to Information Act of 2005 is a fundamental right in India that empowers citizens to question government operations and promotes transparency and accountability. It aims to combat corruption and inform citizens about government activities, although challenges such as poor record-keeping and misuse of the Act hinder its effectiveness. The Act is essential for enhancing governance, but additional measures are needed to ensure its success and protect whistle-blowers.

Uploaded by

Apphorozein Lamin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Right To Information (Act 2005)

The Right to Information is a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constitution. In
1976, in the Raj Narain vs the State of Uttar Pradesh case, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to
information will be treated as a fundamental right under Article 19. The Supreme Court held that in
Indian democracy, people are the masters and they have right to know about the working of the
government. Thus, the government enacted the Right to Information Act in 2005 which provides
machinery for exercising fundamental right.

The Act is one of the most important acts which empowers ordinary citizens to question the
government and its working. This has been widely used by citizens and media to uncover corruption,
progress in government works, expenses- related information, etc.

All constitutional authorities, agencies, owned and controlled, also those organizations which are
substantially financed by the government comes under the purview of the Act. The Act also
mandates public authorities of union government or state government, to provide timely response to
the citizen’s request for information.

The primary goal of the Right to Information Act is to empower citizens, promotes openness and
accountability in government operations, combat corruption and making democracy truly function
for the people. It goes without saying that an informed citizen is better equipped to keep a required
track on governance instruments and hold the government responsible to the governed. The Act is a
significant step in informing citizens about the activities of the government.

Objectives

1. Empowering citizen to question the government.


2. The Act promotes transparency and accountability in the working of the government.
3. The Act also helps in containing corruption in the government and work for the people in a
better way.
4. The Act envisages building better-informed citizens who would keep necessary vigil about
the functioning of the government machinery.

Significance

1. The RTI act empowers the citizen to question the secrecy and abuse of power practiced in
governance.
2. It is through the information commissions at the central and state levels that access to such
information is provided.
3. RTI information can be regarded as a public good, for it is relevant to the interests of citizens
and is a crucial pillar for the functioning of a transparent and vibrant democracy.
4. The information obtained not only helps in making government accountable but also useful
for other purposes which will serve the overall interests of the society.
5. The applications seek information on a range of issues, from holding the government
accountable for the delivery of basic rights and entitlements to questioning the highest office
of the country.
6. Using the RTI Act, people have sought information that governments would not like to reveal
as it may exposes corruption, Human Rights Violations and wrongdoings by the state.
7. The access to information about policies, decisions and actions of the government that affect
the lives of citizens is an instrument to ensure accountability
8. The Supreme Court has, in several judgments, held that the RTI is a fundamental right
flowing from Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, which guarantee to citizens the freedom
of speech and expression and the right to life, respectively.

Challenges of RTI Act

1. One of the Major setbacks to the act is that poor record-keeping within the bureaucracy
results in missing files.
2. There is a lack of staffing to run the information commissions.
3. The supplementary laws like the Whistle-Blower’s Act are diluted, this reduces the effect of
RTI law.
4. Since the government proactively does not publish information in the public domain as
envisaged in the Act and this leads to an increase in the number of RTI application.
5. There have been reports of petty RTI applications and also the information obtained have
been used to blackmail the government authorities.

Conclusion
The Right to Information Act has not achieved its full objectives due to some impediments created
due to systematic failures. It was made to achieve social justice, transparency and to make an
accountable government. The RTI law provides the citizens with a priceless opportunity to redesign
the processes of governance, particularly at the grassroot level where the citizen’s interface is
maximum.

It is well organized hat the right to information is necessary, but not sufficient, to improve
governance. A lot more needs to be done to usher in accountability in governance, including
protection of whistle-blowers, decentralization of power and fusion of authority with accountability
at all levels.

As observed by Delhi High Court that misuse of the RTI Act has to be appropriately dealt with;
otherwise the public will lose faith and confidence in this “Sunshine Act.”

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