{"id":39618,"date":"2025-03-22T19:08:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T13:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=39618"},"modified":"2025-03-22T19:08:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T13:38:27","slug":"amnedment-rti-act-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-03-2025\/amnedment-rti-act-2005","title":{"rendered":"Concerns Raised over the Amendment into the RTI Act, 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Over 30 civil society organisations are urging the Union government <strong>to preserve the Right to Information Act, 2005.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Concern Raised:<\/strong> Organizations urge the government to avoid fully implementing <strong>changes to the RTI Act through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) of 2023.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act<\/strong> now includes a blanket prohibition on <strong>disclosing personal information, even if it serves the public interest.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Government\u2019s Position: <\/strong>The government defends the change, citing the Supreme Court\u2019s judgment on the<strong> Right to Privacy (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy case, 2017)<\/strong> as a fundamental right.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Concerns Raised by Activists:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The change makes it <strong>harder to access information <\/strong>vital for social audits and uncovering misuse of public funds or corruption.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>RTI requests have been <strong>critical in verifying government programs<\/strong> and ensuring accountability, e.g., checking food ration distribution.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The original RTI Act balanced privacy and transparency; they reject the argument that the changes align with the Supreme Court\u2019s privacy ruling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Aim: <\/strong>It was designed to promote transparency in the functioning of the government by giving citizens the right to access information from public authorities.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scope:<\/strong> The Act applies to public authorities, which include government departments, ministries, and organizations that are substantially funded by the government.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Information Accessible to the Public:<\/strong> Citizens have the right to request information from public authorities. This includes the right to access records, documents, and other information.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Exclusions:<\/strong> Information that may compromise national security, breach confidentiality, or harm the integrity of ongoing investigations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Timeframe for Response: <\/strong>Public authorities are required to respond to information requests within 30 days. In certain cases, this period can be extended to 45 days.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Penalties: <\/strong>The Act provides for penalties against officials who withhold information without reasonable cause or provide false information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of the Act<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Empowers Citizens: <\/strong>By accessing information from public authorities, promoting transparency and accountability in government.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Holds Government Accountable: <\/strong>Helps in holding public authorities accountable for their actions, preventing corruption.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RTI helped uncover misuse of funds in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Promotes Good Governance:<\/strong> It strengthens democratic processes by ensuring that the government operates transparently, fostering public trust.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Enables Social Audits:<\/strong> Activists and NGOs use RTI to perform social audits of government schemes and services.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RTI was used to check if food rations were correctly distributed under the Public Distribution System (PDS).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Access to Public Records: <\/strong>RTI requests have been used to obtain details of government contracts, exposing corruption or inefficiencies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strengthens Democracy: <\/strong>Provides a tool for citizens to actively participate in the decision-making process, enhancing democracy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Criticism of the Act<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Overburdening Public Authorities: <\/strong>It has led to an overload of information requests, putting a strain on public authorities and diverting attention from their primary duties.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Misuse of the Act: <\/strong>Some individuals or groups use RTI requests as a tool for harassment or to settle personal or political scores, leading to unnecessary administrative burdens.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Delay in Processing Requests:<\/strong> Despite the stipulated time frames for response, some public authorities struggle to adhere to these deadlines, causing frustration among information seekers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Capacity and Training Issues:<\/strong> Some public authorities lack the necessary infrastructure, manpower, and training to effectively implement the RTI Act.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Exemptions and Ambiguities:<\/strong> The Act&#8217;s provisions regarding exemptions are sometimes vaguely defined, this ambiguity can be exploited to withhold information that should ideally be in the public domain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The RTI Act has played a <strong>significant role in promoting transparency, reducing corruption, and empowering citizens<\/strong> to actively participate in the democratic process by holding government institutions accountable.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is a powerful tool for promoting good governance and ensuring that citizens have access to information that affects their lives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Parliament must codify clear definitions of what constitutes \u201cpersonal information\u201d and \u201cpublic interest\u201d.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Disclosure of personal information should be allowed if it serves a larger public good, such as exposing corruption, ensuring delivery of entitlements, or verifying misuse of public funds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Draft rules and amendments should be done with multi-stakeholder consultation, including RTI activists, data protection experts, and legal scholars.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/civil-society-organisations-call-on-govt-to-stop-gutting-of-rti-act\/article69358671.ece#:~:text=Credit%3A%20The%20Hindu-,Over%2030%20civil%20society%20organisations%20are%20urging%20the%20Union%20government,(March%2021%2C%202025).\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 30 civil society organisations are urging the Union government to preserve the Right to Information Act, 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39619,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39618\/revisions\/39619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}