Sakshi Trust "RTI"

"Democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed." -- Right to Information Act 2005

In its simplest form the Right to Information Act is a legislation that allows the public to access information regarding government spending and policy. Article 19(1) (a) of the Indian Constitution guarantees the fundamental rights to free speech and expression. Like any other servant who is accountable to their employers the public servant is accountable to the people. Until recently we had no right to question our public servants. But the introduction of the Right to Information Act in the year 2005 has changed this.

The Indian RTI Act has been acknowledged as one of the most progressive in the world. Some of its key features are:

• Officers who don't respond within the stipulated 30 days are fined Rs. 250 per day.
• Leaving out some 18 government bodies, every branch, department, ministry, public sector enterprise, and even the armed forces, is bound to respond to request for information by citizens.
• Separate Information Commission for the enforcement of the law at both the state and central level.
• Low cost of information and exemption of fees for below the poverty line citizens.
• Requires public authorities to disclose some standard information voluntarily.

THE PHILOSOPHY: The basic concept behind RTI is that transparency and accountability is essential to the proper working of every public authority, with relevance to which the Act states:

• The right of any citizen of India to request access to information and the corresponding
• duty of Government to meet the request, except the exempted information (Sections 18/19)
• The duty of Government to pro-actively make available key information to all (Section 4).

Every citizen in India has the right to free speech and expression. However, the prerequisite for enjoying this right is knowledge and information. Therefore, if one must speak, then one must speak with information and knowledge. This makes the Right to Information a constitutional right, arising from the right to free speech and expression which includes the right to receive and collect information. An informed citizen is better able to participate in the process of nation building and is a better judge of leadership during an electoral process.