RTI: REVOLUTIONARY TOOL FOR DEMOCRACY

Abstract

The Right to information Act 2005 in India is one of the most advanced information legislation in the world. The Act has the unprecedented potential to transform governance and bring in accountability and transparency in government functioning.  RTI is an Act of the Parliament of India to provide for setting out the practical regime of the right to information for citizens and replaces the one-shot Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen of India may request information from a "public authority" (a body of Government or Instrumentality of State) which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act allows the citizen of India to access public information and thus to question the government and bureaucracy in many ways. RTI Act facilitates establishment of knowledgeable society by putting pressure on officials to ensure transparency and involvement of citizens in decision making. The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide spread and to proactively certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally. It is necessary that people should know about what is happening in their society. Access to information not only promotes openness, transparency and accountability in administration, but also facilities active participation of people in democratic governance process. The implementation of this Act would lead to weeding out corruption to large extent and promoting interface between government and citizens. Despite the right to information bill having received presidential approval seven months ago, citizens may have to wait some time, before they can exercise their right to access governmental files, as the concerned authorities are yet to set a timeframe for framing the rules.