With More Than 26,000 RTI Requests Pending, Does India’s RTI Law Exist Only On Papers?

India Times: National: Sunday, January 20, 2019.

The Right To Information law is a powerful tool in the hands of a common man. The UPA government, led by the Indian National Congress party, were instrumental in passing the Right to Information (RTI) law in 2005.

The objective was to undo the culture of bureaucratic secrecy.

However, ever since the RTI law was passed, successive governments have wanted to suppress it somehow. Lately, public authorities associated with the central government have denied information to citizens who have filed an application under the RTI.

Presently, over 26,000 information requests lie pending before the commission, says an article in The Conversation.

After demonetisation, the country took a plunge in terms of cash circulation. Several people died too while standing in kilometre-long queues. When citizens filed RTI appeals with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about demonetisation, they were refused information. The queries ranged between who had been consulted, reasons for demonetisation and what was the cost incurred by scrapping notes. None of the queries ever received a response.

In 2017, the Indian Air Force denied an RTI request and refused to release vital information related to the pricing of 36 Rafale fighter jets, a deal between India and France. The matter is now a key corruption scandal.

In 2015, Neeraj Sharma, an IT professional from Delhi, sought details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s graduation degree from Delhi University. The information was blatantly denied. He also sought details of all the students who secured Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978, the year when PM Modi secured completed his graduation.

The Delhi University denied the information saying it was ‘private’ information and has little to do with public interest.

And these requests are just a few in the ever-rising mountain of queries.

When the RTI law was passed back in 2005, it was harbingered as a ground-breaking move to empower common people of the country. Though, over a period of time, conscious efforts have been made to dilute the tool.