The Right to Information Act is in danger

Times of India: TOI Blog: Friday, 26 July 2024.

The Right to Information (RTI) Act is a law that helps people in India get information from the government. It’s like a tool that lets you ask questions about what the government is doing. But lately, this law isn’t working as well as it should.
Here’s an example: Recently, someone asked for information about the cheetah project in Madhya Pradesh. The government refused to give the information, saying it might hurt India’s relationship with other countries. This doesn’t make much sense and shows how the RTI Act is being misused.
Over the years, the government has made changes to the RTI Act that make it less powerful. For instance:

1. They changed how people who handle RTI requests are chosen.
2. Many states don’t have enough people to process RTI requests.
3. A lot of RTI requests are rejected without good reasons.
4. Sadly, over 100 people who used RTI to uncover important information have been killed.
5. Some government departments are now excused from answering RTI requests.
6. A new law about personal information makes it harder to get details about government officials.

All these changes mean that the RTI Act isn’t as strong as it used to be. It’s harder for people to get information from the government, which is not good for democracy. The RTI Act was meant to make the government more open and honest, but now it’s becoming less effective. This is a problem that needs to be fixed to keep our government accountable.