The Wire: National: Thursday, 1St January 2026.
As 2025 drew to a close, we witnessed how crucial legislations were brought to Parliament in complete secrecy, without any pre-legislative transparency or public consultation.
From amendments to the RTI
Act through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act and delays in appointment
of information commissioners to questions over functioning of the Election
Commission and judicial corruption, in this episode of The Wire's Jaanne Bhi Do
Yaaro, Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri discuss how peoples’ right to
information fared in 2025.
As 2025 drew to a close, we witnessed how crucial legislations like the Viksit Bharat-G Ram G Act to replace MGNREGA and the SHANTI Act to allow private companies in the nuclear sector were brought to Parliament in complete secrecy, without any pre-legislative transparency or public consultation. These laws which will have grave implications on peoples’ lives across the country were passed at lightening speed.
In December, after repeated orders of the Supreme Court, the government finally appointed the Chief and eight Information Commissioners to the Central Information Commission. The CIC which had been functioning with just two information commissioners saw its backlog rise significantly leading to people having to wait for years to have their appeals/complaints heard.
The CIC will finally function at full strength after a period of nearly nine years – after December 2016. The condition is several state information commissions continues to be dire; the Jharkhand information commission remains defunct since 2020. We discuss the key findings of the report card of Information Commissions by Satark Nagrik Sangathan which shows how governments are systematically undermining the RTI Act by keeping posts of information commissioners vacant.
In November 2025, the government operationalised several provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act including Section 44(3) – which amends and fundamentally weakens the RTI Act. The amendment made to section 8(1)(j) of RTI Act seeks to exempt all personal information from disclosure and could block access to critical information needed for seeking accountability (eg. names of contractors or wilful loan defaulters). The amendment does away with the exceptions carved out within Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act wherein personal information could be denied only if it had no relationship to any public activity or public interest; or would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy.
In fact, in August 2025, even before the Data Protection Act was notified, it was invoked by the Delhi high court to deny information related to PM Modi’s degree which led to many questioning if this was why the RTI law was amended.
In 2025, in a series of press conferences, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged large-scale “vote chori” in elections, accusing the Election Commission of enabling voter fraud by allowing inflated, duplicate, bogus entries and targeted deletions in electoral rolls. The Election Commission’s response ranged from rejecting the contentions as baseless to demanding that the allegations be submitted on affidavit.
In the video, we discuss whether the ECI is evading accountability by withholding crucial information and its impact on public trust. The ECI has refused to publicly disclose searchable voter lists and CCTV footage from polling stations, which are essential for verifying irregularities, claiming that these will undermine the privacy of voters. In December 2024, the Election Commission and the Union government brought an amendment to Rule 93(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict public access to election-related records.
In 2025, the ECI initiated a nationwide Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across the country – requiring all 100 crore voters to undergo a verification, including furnishing documents regarding their identity, age and citizenship. We discuss how the decision to carry out the SIR was taken in complete secrecy, with no prior public information or consultation with people or political parties. Crucial documents which justify this mammoth verification of voter lists, are not being made public by the ECI.
The year started with the viral video of money burning at the residence of Justice Verma – a judge of the Delhi high court. It brought issues of judicial transparency and accountability in the national spotlight. The Supreme Court mandated that all judges place their asset declarations on the court’s website. We discuss the need for transparency to address corruption in the judiciary.
In 2025, the phenomenon of “No Data Available” continued unabated. From crucial information about the air quality in the country to GDP calculations – on several critical issues, either the government evaded accountability by claiming data was not available or there were serious questions about the quality of data put out by the government.
(This article went live on December thirty-first, two thousand twenty five, at forty-five minutes past five in the evening.)
As 2025 drew to a close, we witnessed how crucial legislations were brought to Parliament in complete secrecy, without any pre-legislative transparency or public consultation.
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| Click Here to Watch Video |
As 2025 drew to a close, we witnessed how crucial legislations like the Viksit Bharat-G Ram G Act to replace MGNREGA and the SHANTI Act to allow private companies in the nuclear sector were brought to Parliament in complete secrecy, without any pre-legislative transparency or public consultation. These laws which will have grave implications on peoples’ lives across the country were passed at lightening speed.
In December, after repeated orders of the Supreme Court, the government finally appointed the Chief and eight Information Commissioners to the Central Information Commission. The CIC which had been functioning with just two information commissioners saw its backlog rise significantly leading to people having to wait for years to have their appeals/complaints heard.
The CIC will finally function at full strength after a period of nearly nine years – after December 2016. The condition is several state information commissions continues to be dire; the Jharkhand information commission remains defunct since 2020. We discuss the key findings of the report card of Information Commissions by Satark Nagrik Sangathan which shows how governments are systematically undermining the RTI Act by keeping posts of information commissioners vacant.
In November 2025, the government operationalised several provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act including Section 44(3) – which amends and fundamentally weakens the RTI Act. The amendment made to section 8(1)(j) of RTI Act seeks to exempt all personal information from disclosure and could block access to critical information needed for seeking accountability (eg. names of contractors or wilful loan defaulters). The amendment does away with the exceptions carved out within Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act wherein personal information could be denied only if it had no relationship to any public activity or public interest; or would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy.
In fact, in August 2025, even before the Data Protection Act was notified, it was invoked by the Delhi high court to deny information related to PM Modi’s degree which led to many questioning if this was why the RTI law was amended.
In 2025, in a series of press conferences, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged large-scale “vote chori” in elections, accusing the Election Commission of enabling voter fraud by allowing inflated, duplicate, bogus entries and targeted deletions in electoral rolls. The Election Commission’s response ranged from rejecting the contentions as baseless to demanding that the allegations be submitted on affidavit.
In the video, we discuss whether the ECI is evading accountability by withholding crucial information and its impact on public trust. The ECI has refused to publicly disclose searchable voter lists and CCTV footage from polling stations, which are essential for verifying irregularities, claiming that these will undermine the privacy of voters. In December 2024, the Election Commission and the Union government brought an amendment to Rule 93(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict public access to election-related records.
In 2025, the ECI initiated a nationwide Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across the country – requiring all 100 crore voters to undergo a verification, including furnishing documents regarding their identity, age and citizenship. We discuss how the decision to carry out the SIR was taken in complete secrecy, with no prior public information or consultation with people or political parties. Crucial documents which justify this mammoth verification of voter lists, are not being made public by the ECI.
The year started with the viral video of money burning at the residence of Justice Verma – a judge of the Delhi high court. It brought issues of judicial transparency and accountability in the national spotlight. The Supreme Court mandated that all judges place their asset declarations on the court’s website. We discuss the need for transparency to address corruption in the judiciary.
In 2025, the phenomenon of “No Data Available” continued unabated. From crucial information about the air quality in the country to GDP calculations – on several critical issues, either the government evaded accountability by claiming data was not available or there were serious questions about the quality of data put out by the government.
(This article went live on December thirty-first, two thousand twenty five, at forty-five minutes past five in the evening.)
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