What do the Right to Information Act and the Information Commissioners mean for Indians?
The Act, which was passed in 2005, allows citizens of India to request information from a “public authority”, be it a body of the government. This means, every public authority has to keep a record of what it does so that it can be easily shared with people... within 30 days if and when it is asked for.
So, if I had to crunch it down to one single word, it'd be: transparency. That's what the Bill is worth.
If you've been following the news, you’d know why we're talking about it today. The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed in the Lok Sabha last week, followed by the Rajya Sabha on 25 July, amid a lot of protestation, from within as well as outside the Parliament.
Now, many people including the Opposition and former Information Commissioners and RTI activists are opposing the same, some are even calling it “Regret to Information Act” or “Death to Democracy” on social media. What is the controversy about? Tune in to The Big Story podcast for a deep dive into the amendments.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)