The Right to Information Act (RTI) empowers citizens to seek answers from the government. With the help of this Act, citizens can pursue information on the government’s decisions, activities and policies. The Act was enacted in India 17-years ago in the wake of a strong demand from civil society during the UPA rule. Since then, the Act has helped to bring out a number of closely guarded information hidden in the cupboards of government. Many unrevealed truths have surfaced, forcing embarrassed governments to rectify mistakes. In this regard, the role of the RTI activists is important in that their efforts have created awareness on the basic rights of citizens. It is unsettling that some RTI activists were killed for their persistent efforts in revealing the dark truth.
But at present, it appears that the RTI Act is losing its sheen as a large number of pending queries are piling up every year. As per records, 3.15 lakh complaints are presently pending in information commission offices nationwide. Moreover, an information-seeker has to wait for a year or more to get the required replies. Though no official reason has been given for this inordinate delay, it is assumed that lack of trained manpower in information commission offices across the country may be one of the reasons behind it. It is perplexing why both the Central and state governments do not take initiatives to fill vacancies. Moreover, it is shocking that even after nearly two decades of enacting the law, the information commission does not exist in Tripura and Jharkhand. If the lackluster attitude towards the law does not change, RTI law will not be able to achieve it’s purpose.
Those who are not in favour of RTI Act often allege that the law delays the decision making process, along with burdening the administration with insignificant queries. But these allegations are nothing but a ploy to derail the process of making the government answerable to the very people who have elected them. A recent survey has found that only four per cent of queries were insignificant, while the rest had merit to be considered. Moreover, there is no evidence that RTIs delay or affect the decision making process of governments, no act can affect governance if it is truly for the welfare of the people.
Thus, the need of the hour is to strengthen the RTI Act which has achieved success due to large-scale participation of the people. Any effort to dilute the Act by showing apathy or deliberately delaying the process should be resisted at any cost. It should be remembered that in a republic, the government is always answerable to the people. So, the government should work on strengthening the law, rather than weakening it by amending the Act. In this regard, citizens should play the role of watchdog and vehemently oppose any move to water down the act as it is important in preserving the basic rights of citizens.