Right to Information Act – Issues and challenges

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The Right to Information means that every citizen has the right to be informed and aware of what is going on in our country, to know about our government and it’s functioning. This right makes for an empowered and aware citizen who is enabled to raise questions and seek answers, for everything that the government is doing (or not doing).

In a democracy, as citizens, we all have certain rights. Every citizen has the right to express themselves in the manner as entitled to under our Constitution. A true democracy is based on the principles of transparency and accountability. A democracy works for the people and thus, the citizens have the right to know, what is being done for them and how it is being done.

The Right To Information (RTI) Act was enacted in 2005 with a view to have an informed and aware citizenry and to ensure that there is transparency in the way our government and its institutions operate, in the long term as well as its day to day affairs. The main rationale behind such legislation was to empower the people with a tool through which they could question and know about the activities that the government and its institutions undertake.

After all, the public has a right to know and the same has been laid down in the Indian Constitution as well. Every citizen contributes and pays to the government through multiple forms. The government is therefore answerable to the citizens in all forms. A citizen has therefore, every right to know how the money is being spent, on what it is being spent so on and so forth. RTI opens up the methods and procedures adopted by the government to the citizens.

It has been twelve years since the Right To Information has come into effect and it has had its share of ups and downs.

There is an argument that even though the RTI Act has come a long way in terms of opening up the methods and procedures of government institutions, some institutions are averse to the idea of opening up act and this limits the scope of promoting transparency and accountability in the functioning of institutions. Lack of awareness of such a law and how to use it effectively is also a major hurdle in the scenario of the right to information. However, given the journey of the enactment of the law related to disclosure of information and its usage and applicability, various developments raises a lot of hope that it could become a more potent and real tool to be used by the public. This requires some careful planning and comprehensive thinking and moreover, will, on the part of the institutions and the public to make the RTI Act more effective.

In 2016, the Centre for Law and Democracy and Access to Info Europe, came out with its ranking based on the quality of the Right to Information Laws prevailing in different countries across the world. India was placed at the 5th position out of 111 countries that have similar existing law.

The rankings were determined on the basis of the following parameters

S. No.	Section	Points
1	Right to Access	6
2	Scope	30
3	Requesting Procedures	30
4	Exceptions and Refusals	30
5	Appeals	30
6	Sanctions and Protections	8
7	Promotional Measures	16
	Total Score	150

Here are the top and bottom 10 countries

TOP 10BOTTOM 10

Top 10	Score	Bottom 10	Score
Mexico	136	Austria	33
Serbia	135	Liechtenstien	39
Sri Lanka	131	Philippines	46
Slovenia	129	Tajikistan	49
India	128	Iran	50
Albania	127	Jordan	53
Croatia	126	Germany	54
Liberia	124	Kazakhstan	57
El Salavador	122	Taiwan	58
Sierra Leone	122	Dominican Republic	59