Vidhi Kanojia
The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India that sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to access information. The act is one of the most important acts that empowers ordinary citizens to question the government and its working. This has been widely used by citizens and media to uncover corruption, progress in government work, expense-related information, etc. The RTI Bill was passed by the Parliament of India on 15 June 2005 and came into force with effect from 12 October 2005. The primary goal of the Right to Information Act is to empower citizens, promote openness and accountability in government operations, combat corruption, and make our democracy truly function for the people.
Some of its uses are as follows:
– Empower citizens to question the government.
– It promotes transparency and accountability in the workings of the government.
– It helps in containing corruption in the government and works for the people in a better way.
– It aims to build better-informed citizens who would keep necessary vigil about the functioning of the government machinery
– It empowers the citizen to question the secrecy and abuse of power practiced in governance.
– The Supreme Court has, in several judgments, held that the RTI is a fundamental right flowing from Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees citizens the freedom of speech and expression and the right to life, respectively.
– Every year, around six million applications are filed under the RTI Act, making it the most extensively used sunshine legislation globally.
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