After strong protest from civil society organisations, the government has admitted that it is considering amending the Right to Information (rti) Act. It has, however, assured activists that a transparent and consultative process will be adopted before any action is taken, and the amendments will not be persevered with if activist groups are able to convince the government that they are either unnecessary or counterproductive. These assurances notwithstanding, it is...

Kheema Ram, a 40-year-old farmer from Rajasthan who exposed a number of corrupt practices through his more than 350 rti applications is against any amendments in the Act. Ram, hailing from Rajsamund district, travelled all the way to Delhi along with fellow villagers on Saturday to protest against the proposed amendments in the rti Act which may take out some categories of information from the Act's ambit. "The discussed amendments...

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday reiterated his government’s commitment to ensuring better implementation of the Right to Information Act and asked the officials to take “firm steps” to enforce compliance with the statutory provisions. Presiding over a review meeting on the rti Act at the State Secretariat here, Mr. Gehlot said a relatively better implementation of the law in Rajasthan had been appreciated all over the country. However,...

The Central Information Commission has ordered the IITs to disclose most details of candidates who sat the 2009 entrance examination, rejecting the institutes’ argument that revealing candidates’ names would be a breach of their privacy. India’s apex watchdog for the Right to Information Act has ordered the IITs to reveal the names, addresses, pin codes and marks of all students who appeared in the Joint Entrance Examination this year. In its November...

Several civil society organizations and citizens who believe that a section of government and bureaucracy should not be allowed to dilute the right to information (rti), staged a daylong protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today (November 14, 2009) against the attempts to dilute the historical Act. (See the press release below for details) The civil society organizations, led by the National Council for the Peoples’ Right to Information...