-The Indian Express RTI Act needs to be protected against attempts to dilute it. RTI activists must be made less vulnerable In April, the government of India proposed amendments to the RTI Act, one of the most empowering pieces of legislation inherited from the UPA era. The most controversial amendment pertained to Rule 12. It would allow the withdrawal of an application in case of the applicant’s death, making the job of...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Is the RTI law in danger of losing its might? -Poulomi Banerjee
-Hindustan Times The RTI Act of 2005 made the government more accountable. But a new set of proposed rules may weaken the law and make it difficult and risky for people to access information In 2015, activist Lokesh Batra filed a Right To Information (RTI) application with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking details about the appointment of the next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). But the DoPT refused to...
More »Fact Check: Do the new draft RTI rules differ from the existing Rules of 2012? -Shyamlal Yadav
-The Indian Express Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has rejected the Congress allegations, saying the proposed Rules regarding the word limit and application fees remain the same as they were under the UPA government. On March 31, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal department for the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI), put on its web site a circular titled “Framing RTI Rules, 2017 in supersession of...
More »Budget 2017: Lowering Cash Limit for Political Donations Farcical, Say RTI Activists -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
-TheWire.in Many feel the move is pointless as lowering the disclosure limit requires an amendment to the Representation of Peoples Act, which remains unchanged. Several RTI activists have dismissed finance minister Arun Jaitley’s announcement that cash donations to political parties will now be capped at Rs 2000, down from the earlier limit of Rs 20,000. They have questioned the intent behind the decision – it is meant to increase transparency and accountability...
More »Stakeholders Need to Work Together to Improve RTI Implementation, Says Study -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
-TheWire.in A report from several civil society actors has found that the Right to Information Act is not functioning as it should be. New Delhi: Two organisations working in the field of right to information assessment and advocacy and a publishing house have come together to bring out ‘Tilting the Balance of Power: Adjudicating the RTI Act for the Oppressed and the Marginalised’, which is a detailed analysis of the orders of...
More »