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6 April 2017
Proposed revisions to the 2012 rules governing India’s Right to Information Act are drawing criticisms mixed with some praise. One provision under attack would mandate terminate requests in case of death of an applicant. Also raising eyebrows are provisions that would increase procedural hurdles for appeals and a clause that would prescribe fees for providing […]
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6 April 2017
By Venkatesh Nayak The author is Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi. The New RTI draft rules are inspired by a largely citizen-unfriendly and overtly bureaucratic approach. The dangerous inclusion of an amendment that seeks to allow the withdrawal and abatement of appeals on either a written request or the […]
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23 March 2017
A preliminary analysis prepared by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The Central Information Commission in India has published the Annual Report for 2015-16 regarding the implementation of The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). This Annual Report (AR) may be accessed on its website. 1) During the reporting year 2015-16 9.76 lakh RTI applications were said to have been received by […]
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23 March 2017
By Er Irfan Banka The author is chairman of the RTI foundation. This article appeared first in Kashmir Life. On March 20, 2017, the Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009 completes its eighth year of enactment. 20th of March 2017 is hence being celebrated as RTI Day by the stakeholders of RTI particularly the RTI […]
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7 July 2016
Frequently requested information must be disclosed to the public and “transparency audits” should be conducted by advisory committees, according to a new order from India’s Department of Personnel and Training. The order does not dictate the mode of disclosure, by another section of the order says departments may set up “Information and Facilitation Centres” (IFCs) […]
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6 June 2016
By Debaditvo Sinha The author is Senior Research Fellow with the Public Health and Environmental Justice Initiative at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. This article appeared June 3 on Scroll.in and is reprinted with permission. Original headline: “The Geospatial Information Bill will deal a body blow to environmental democracy in India.” The draft Geospatial Information Regulation […]
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18 May 2016
By Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri The writers are members of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information. Their article first appeared May 16 in The Indian Express with the subtitle, “MPs must not run down a law that promises a more informed citizenry.” The Right to Information (RTI) Act has undoubtedly been a […]
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28 April 2016
By Shailesh Ghandi This author is a former Indian information commissioner. This commentary was originally published in The Times of India. Recently, a newspaper reported that an information commissioner of the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission (TNSIC) had likened RTI applications to frivolous public interest litigation. TNSIC officials feel that of late, they have been […]
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13 April 2016
By Er Irfan Ali Banka The author was working as Junior Engineer (Civil) for the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir “but felt it necessary to resign on 29th of January, 2016, because of huge corruption in the departments.” I work as a Social/RTI Activist. I am Founder & Secretary, In-Minds Society (J&K) and also District Coordinator, […]
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24 March 2016
By Er Irfan Ali Banka The author was working as Junior Engineer (Civil) in J&K REW, Govt. of J&K “but felt it necessary to resign on 29th of January, 2016, because of huge corruption in the departments.” I work as a Social/RTI Activist. I am Founder & Secretary, In-Minds Society (J&K) and also District Coordinator, J&K […]
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23 March 2016
Representatives from five South Asia countries held a regional conference on right to information on March 16-17, stressing the need to encourage greater use of RTI laws, according to an article in The Daily Times and another in The Tribune. Delegates from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal met at a conference sponsored by […]
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16 March 2016
India’s Central Information Commission ruled March 13 that ministers are public authorities subject to the Right to Information Act and should take an oath of transparency. The commission gave the cabinet secretary and chief secretaries in the states two months to appoint public information officers for each minister’s office. Also, the CIC said each minister […]
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10 March 2016
The Indian agency that supervises right to information administration has circulated for discussion the RTI Act rules of the state of Uttar Pradesh, according to The Economic Times. RTI activists say that that the UP rules are worse than those of other states and worried that they might be considered as a model for national […]
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24 February 2016
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed three retired civil servants to the Central Information Commission. The three have “spent decades perfecting the art of secrecy,” according to a skeptical article in The Hindustan Times by Aloke Tikku. The appointments will bring a full complement of members to the commission for the first time 2005, […]
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22 December 2015
Former Indian Defense Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur is the government’s choice to be the next Chief Information Commissioner. Mathur’s selection is a departure from the convention of appointing the most senior Information Commissioner (IC) as the chief commissioner, noted news reports such as one in The Indian Express. It is the first time anyone besides […]
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16 December 2015
Indian right to information activists have written Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi urging him to fill the now vacant post of the Chief of the Central Information Commission. The latest Chief Information Commissioner, Vijai Sharma, retired on Dec. 2 after a six month tenure. “This is the second time this year that the post of […]
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1 December 2015
The Indian Central Information Commission and the state information commissions are proposing to amend the Right to Information Act to prevent vexatious and frivolous applications. The recommendation came from the National Federation of Information Commissions, a body headed by the chief of CIC, according to an article in the Economic Times. “We have had talks […]
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23 November 2015
By Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey Roy and Dey are social activists and members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan and the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information. This article first appeared in The Hindu and is reprinted with permission. The Right to Information (RTI) Act has completed 10 years of implementation. According to […]
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21 October 2015
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Oct. 16 said the right to information process should follow a “3-T” mantra of being timely, transparent and trouble-free. Speaking at the 10th annual Convention of Central Information Commission, Modi supported providing more information “proactively.” Modi said democracy will be strengthened the faster “we move towards transparency,” the stronger will be […]
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15 October 2015
Last week he said he couldn’t make it, but this week Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would attend a national conference commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2005 Right to Information Act. And that (see NDTV report) wasn’t the only controversy surrounding the annual RTI conference sponsored by the Central Information Commission. Some RTI activists are boycotting […]
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8 October 2015
By Venkatesh Nayak The author is Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) – the nodal department for implementing The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) in the Government of India has uploaded two important documents on its website. The DoPT has issued reasonably detailed […]
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27 August 2015
The Indian government has told the Supreme Court that political parties should not be covered by the Right to Information Act, as decreed by the Central Information Commission. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) submitted an affidavit saying the CIC erroneously ruled in June 2013 that political parties are public authorities under the RTI […]
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29 July 2015
By Manu Moudgil This article, reprinted with permission, first appeared July 20 in The Hoot, an independent initiative of the Media Foundation based in New Delhi. Another recent Hoot story, by Geeta Seshu, also addressed the issue and possible solutions. The Indian government recently announced plans to gather more statistics on the deaths of RTI activists. (See previous FreedomInfo.org […]
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29 July 2015
By Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri The writers are RTI activists and members of the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information, New Delhi. This article first appeared in The Deccan Herald July 27 and is reprinted with permission. Under the RTI Act, independent Information Commissions (ICs) have been set up at the Centre and […]
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16 July 2015
The Indian government is pressing agencies to proactively release more of the information repeatedly sought by requesters under the Right to Information Act. The government has asked all departments to do an analysis of information sought often by applicants and suo-motu make such details public, according to media reports such as an article in The New Indian […]
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9 July 2015
Indians filed more that 4.5 million right to information requests annually in recent years, according to a major nationwide study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The report digs deep into frequently incomplete data from national and state information commissions. CHRI makes 30 recommendations, mainly focused on the administration of the act and recordkeeping. In […]
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8 July 2015
The Indian Supreme Court July 6 asked all six national political parties to explain why they should not be covered by the Right to Information Act, as determined by the Central Information Commission, according to media reports such as one in The Hindu. The order by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu came following a plea by […]
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25 June 2015
Vijai Sharma, India’s new Chief Information Commissioner, says he plans mass hearings, consolidating cases and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to reduce the backlog of 40,000 pending cases. Sharma made his comments in an interview with Nidhi Sharma of The Economic Times published June 19. “Some experimentation will have to be done,” he said, “Some new […]
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25 June 2015
By Gaia von Hatzfeldt The author obtained her PhD in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, where she did research on anti-corruption social movements in India. Sharma, Prashant (2015). Democracy and Transparency in the Indian State: The making of the Right to Information Act. Routledge: Abingdon (225 pages). Access to information around the world […]
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17 June 2015
The new chairman of the Central Information Commission, Vijai Sharma, has said that fighting the backlog of cases and vexatious requests is his top priority, according to an article in The Hindu. “[What we need to check] is genuine applications getting crowded out by applications which some may prescribe as vexatious or frivolous. This is […]
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9 June 2015
The Modi government June 8 appointed Information Commissioner Vijai Singh as the Chief Information Commissioner, ending a nine-month leadership vacancy at the Central Information Commission. The appointments to CIC are for five years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Sharma, a who has been serving as an information commissioner since 2012, […]
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3 June 2015
India’s most senior incumbent information commissioner, Vijai Sharma, has been chosen to be the new Chief Information Commissioner, according to media reports. A formal announcement has not taken place, but Sharma’s apparent selection came at a meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had June 1 with the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok […]
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21 May 2015
By Venkatesh Nayak The author is Coordinator of the Access to Information Programme at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. This post first appeared May 15 in The Hoot. Last week, upon being requested by a section of the family of the leader of the Indian movement for independence, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, to make the […]
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12 May 2015
By Shailesh Ghandhi The author is a right to information activist and a former commissioner of the Indian Central Information Commission. This statement was issued May 11. The RTI Act has caught the imagination of people and the way it has spread is being appreciated and admired around the world. A great change has come […]
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7 May 2015
Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi has attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “blatant U-turn” on the issue of transparency, according to news reports such as one in the Economic Times and another in the Hindustan Times. She said May 6 in Parliament that Modi’s government is “deliberately” not filling the post of Chief Information […]
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2 April 2015
The rate of growth in the number of Right to Information Act requests filed in India is slowing, according to the preliminary findings by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). “So the question to ask is whether RTI fatigue is setting in or will the numbers go up considerably if all public authorities were to report their […]
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25 March 2015
The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) has complained about delays in the selection of a new chief information commissioner and the secrecy of the process. The post has been vacant for seven months since Aug. 22, 2014. Activists Aruna Roy, Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey and the Former CIC Wajahat Habibullah addressed a […]
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25 March 2015
The six-year old right to information law in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir is not being fully implemented, according to reports on the anniversary of the law. “Six years since the landmark legislation Right to Information Act was implemented in the state, the government itself has failed to adhere to the guidelines of […]
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17 March 2015
India’s Central Information Commission on March 16 said it can’t enforce its 2013 order that the six major political parties are subject to the Right to Information Act. A three commissioner panel concluded the CIC could not impose penalties or compensatory damages on the parties, or otherwise compel compliance with a decision it defended as still […]
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5 March 2015
Only about one quarter of Indian public authorities are posting online information required to be made public under the Right to Information Act, according to the Central Information Commission annual report (text not yet posted on CIC website). Of the 2,276 public authorities, 667 are complying with the mandatory suo-motu (Latin for “on its own […]
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5 February 2015
India’s national consumer commission has ruled that an dissatisfied right to information applicant may not seek recourse through the Consumer Protection Act, according to the ruling and an article in The Hindustan Times. Sanjay Kumar Mishra of Panchkula had filed a petition challenging the orders of a state RTI commission, claiming to be a consumer […]
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15 January 2015
The Indian Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has invited comment on the idea of letting requesters use postage stamps to pay for the costs of seeking information under the Right to Information Act. The department which administers the act also has set up a committee to discuss the proposal. Comments are due by Feb. […]
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15 January 2015
The Indian government is moving to choose a new Central Chief Information Commissioner, a post vacant for almost five months. A search committee created by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has received more than 200 responses to an advertisement. All seven serving information commissioners have applied, as have many current and former high-level […]
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8 January 2015
The Indian Central Information Commission has taken a preliminary step to deal with six political parties refusing to obey its order to comply with the right to information law, and a bigger decision is pending. The CIC on Jan. 4 told the Urban Development Ministry to make public all records of land and bungalows allotted […]
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8 January 2015
An information commissioner in the Indian state of Tamil Nado had RTI activist Siva Elango arrested after he refused to stand while appearing at a commission hearing. Elango was appealing a decision when chief information commissioner K.S. Sripathi insisted that he stand when replying to his questions. Elango replied that there was no rule preventing […]
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1 January 2015
By Vinita Deshmukh The author is a prize-winning journalist, a consulting editor of Moneylife, an RTI activist and convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. The article was published Dec. 31 in Moneylife. Strapline: Political parties defying summons by CIC, a headless information commission and much more meant a low year for this otherwise strong […]
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12 November 2014
The Indian Central Information Commission has scheduled a Nov. 21 hearing on non-compliance by six political parties withy a June 3, 2013, order bringing them under the purview of Right to Information Act. The commission has asked the parties to appear before it and produce all relevant documents. One such order was issued Feb. 7. […]
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30 October 2014
The recent decision by the Indian government to post online the replies to right to information requests is generating debate over whether requester names should be disclosed. The instruction from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in an Oct. 21 memorandum did not directly address the disclosure of names issue, but those familiar with […]
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23 October 2014
All Indian government agencies have been told to post online their replies to Right to Information Act requests by the end of the month. The ministry overseeing the administration of the Indian RTI Act on Oct. 21 announced a new website feature that will allow placement of replies on the RTI Online system. Agencies were […]
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16 October 2014
A comprehensive and scathing report on the Indian Right to Information documents extensive weaknesses in the system and makes major recommendations for reform. The 150-page examination provides a detailed picture of dysfunction, including “huge” backlogs, an ineffectual appeals process, lack of compliance with orders and penalty awards, and weak records management. The research provides many […]
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1 October 2014
The Madras High Court in India has reversed its ruling that justifications must be supplied for requests, saying that it had overlooked a contrary provision in the law. The Sept. 23 reversal deleted two paragraphs from its Sept. 17 ruling. (See previous Freedominfo.org report.) The court said: 2. In the said […]
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25 September 2014
The Madras High Court in India has ruled that applicants must give reasons for seeking information under the right to information act. The judgment was delivered by Justices N Paul Vasanthakumar and K Ravichandrababu while hearing a challenge to the Central Information Commission direction to the High Court to provide certain information, according to news articles […]
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16 September 2014
By Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri The writers are social activists working on issues of transparency and accountability in governance. This commentary first appeared Sept. 12 in Indian Express. Achhe din, meaning good days, are coming was the slogan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 Indian general election, coined by BJP’s Prime Ministerial […]
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4 September 2014
The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) has called for an end to the delay in appointing a new chief information commissioner. The new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has postponed a decision “ostensibly because of the deadlock over leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha,” a letter to Modi notes, going […]
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14 August 2014
India’s Central Information Commission (CIC) has supported the release of information about whistleblowers’ allegations, The decision came in a case in which Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for details of complaints against government servants received under the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informers (PIDPI) Resolution, also […]
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7 August 2014
The Water Resources Department in the Indian state of Kerala has ordered that documents and information related to inter-state water issues not be disclosed under the Right to Information Act, according to an article in the Deccan Chronicle and another in the Hindu. A July 22 departmental order cites Section 8 of the RTI Act. […]
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31 July 2014
A state information commissioner in Andhra Pradesh is pushing for officials to comply with the Right to Information Act and imposing fines. Commissioner P Vijaya Babu at a press conference July 28 said he has asked the chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh to require that officials respond to the applications, according to a report in […]
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19 July 2014
The Indian Central Information Commission has decided to give priority to senior citizens for the resolution of pending right to information cases. The decision made in June was recently reported by Economic Times, without many details. The CIC website does not elaborate. Cases of senior citizens — defined as those being 65 on the date […]
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7 July 2014
Tens of thousands of right to information appeals are pending in India, according to a comprehensive study published by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. More than 66,000 appeals and complaints cases were pending in the only six information commissions where data was available. The Central Information Commission had a total of 21,946 appeals and complaints […]
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27 June 2014
Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Information Commissioner G R Sufi has complained that the Legislative Assembly is not following the Right to Information Act, according to a report by a newspaper. The Assembnly has not created a website to make required proactive disclosures, according to a June 8 article in Greater Kashmir by Dr Raja Muzzafar […]
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20 June 2014
India’s Central Information Commission has ruled that the Right to Information Act applies to private schools. The CIC decided that RTI coverage is justified when private schools are governed by laws such as the Delhi Education Act that regulate the schools, including their salaries. The requester was a former school employee. The short decision, Ms. Sadhana Dixit Vs. Directorate […]
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13 June 2014
By Irfan Mehraj Mehraj is a staff writer for Authint Mail, where this article was published June 10. Faizan Hassan Khan is a young engineer whose search for truth has led him nowhere. For the last nine years, he has been fighting a lone battle against the University of Kashmir to know the circumstances that […]
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5 June 2014
By Venkatesh Nayak Nayak is Programme Coordinator of the Access to Information Programme at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has taken the progressive step of uploading concession agreements and progress reports about the Pubic Private Partnership projects (PPPs) under its jurisdiction through the Internet. The links to project […]
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16 May 2014
RTI the Movie: A movie, Angusam, with an RTI theme by a director using one name, Manukannan, has come out in India. One review says that “the seriousness of the issue gets diluted, what with the narration being jumpy and inconsistent, and the screenplay layered with romance, songs and sentiment.” A plot description says: Shiva […]
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16 May 2014
The “fragile” condition of India’s public sector banks requires urgent action, according to a new report, including an exemption from the right to information act. The 90-page report by a high-level committee includes numerous recommendations, such as lowering of the government’s holding in the several dozen banks to below 50 percent. The banks face a […]
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29 April 2014
By Venkatesh Nayak Nayak is Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. Last year when the Central Government threatened to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) to keep all political parties out of its ambit completely, many of you joined a nationwide signature campaigns to oppose the move. Thankfully, this […]
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12 February 2014
India’s Central Information Commission Feb. 7 asked the six national parties to explain what they have done to fulfill a June 2013 CIC for them to comply with the Right to Information Act. The Commission asked the parties to provide details of their actions within four weeks, according to media reports such as one in […]
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18 December 2013
A committee of the Indian Parliament Dec. 17 recommended that political parties be exempted from the Right to Information Act. One member dissented as the six major political parties followed through on their plans to overturn the June ruling of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that political parties are covered by the RTI act as “public […]
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14 October 2013
The eighth anniversary of India’s Right to Information Act was observed with a mixture of frustration and celebration. Unquestionably, the 2005 sunshine law is being used, with an estimated 4 million people using the Act during 2011-12, the latest year for which all-India data is available, according to a report by the Commonwealth Human Rights […]
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8 October 2013
The Indian Supreme Court ruled Oct. 3 in case that may have implications for which nongovernmental organizations are “substantially financed’ by public funds and are thus covered by the Right to Information Act, Although analysts are just beginning to sort through the ruling, there are indications it might reduce coverage of the RTI Act and […]
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16 September 2013
An Indian High Court Sept. 15 voided the appointment of four information commissioners in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Chief Justice Kalyan Jyothi Sen Gupta and Justice K.C. Bhanu ruled in a case filed by civil society activists K. Padmanabhaiah, Rao, V.B.J. Chelikani and N. Padmanabha Reddy. The petitioners challenged the appointment Feb. 6 […]
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5 September 2013
The Indian Supreme Court Sept. 3 retracted most of its controversial ruling seeking to dictate the qualifications for membership on information commissions. The court had ruled that only retired judges or those having legal training could be appointed as information commissioners at the Central Information Commission and at the state level. Justices A.K. Patnaik and […]
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5 September 2013
Legislation to exempt the political parties from coverage under the Indian Right to Information Act on Sept. 5 referred to a parliamentary standing committee for further consideration. “The government has decided that there should be more discussion on this Bill. We will bring this Bill in Parliament in the Winter Session,” said V Narayanasamy, […]
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27 August 2013
A committee of the Indian Parliament will review proposed amendments to exempt political parties from the Right to Information Act. Getting committee consideration was a key demand of opponents of the bill, which is supported by all the major parties. “I have written to Speaker Lok Sabha (Meira Kumar) to refer the RTI Bill to […]
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27 August 2013
India on Aug. 21 made possible the online filing of right to information requests in applications in all central ministries and departments. Previously the rtionline.gov.in portal was available only for 40 ministries, departments and commissions. The government launched the portal earlier this year. “The portal will now be open to entertain questions under the RTI Act […]
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13 August 2013
Legislation was introduced Aug. 12 in the Indian lower house of parliament (Lok Sabha) by the United Progressive Alliance to exempt political parties from the Right to Information Act. The bill would a June 3, 2013, order of the Central Information Commission deeming India’s six national political parties to be “public authorities” under the RTI […]
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2 August 2013
The Indian Cabinet Aug. 1 approved proposed amendments to the Right to Information Act to nullify an order of the Central Information Commission making the six national political parties subject to the RTI law. The draft amendments are expected to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning on Aug. 5. The consensus among […]
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31 July 2013
By Raja Muzaffar Bhat The author is an RTI / Social activist and the founder of J&K RTI movement. Reach him at muzaffar.rti@gmail.com. This article was originally published July 30 in Greater Kashmir. Background From the last nearly eight years I have been drafting applications under Right to Information Act (RTI) to seek information from different […]
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29 July 2013
A special Indian committee constituted by the government has recommended that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should be covered by the Right to Information Act if it wants to field the “Indian” cricket team. Retired Justice Mukul Mudgal, the chairman of a committee constituted to draft the Sports Development Bill 2013, […]
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26 July 2013
A court order caused the Indian Central Information Commission to cancel a July 25 hearing on whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India should be declared a public authority subject to the Right to Information Act. The Madras High Court issued the order, according to a report by NDTV and another by ESPN. […]
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24 July 2013
A group of eminent citizens has objected to plans by the six major political parties to pass legislation exempting themselves from the Right to Information Act. A joint letter noted that the parties have not gone to court to challenge the June order of the Central Information Commission, but instead are making plans for a […]
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24 July 2013
Indian RTI activist Rajan Ghate on July 22 ended his six day hunger strike following assurances from Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar over the appointment of state information commissioners. Ghate started his strike to demand that the state government appoint a Chief Information Commissioner as well as State Information Commissioners, posts unfilled for more than […]
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19 July 2013
An Indian right to information activist, Rajan Ghate, began a hunger strike July 16 to protest the failure to appoint a chief information commissioner and other commissioners in the state of Goa. Ghate received support July 18 from Vivek Velankar, a Maharashtra RTI activist, who visited him at Azad Maidan, according to an article in […]
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16 July 2013
July 15 was the deadline for six Indian political parties to appoint information officers and begin complying with the right to information, but they have not, according to Indian newspapers. The Central Information Commissioner on June 3 gave the parties six-weeks to act, but since then most of the parties have supported the idea of legislation to […]
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12 July 2013
The Indian Sports Ministry has launched a new effort to bring the Indian cricket board (BCCI) under the Right to Information Act. The ministry’s new draft National Sports Bill says only those federations coming under RTI can represent India in international competitions. A panel headed by retired judge Mukul Mudgal drafted the bill. The BCCI, […]
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10 July 2013
Instead of filing a court appeal, the Indian government is continuing to consider at a legislative way to overturn a June 3 Central Information Commission ruling making political parties subject to the right to information law, Indian papers continue to report. “Highly-placed sources in the Law Ministry today said that the CIC order would not be challenged by […]
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10 July 2013
The Indian Central Information Commission has held that the Constitution prohibits releasing to a death row convict the reasons for denial of his mercy request. A.G. Perarivalan, a death row convict in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, requested the advice tendered by the Council of Ministers to the president, according to an article in […]
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1 July 2013
The leading political parties of India reportedly have agreed to support an amendment that would exempt them from coverage under the right to information law. The political parties appear unified in their desire to overturn a controversial early June ruling by the Central Information Commission bringing them under the purview of the RTI Act. (See […]
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7 June 2013
Most Indian political parties have reacted negatively to the Central Information Commission ruling bringing them under the right to information law. Expecting an appeal, one of the two plaintiffs, the Association for Democratic Reforms, June 5 filed in the Delhi High Court to preempt any stay of the CIC order without an opportunity to be […]
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3 June 2013
India’s Central Information Commission June 3 ruled that political parties are covered by the Right to Information law. The Commission in a 54-page decision said the six national parties receive substantial indirect funding from the central government and perform public functions, thus making them public authorities under the law. Unless overturned by a court, the […]
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16 May 2013
The Indian government has invited “write ups” describing best practices on implementation of Right to Information Act, with prize money. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said it will publish a compendium of best practices on the RTI being adopted by a government department or public authority. “The best 20 write-ups would be selected […]
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10 May 2013
The Indian government’s recent guidelines on proactive disclosure are diluted, right to information activists said May 7. Members of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) including Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey and Venkatesh Nayak said that the government had overlooked other recommendations from the government-sponsored task force that studied the issue. Not included were […]
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3 May 2013
The Indian government is close to choosing who will conduct a major review of the fight to information law. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has shortlisted 16 organizations for the “360 degree study,” according to a report, with the names, on the website of the RTI Foundation of India. The selected organizations have […]
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26 April 2013
The Indian government has issued guidelines for the proactive disclosure of information, but missed a few key items, according to a leading Indian advocacy group. The guidelines were prepared the Department of Personnel and Training with advice from a task force. The goal was to enhance implementation of the proactive disclosure obligations under Section 4 of […]
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21 April 2013
The chief information commissioner of the Indian state of Maharashtra has ordered the disclosure of the names of prisoners awaiting trial, so-called “undertrials,” who have served half or more of the maximum prison term specified for the charges they face. State chief information commissioner (CIC) Ratnakar Gaikwad directed the preparation of such a list under […]
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19 April 2013
By Shailesh Gandhi Gandhi is a former commissioner at the central information commission. This article is reprinted with permission from GovernanceNow, where it was first run on April 17. “GovernanceNow is a multi-media initiative for participatory reportage and analyses related to governance of all institutions and processes that are vital to public life in India.” […]
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17 April 2013
The Indian Supreme Court on April 16 stayed a controversial decision ordering that retired or sitting judges be appointed to lead the Central Information Commission and state commissions. The order by Justices A. K. Patnaik and Arjan K. Sikri also stayed a directive from the Sept. 13, 2012, decision that would have required commissions to […]
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12 April 2013
A key Indian agency has opened a website for the submission of right to information requests and fees. The portal — http://www.rtionline.gov.in/ — has been created by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the agency which leads on the administration of the RTI law. The portal is not for use in filing requests for […]
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7 March 2013
Right to information laws “will accomplish little” in poor countries, according to the author of new World Bank study, “unless concerted efforts are made to address the broader enabling environment, and appropriate capacity building strategies are devised.” The report by Anupama Dokeniya is based on individual research studies of implementation in eight countries: Albania, […]
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18 February 2013
Women in India are not using the Right to Information Act as much as they should, according to persons quoted in an article on the subject by Partha Sarathi Biswas in the Indian Express. One indicator cited is the low registration in training classes sponsored by Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHDA). Former Central […]
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4 February 2013
The high court of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has ordered the government to seek applications in order to fill the 10 vacant posts of the State Information Commission, according to articles in the Daily Pioneer and the Jagran Post. Most of the positions have been vacant since August of 2010, resulting in a […]
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1 February 2013
The Indian Supreme Court on Jan. 18 rejected as “frivolous” a petition from the Karnataka information commissioner challenging a Karnataka High Court order that overturning the commissioner’s decision, according to an article in The Deccan Herald. The order has “serious implications” for the RTI Act, wrote Shailesh Gandhi, who served as Central Information Commissioner from […]
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14 December 2012
India’s Central Information Commission has ruled that the Office of the Attorney is not a public authority under Right to Information Act. The CIC order of Dec. 10 said the Attorney General’s position is unique because “he is standalone counsel of the Government of India.” “He renders legal advice to the Government of India which […]
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6 December 2012
The Times of India asked the office of the prime minister to disclose the basis for PM Manmohan Singh’s October criticisms of the Right to Information Act, but has been told there are no such records, according to an article in the Times. Singh expressed concern over frivolous and vexatious RTI applications, infringement of personal […]
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26 November 2012
The Indian Supreme Court on Nov. 20 agreed to hear the government’s request that it review its Sept. 13 decision that among other things would require that information commissions be composed of retired judges. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) In agreeing to the review, justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar, “made it clear that its verdict […]
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6 November 2012
India’s chief information commissioner, Satyendra Mishra, has ruled that even an agency exempt from the right to information law may not withhold information related to corruption by public officials or human rights violations. In his Nov. 2 order, Mishra mandated the Central Bureau of Information to provide requested information, subject to RTI Act exemptions, according […]
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2 November 2012
The Indian Cabinet Nov. 1 pulled back from a six-year-old proposal to dilute the Right to Information Act. The action was a relief to activists. The main effect of the changes, planned back in 2006, would have been to restrict access to “file notings” – documents in which officials make comments about proposed policies. Withdrawing […]
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29 October 2012
By Osama Manzar Osama Manzar is founder-director of Digital Empowerment Foundation and chairman of the Manthan Award. He is a member of the working group for Internet proliferation and governance, ministry of communications and information technology. Follow him on Twitter @osamamanzar. There is only one way India can become a leading country in the 21st […]
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15 October 2012
Indian right to information activists have roundly condemned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent criticisms of the RTI law, but one major media outlet reports that the government is preparing amendments to change the law to prevent alleged misuse. “A senior bureaucrat” told The Times of India Oct 13 that amendments are in the works. “After […]
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12 October 2012
The Indian government has appealed a controversial Supreme Court ruling that that has roiled Indian information commissions by mandating more involvement of trained judges in the process. The announcement came Oct. 11, preceding an Oct. 12 speech by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the seventh anniversary of the RTI act at seventh Convention of Central […]
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11 October 2012
The Central Information Commission has ordered the Delhi assembly to provide more information about its proceedings. Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit directed the assembly secretariat to publish laws that pass on its website in Hindi and English and to consider providing live webcasts of assembly proceedings, according to reports in the Times of India and the Hindustan […]
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1 October 2012
More than a quarter of India’s 28 Information Commissions have halted work in the aftermath of the top court’s recent ruling that retired judges must be on commission panels, according to a survey by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The Central Information Commission continues to hear cases as before, CHRI said. “However the State Information […]
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14 September 2012
The Supreme Court of India has ordered that all Chief Information Commissioners must be retired judges and that each case must be heard by a two-member bench, with one judicial member and one non-judicial member. The Central Information Commission (CIC), the final appellate authority for RTI Act, suspended hearings on Sept. 14, held an urgent […]
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7 September 2012
The Jammu and Kashmir government in India on Aug. 30 passed new rules that critics say undercut the state right to information act. One main effect will be to reduce the information commission’s ability to require information from government departments, according to an article by Riyaz Wani in Tehelka. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said this […]
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31 August 2012
The Indian government has decided to promote the Right to Information Act to school children. A message will be displayed inside the back cover of some textbooks, according to direction from the National Council of Education, Research and Training. An estimated 10 million children will read: “The basic aim of the RTI Act is to […]
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13 August 2012
The Indian government has placed a limit of 500 words on the length of applications under the Right to Information Act and has established a new form for making appeals to the Central Information Commission. The new rule, issued July 31 by the Department of Personnel and Training, also requires that appellants or their representative […]
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8 August 2012
RTI activist and National Advisory Council (NAC) member Aruna Roy has written to the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, to protest proposed amendments to the RTI law. The state government in January proposed that applications being limited to a single subject and be less that 150 words. Alos applicants inspecting documents […]
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3 August 2012
The government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Cabinet voted on July 31 to exclude the anticorruption agency Lokayukta from the scope of the Right to Information Act, according to Indian activists and media reports. “This is one of the many attacks being launched against the transparency regime by the very system which the […]
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6 July 2012
The Indian Right to Information Act “is a galvanizing force that has acquired a momentum that none of us saw coming, and which is going to be impossible to stop,” according to Aruna Roy, an instrumental force behind the law’s passage, who also outlined problems facing the law in a newspaper interview. “What we are […]
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6 July 2012
By Shonali Ghosal Ghosal is a correspondent with Tehelka where this article first appeared. Last month, on 9 June, Ratnakar Gaikwad, former chief secretary, Maharashtra, was sworn in as the state’s Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). Curiously, his appointment came just over a week after his retirement as chief secretary. This, after the post of CIC […]
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2 July 2012
Shailesh Ghandhi, who will retire June 6 as an Indian Information Commissioner, is warning of threats facing the right to information law. In an interview with CNN IBN, Gandhi said, “I believe that so far the RTI Act has achieved far more than expected but there are serious threats most of us are not conscious […]
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29 June 2012
India’s Central Information Commission has ruled that Cabinet documents should be disclosed after a bill had been offered in Parliament and that requesters do not need to wait until after Parliament acts. The Commission ordered the Department of Atomic Energy to produce the Cabinet note, papers and file notings relating to the Nuclear Safety Regulatory […]
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21 June 2012
Donations made by the Indian president using public funds are covered by the Indian right to information law, the Delhi High Court held May 14. The court directed the President’s Secretariat to provide the information, rejecting objections that it would impinge on the president’s privacy. The court also ordered that the donations information be published online. […]
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1 June 2012
Indian Sports Minister Ajay Maken has taken his campaign to bring the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) under the purview of the Right to Information Act to the Central Information Commission, according to media reports. “We have appealed to the CIC,” he told reporters May 31, according to The Times of India and The Hindu. It is not […]
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21 May 2012
The Indian government has requested proposals to establish a call center and web portal to allow citizens to make right to information requests by telephone and online. The Department of Personnel and Training May 14 sought requests from IT firms and call centers, according to media reports such as one in the Hindustan Times. The […]
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10 May 2012
Most Indian state information commissioners are retired civil servants and many posts are vacant, according to fact-filled critical report by the Access to Information Programme of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, based in New Delhi. Also, less than half of the commissions have put some or all of their decisions online and their websites are […]
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27 April 2012
India’s Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has written to the Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia, to object to his recent comments critical of the right to information law. The chief justice was quoted as saying the law was “good” but was being misused to ask irrelevant and intrusive questions. In his reply, Gandhi said: […]
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27 April 2012
An Indian State Information Commission April 24 ruled that the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited is a public authority under the 2009 Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act. The bank was created by legislative act, is majority-owned by the government, has three government-appointed directors, and carries out instructions from the government, according to the […]
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12 March 2012
India has made it easier for Indian citizens living abroad to seek online information from the government under the Right to Information Act. The banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India, has allowed sale of electronic postal orders to Indian citizens living abroad through their credit and debit cards. “The facility will be used only […]
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9 March 2012
A controversial bill in India to ease regulation on biotechnology products includes an exemption from the right to information law. Debate over the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill (BRAI) primarily concerns issues such as the safety of genetically modified food crops, the proposed RTI exemption also is drawing opposition, including from the National Campaign […]
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2 March 2012
Three new information commissioners were sworn in on Feb. 28 in New Delhi. Former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Rajiv Mathur is one of the new commissioners. Also added were the former environment secretary Vijai Sharma, recently working as an expert member at the National Green Tribunal and retired Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director Basant […]
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23 February 2012
India’s Central Information Commission has ruled that the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) had falls under the Right to Information Act, using the decision to underscore its position that other public-private partnerships are also covered, a contentious issue. Commissioner Shailesh Ghandi, who wrote the opinion, directed the chairman of PHFI to appoint a Public […]
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22 February 2012
A proposed Right to Information law exemption in a new Indian nuclear safety bill appears to be faring poorly in Parliament. A committee looking into the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority bill is likely to propose dropping the RTI provision, according to reports in The Hindustan Times and India Today. The government-backed bill would create a […]
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17 February 2012
The Indian Central Information Commission has told the Ministry of Environment & Forests to put more information on its website. The Jan. 18 decision by Commissioner Sailesh Gandhi resulted from a complaint brought by Shibani Ghosh of The Access Initiative India Coalition (TAI India) arguing that certain categories of information should be available on the […]
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16 February 2012
By Chiranjibi Kafle The writer is Head, Department of English, RR Campus, Kathmandu. This article was originally published in Republica and is reprinted with permission. More than 90 countries in the world today have introduced Right to Information (RTI) legislations to safeguard people´s access to public information. But the implementation part has not been smooth. […]
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10 February 2012
The appointment of eight information commissioners in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has sparked objections that they are unqualified. Four of the announced commissioners are politicians in the ruling Congress party. The others include three retired or current civil servants and a senior journalist with party ties, according to media summaries. One media report, in India […]
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6 February 2012
Some Indian states are making it harder for applicants to use the Right to Information law, according to a series of recent news reports. To the distress of RTI activists, states are: – imposing higher fees, – requiring statements of justification for requests, – asking that photographs accompany applications, and – making appeals administratively slower. […]
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3 February 2012
The government of India has proposed to amend the Right to Information Act to exclude from coverage any nuclear safety agencies created in the future. The government introduced the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill (NSRA Bill) in September 2011, but its RTI impact has just been highlighted by RTI activists. The bill seeks to add […]
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19 January 2012
The Indian Central Information Commission has started making public on its website a list of pending cases. The new feature, at the top of left column, began Jan. 9 and will be updated monthly. Shailesh Gandhi, one of the five central information commissioners, said this will “reassure citizens that there is fairness in taking up […]
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22 December 2011
The Indian Sports Ministry has asserted that the right to information law covers Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), according to a Times of India report. The ministry submitted a seven-page statement Dec. 16 to the Central Information Commission, saying that the cricket board receives “substantial indirect funding” from the government in the […]
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20 December 2011
By Shonali Ghosal Ghosal is a correspondent with Tehelka magazine, based in New Delhi, which published this article in its Dec. 24 edition. Following is an interview with Shailesh Gandhi, a Central Information Commissioner. (Reprinted with permission.) The mere suggestion of any amendment to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, sends civil society into […]
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5 December 2011
The U.S. government Dec. 5 unveiled “open source code” designed to help governments manage data and ultimately create more open government platforms around the world. The development grew from an U.S.-India collaboration and a next step, according to the White House blog post, will be an Indian announcement concerning software for an Open Government Platform […]
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18 October 2011
A top Indian minister has denied that the government wants to rewrite the right to information law, apparently seeking to quell a firestorm of criticisms precipitated by the prime minister’s call for a “critical look” at the RTI Act. Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid Oct. 16 said there is no proposal to “relook” at the […]
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14 October 2011
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Oct. 14 called for a “critical look” at the six-year-old Right to Information Act. He expressed concern about a “flood” of requests, about disclosure inhibiting the deliberations of government officials, and about the coverage of private-public partnerships. Singh’s comments before the annual convention of Information Commissioners were quickly criticized as […]
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12 October 2011
The Indian Central Information Commission has adopted a potential deterrent to attacks on users of the right to information law. The CIC announced it will react to assaults on RTI activists by pressing government agencies to promptly release all the requested materials. The Commission also said it will keep track of investigations into attacks. Estimates […]
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12 September 2011
An Indian court has upheld with the government’s decision to exempt the Central Bureau of Investigation, a security and intelligence agency, from coverage under the right to information law. The Madras high court Sept. 9 became the first in the country to rule on one of several legal challenges to the decision, according to media […]
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2 September 2011
The Asian Centre for Human Rights has issued a report, “RTI activists: sitting ducks of India,” stated that from January 2010 to August 2011, at least 12 right to information activists including have been murdered and recommending an amendment to the RTI Act. “RTI activists are the most vulnerable human rights defenders (HRDs) of India. […]
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31 August 2011
The Indian Cabinet Aug. 30 rejected a proposal to regulate national sports federations that included a provision to bring them under the right to information law. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) The disapproval was overwhelming according to news reports, but the sports minister later vowed to try again. The sports minister said any revised draft legislation […]
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15 August 2011
India’s Sports Minister Ajay Maken has proposed that sports federations be subject to the right to information law, according to media reports such as one in ndtv.com He has proposed a variety of procedural reforms, including the creation of a 23-member advisory council. Among these proposals is a proposal that all sports federations, including the […]
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10 August 2011
The Indian Supreme Court Aug. 8 said students had the right to access their evaluated answer sheets under the Right to Information Act. In its decision, the court upheld a 2009 Calcutta high court that the materials are not exempt from the transaprency law and must disclose the reviewed tests. The case developed after a […]
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29 July 2011
Indian right to information activists are expressing dissatisfaction with an internal government legal opinion that would exempt Public Private Partnership Projects (PPPs) from the right to information law. The Central Information Commission has decided to seek Prime Minister’s Manmohan Singh’s intervention,according to The Hindustani Times, which broke the story. “We will be writing to the […]
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27 July 2011
By Venkatesh Nayak Nayak is Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative We are all aware of the practice of bureaucrats who classify files, records and various kinds of electronic information as ‘top secret’, ‘secret’ and ‘confidential’. However the rules governing such classification are themselves secret in India. These instructions are contained in […]
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21 July 2011
The United States and India July 19 announced plans to jointly develop “open source” platforms for other governments to use to post government data. The software will be available by the first quarter of 2011, according to one paragraph in a fact sheet on of bilateral science and technology understandings issued while U.S. Secretary of […]
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15 July 2011
The United States and India on July 19 in India will unveil plans to help other countries use technology to improve access to government information. The joint effort will focus primarily on “harnessing technology” to enhance openness efforts, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra told FreedomInfo.org, saving details for the announcement next week. The bilateral effort was announced last […]
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12 July 2011
By Toby McIntosh On the eve of the kick-off event for the Open Government Partnership, India dropped out, but the show went on, with enthusiastic pro-transparency speeches at a day-long event at the U.S. State Department in Washington. The unexpected pull-out by a country with an international reputation for its strong right to information law […]
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8 July 2011
The Indian Central Information Commission has crossed swords with the government over its exemption of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Right to Information Act as the matter heads toward a likely conclusion in the courts. The Cabinet action is “without sanction of the law” and “not in consonance with the letter or […]
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17 June 2011
The Indian Cabinet June 9 decided to exempt the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Right to Information Act, according to news reports, but official confirmation has not been forthcoming. The exemption was requested by the CBI, arguing that its inclusion under the RTI made it difficult to share information and obtain information,” according […]
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27 May 2011
The Delhi High Court May 22 stayed a Central Information Commission order that would have allowed Indians to seek information to use Right to Information Act to obtain court records. The commission ruled May 11 that the RT Act takes precedence over the internal rules of the Supreme Court. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) The Supreme Court […]
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18 May 2011
A key Indian cabinet committee is recommending that three law enforcement and intelligence agencies be exempted from the right to information law, Indian newspapers are reporting. The move would exempt from RTI coverage the Central Bureau of Investigation, the National Investigation Agency and the National Intelligence Grid, according to the Hindustani Times and the Indian […]
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18 May 2011
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has asked the Indian Department of Personnel and Training, Government to address a lack of uniformity with regard to right to information rules by state governments and the High Courts. One problem, according to the letter is that “Parliament can annul or modify Rules made by the Central Government but […]
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18 May 2011
The Indian Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that the Right to Information Act takes precedence over the internal rules of the Supreme Court. The court rules required a showing of “good cause.” The First Appellate Authority (FFA) held that any information on judicial records could be accessed only under the Supreme Court rules. In […]
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6 May 2011
Right to information requests rival bribery as a way to cut through bureaucratic red tape in India, according to two studies by U.S. academics. The experiments involved the complicated processes of registering to vote and getting ration cards, and were conducted by Yale University political scientists, Leonid Peisakhin and Paul Pinto. Bribery is a better […]
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8 April 2011
The Indian Central Information Commission has taken a step to fight a backlog of cases and has decided that commissioners should disclose their assets. The six commissioners are being asked to dispose of around 3,200 appeals and complaints every year, an increase from the 2010 average of 2,741, according to articles in The Times of […]
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4 April 2011
A new 16-person body, the South Asia Advisers on the Right to Information, was formed during a two-day long convention in Kathmundu, Nepal, from March 27- 29. Made up of chief information officers, RTI activists and others, the group will discuss “transparency law, norms for information commissions, and capacity building among government officials, media and […]
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25 March 2011
The Indian government has backed down on most of its controversial proposals to amend the right to know law, following pressure from the National Advisory Council. The government is sticking with a proposal to limit applications to one subject, however, according to the Council minutes and a report in the Hindustan Times NAC member Aruna […]
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14 March 2011
Indian right to know activists March 13 passed a 12-point resolution urging that the law’s jurisdiction be expanded to cover Public-Private Partnership (PPP) entities, political parties, trade unions, and nongovernmental organizations. The “Shillong Declaration” was approved at the conclusion of a three day national RTI conference in Shillong, attended by about 1,000 persons. The declarations […]
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11 March 2011
Some 500 participants are attending a three-day national convention on right to information in Shillong, India, titled “Reclaim Democracy,” from March 10-12. Aruna Roy, social activist and member of the National Advisory Council, addressed the convention, saying, “The Right to Information Act is the most fundamental law this country has seen as it can be […]
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4 March 2011
The Indian government has backed down somewhat from its proposal to limit the length of freedom of information requests to 250 words. Five hundred words would be permitted, according to a Times of India report, which credited the movement to the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC). The council has previously criticized the proposed new […]
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4 March 2011
Aruna Roy, the convener of the Indian National Advisory Council’s group on transparency on March 3 requested that the council examine a proposed whistleblower bill that she said would be “wholly inadequate” to stop the killing of Right to Information Act users. She also demanded an official probe a probe into the killing of Jharkhand activist Niyamat […]
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4 March 2011
The Indian Central Information Commission (CIC) has proposed bringing more transparency to the private corporations participating in the government’s public private partnership (PPP) programs, but the request appears to be meeting with resistance, or not. The story began when the CIC asked the Planning Commission to insert an right to information clause into agreements with the private partners. However, […]
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25 February 2011
More than 15,000 appeals under the Indian Right to Information Act (RTI) are pending with the Central Information Commission. The information was released by Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V. Narayanasamy Feb. 24 and is contained in a government press release. Narayanasamy said the average monthly receipt and […]
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10 February 2011
By Amitabh Thakur IPS officer from UP and President, National RTI Forum “RTI Martyrs ! Who the hell are they?” someone might ask. And the reason is obvious. For long we have listened the word martyr as someone who has sacrificed his or her life at the altar of human well-being. Each society and each […]
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28 January 2011
An Indian government department has replied negatively to criticisms of its proposals to amendment the Right to Know Act rules, including to place a word limit on request and to abate appeals on the death of an applicant. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) launched a consultation exercise in December 2010 on its suggested changes, and one […]
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28 January 2011
Six years after the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir enacted a Right to Information Act, the first Chief Information Officer has been named, Chief Income Tax Commissioner for northern India, G R Sufi. Two information commissioners still must be appointed under the law. Sufi emerged as the consensus candidate in the meeting of the […]
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31 December 2010
Critics are weighing in against proposed amendments to the rules for the Information Right to Information Act that among other things would set a 250 word limit for each request and to raise fees. These and other proposals have draw fire from many RTI activists and recently from the Working Group on Transparency, Accountability and […]
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3 December 2010
The genesis of the Indian right to know law is explored and directions for the future are elucidated in a detailed paper by Shekhar Singh, a founding member of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information. His insider view covers the birth of the movement in the 1990s and follows the course of the […]
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9 November 2010
The United States and India this week announced a joint effort to export lessons from the Indian Right to Information experience. President Obama Nov. 7 pledged “approximately” $1 million “to support the work of Indian civil society in sharing their best practices abroad.” The Indian government promised a matching commitment of in-kind assistance “that will […]
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29 January 2010
by Yvette M. Chin Pune, India — Several men attacked and murdered Indian RTI activist Satish Shetty with swords the morning of January 13, in a killing that activists say is the result of Shetty’s RTI work. To date, local police have taken five men into custody for Shetty’s murder, including lawyer Vijay Dabhade and […]
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13 January 2010
By Alasdair Roberts India’s Right to Information Act (RTIA) went into force in October 2005. It is probably the most ambitious experiment with transparency in the world. The law promises a right to government-held information to 1.2 billion citizens, most of them living in rural poverty. Its advocates say that the law could produce a […]
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17 July 2009
A Comprehensive Look at the Implementation and Use of India’s RTI Act New Delhi, India — In the first two years of access-to-information implementation in India, about 1.6 million requests for information were made in urban areas, while an additional 400,000 applications were made in the rural villages. Taking such a large-scale access-to-information regime head on, […]
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14 April 2009
Over the past few months, the World Bank has recently published a series of extremely useful reports by experts on access to information laws. Using comparative case studies, together these reports provide an overview of the whole life cycle of access to information (ATI) legislation, from adoption to implementation and enforcement. One report examines the role of civil society groups in the formulation and adoption of access to information laws in Bulgaria, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Another examines the institutional and logistical nuts-and-bolts of implementation, using Mexico as a case study, while the third report looks at models of enforcement in several countries: South Africa, Mexico, Scotland, India, and Hungary.
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27 January 2009
The World Bank has expanded its policy of disclosing the names of firms and individuals banned from doing business with the Bank. In a Jan. 11 announcement, the Bank said it will reveal the names of firms and individuals barred from providing goods and services directly to the institution. Under existing policy, the Bank discloses […]
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28 September 2008
Washington, D.C., September 28, 2008 – Today’s celebration of International Right-to-Know Day marks a new watershed in the global reach of freedom of information laws – now on the books in more than 80 countries – and features celebrations in countries ranging from Mexico to Moldova, according to postings today on the www.freedominfo.org virtual network […]
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18 January 2008
The Global Transparency Initiative has expressed concern about the decision by they International Monetary Fund to postponement review of the IMF Transparency Policy, originally scheduled for 2008. GTI wrote to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dec. 17 after learning from the IMF’s External Relations Department that the next review of the Fund’s Transparency Policy, originally […]
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18 January 2008
World Bank President Robert Zoellick ordered the disclosure recently of a World Bank investigation showing “serious incidents” of fraud and corruption in five Bank projects in India. It was the first time the Bank had disclosed a “Detailed Implementation Review,” conducted by the Department of Institutional Integrity. His action was praiseed by Transparency International-USA. A […]
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31 August 2006
Just six months after the Right to Information Act came into force, the bureaucrats in the Indian government are on the verge of rolling back the Act’s progressive access provisions. In July 2006, without any public consultation, the Cabinet approved amendments to the RTI that exclude from disclosure file notings contained in many of the […]
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18 August 2006
Just six months after the Right to Information Act came into force, the bureaucrats in the Indian government are on the verge of rolling back the Act’s progressive access provisions. In July 2006, without any public consultation, the Cabinet approved amendments to the RTI that exclude from disclosure file notings contained in many of the […]
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22 March 2006
By Toby McIntosh Riding a wave of transparency, the idea of encouraging Freedom of Information (FOI) laws as part of the development agenda is gaining currency, but slowly. With research and case studies increasingly identifying transparency as a key tool in fighting corruption and facilitating development, more attention is being paid to the development of […]
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28 September 2005
Since 2002, freedom of information advocates around the world have been working together to promote the right of access to information for all people and recognize the benefits of transparent and accountable governments. We use this day as a way to share ideas, strategies and success stories about the development of freedom of information laws […]
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14 September 2005
World Bank and Indian Anti-corruption Group Trade Charges about Bidding Process Documents released recently under Delhi’s freedom of information law raised a major public controversy over World Bank involvement in contract bidding and fueled a public debate over possible privatization of the Delhi water system. On July 28, Indian anti-corruption group Parivartan, citing internal documents […]
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9 August 2005
A newspaper in Pakistan has written about a nonpublic World Bank report evaluating ten years of World Bank activities in Pakistan and shedding light on the process of preparing such major evaluations. The evaluation report is generally unfavorable to the World Bank, according to the Business Recorder, which wrote about the conclusions in a July […]
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1 June 2005
The Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar (R-Ind), has made transparency reforms the central focus of legislation that also would authorize U.S. contributions to five multilateral development banks. Lugar’s bill contains instructions to the U.S. representatives at the five institutions, including the World Bank, and tells them to support several […]
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24 May 2005
"Good, Bad, and Ugly (maybe)" says Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative UPDATE – 25 JUNE 2005 CHRI Conference Report Effective Implementation: Preparing to Operationalise the Right to Information Act, 2005 After a number of false starts and even one Act which was on the books but never came into force, it is with much excitement that […]
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21 December 2004
The Asian Development Bank’s second draft of a new communications policy is meeting with some praise, and also with continuing criticism. Common themes included: demands for more disclosure about private sector operations, recommendations for releasing the key documents as they go to the board, and appeals for an independent appeals process. The comments are posted […]
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30 September 2004
The International Finance Corporation has increased the number of consultations it will hold on proposed disclosure and safeguard policy revisions after the outreach process came under criticism by activists as inadequate and rushed. The changes were announced just before the IFC held its first consultation, in Buenos Aires Sept. 27, where attendance was about half […]
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21 July 2004
Critics of the Asian Development Bank’s Proposed Disclosure Policy staged a walk-out of the ADB’s consultation in Bangalore, India, July 16, and issued a sharply critical statement in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The walk-out in Bangalore by civil society representatives came after they made a statement criticizing the procedures of the consultations as not representative, poorly planned […]
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30 June 2004
The pioneering right-to-information work of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in India has won remarkable victories in the struggle against corruption, both at the village and national levels, according to the latest case study posted today by the freedominfo.org virtual network of international openness advocates. Compiled and edited by MKSS member Vivek Ramkumar, a […]
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30 June 2004
BACKGROUND NOTE ON THE DOCUMENTARY ON THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION MOVEMENT IN INDIA The MKSS has had a series of films made to document various aspects of its work. The most successful campaign run by the MKSS was the Right to Information campaign. The campaign had a modest beginning as an effort to document that […]
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30 June 2004
PHOTO GALLERY OF THE MKSS Women resting in the tent put up by Jan Nithi Abhyan (JNA) and Akal Sangharsh Samithi (ASS) during a 10 day public meeting in the fall of 2003. The JNA was a campaign for a peoples’ manifesto launched by civil society groups from across Rajasthan including the MKSS in 2003 […]
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30 June 2004
The following documents are available for sale in a CD with the MKSS. To obtain a copy of this CD please contact the MKSS at mkssrajasthan@yahoo.com. From Information to Accountability – Reclaiming Democracy Survival And Right to Information – Gulam Rasool third memorial lecture by Aruna Roy Information, Democracy And Ethics – Aruna Roy (12th […]
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30 June 2004
by Vivek Ramkumar Download the entire report in Adobe PDF format (40 pp.) Beyond Democratic Rights and Electoral Reform Campaigns: Challenges facing Non Party Political Movements (360 KB) In India, people’s movements and grass roots campaigns have traditionally participated in the political process by articulating the needs of the poor and socially marginalized and by […]
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14 May 2004
By Vivek Ramkumar The largest democratic election in human history ended yesterday in India. Most of the headlines today focused on the horse race, that is, the surprising defeat of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the return to power of the Congress Party. But the election process itself deserves attention, both for its extraordinary […]
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24 February 2004
The chairman of an international group of parliamentarians has asked the World Bank to help assure a larger role for legislatures in setting the poverty-fighting strategies within their countries. The request marks one of the first times the parliamentarians have proposed a significant and specific policy change, according to persons familiar with the group’s history. […]
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10 February 2004
The International Finance Corporation recently rejected a request by an Indian group to translate an environmental report about a hydropower project into the local language, Hindi. The rejection means “the documents are available to the whole world, but sorry, affected people cannot be given it in the language they understand,” reacted Humanshu Thakkar Jan. 6 […]
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11 October 2003
by Thomas Blanton The International Herald Tribune, October 11, 2003, p. 6 Last month (September 23, 2003), Armenia became the 51st country in the world to guarantee its citizens the right to know what their government is up to. Armenia’s new freedom of information law is the latest outpost of the worldwide movement towards opening […]
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31 January 2003
The World Bank has rejected requests to disclose several key documents concerning the controversial $1.1 billion Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Laos. The documents — the "power purchase agreement" and the "concession agreement" — must stay private, the Bank said, because they contain proprietary commercial information that the Bank said it promised not to […]
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15 December 2002
The Freedom of Information Bill 2002 By Prashant Bhushan National Campaign Committee for the People’s Right to Information Text of India’s Freedom of Information law (as passed by Lok Sabha): Word – PDF More than 5 years ago, the Shourie committee set up by the government had recommended the enactment of a legislation to effectuate […]
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22 November 2002
Ugandan Judge Orders Release of Key Document on Bujagali Dam. Relying on the open government clause of the Ugandan constitution, a top Ugandan judge Nov. 12 ordered the release of a key document about a controversial dam project that the Ugandan government and the World Bank declined to disclose. More … Judge Rejects Government Claims. […]
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1 November 2002
The International Rivers Network (IRN) commissioned the Prayas Energy Group, a policy analysis organization based in Pune, India, to review the PPA. The analysis found that the capital cost of the project is "excessively high." It also contended that "a number of unusual requirements will be detrimental to Uganda." In particular, the study said the […]
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15 July 2002
By Thomas Blanton Published in Foreign Policy, July/August 2002 During the last decade, 26 countries have enacted new legislation giving their citizens access to government information. Why? Because the concept of freedom of information is evolving from a moral indictment of secrecy to a tool for market regulation, more efficient government, and economic and technological […]
