Explained | Has the Right to Information been weakened over the years?
The article argues that India’s landmark Right to Information Act, once a powerful tool for civic accountability, is being systematically weakened. Recent legislative amendments, particularly regarding data privacy, have created blanket prohibitions that hinder social audits and enable officials to evade scrutiny. Concurrently, procedural changes have stripped the independence of information commissioners, consolidating government control over the very mechanisms designed to ensure transparency and oversight. Implementation barriers further erode the Act’s effectiveness. Inconsistent state rules on payment methods create unnecessary financial and logistical hurdles for citizens, while critical vacancies in information commissions leave appeals unresolved for years. Although digital portals were introduced to streamline access, they suffer from severe technical instability, data loss, and poor usability. These digital failures replace physical barriers with electronic ones, discouraging participation and limiting the practical reach of information requests for the average citizen. This degradation is vital to the open data discourse as it demonstrates how access laws can fail without robust institutional support and user-centric design. When data remains legally accessible but practically unreachable, the promise of transparency collapses. The situation underscores that open data initiatives must prioritize not just the release of information, but the preservation of accessible, reliable, and accountable systems that allow citizens to effectively utilize that data for governance and social change.
Source: thehindu.comPublished on 2023-09-02