The 2005, Right to information act has the power to initiate a change

The 2005, Right to information act has the power to initiate a change

The 2005, Right to information act is back again in news. This time it is not about the amendments but this time a statement by Prithviraj Chavan have brought the act into the news. Maharashtra Chief Minister said that if UPA hadn’t enacted RTI, scams wouldn’t have surfaced during UPA-2. Mentioning of RTI act has again divided people into two groups, discussing the pros and cons of The RTI act, 2005.

Pros

• Undoubtedly it is an anti corruption tool which proved quite helpful in bringing the light on many scams. It was especially helpful in Adarsh racket.

• It is not only necessary for citizen but is also required for good governance that is missing from the country.

• RTI queries can be given the credit for bringing in the light on many corruption cases in last few years including Common wealth games.

• It gives the power to common men to question the political parties and the bureaucracies.

• Apart from the information, they have the right to ask for the official records to prove their points.

• Get the detailed information if you don’t find the process transparent in assigning the government tenders.

Cons

• It is not the RTI that brought the scams on the surface. The scams were undergoing from a long time. If it was RTI then it must have appeared much before than the actual time.

• The 2005, rights to Information Act, is again a act that is just good on books and don’t provides any real benefits in the practical scenario.

• There is no security provided to the RTI seekers which brings their life at risk. It has to be used against the corrupt and influential people but people don’t have enough courage to do so.

• There is no awareness of The RT act in the Indian public. It is just known to some people who try to utilize it for their own personal benefits.

• It is one of the tools in the hands of political parties which is used by them to play the blame games. The scams and all the other corrupt activities come on surface when opposition party wants to bring it.

• RTI gives the right to question and provides accountability but seriously lacks on front of transparency.

Conclusion

The 2005, Right to Information Act can be a great anti corruption tool in the hands of local people. They need to understand the significance of the act. Awareness is must to implement the act on large scale. The bill to amend the act in which political parties should be excluded from the list is already scheduled to come again in Winter Session of Parliament. Don’t let the act change and use it for genuine purposes.