Is India Experiencing Rti Fatigue?

Chief Information Commissioner of India, Heeralal Samariya, has informed that the RTI disposal rate has topped 90%. However, viewed against the huge pendency of applications, it is not much of a solace. According to National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), around 60lakh RTI applications are filed in India annually. CIC deals with about a quarter of them and the rest are with the State Information Commissioners (SICs) reckoned as transparency watchdogs. Hailed as a sunshine law when it came into effect on October12, 2005, the Right to Information (RTI) Act created a lot of hopes that it would make governments transparent and accountable to the people.

PM Modi at the first annual meet of CIC in 2015 had said the ordinary person should have the right to question the rulers, and stressed the need to empower administration to serve them effectively. Eighteen years on, activists are running to courts to force governments to implement the Act fully. It was only in March2023 that the Supreme Court directed States and UTs to operationalise the RTI portals within three months. In August, a bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud pointed out the obligation of public authorities as recognised in Section 4 of the RTI Act. Later, on October 30, the CJI bench warned that pending vacancies in CIC and SICs could make the RTI Act ‘a dead letter’ and ordered appointments forthwith. Understaffing, absence of commissioners themselves, apathy, even antipathy, of the staff, are hindering much-needed information flow to the public.

This provides no recourse to the public to appeal against the ineffective administration of the Act. In the case of Telugu States, SICs were appointed only after a nudge from the High Court. As a result, delays are the rule rather than the exception, contend applicants and activists alike. RTI Act is seen to have slipped in striking terror among the corrupt babus, netas, and wheelers-dealers. Transparency International survey in 2022, Corruption Perceptions Index, gave rankings to 180 countries on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). India was ranked 40. It needs mention here that the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014, notified on May 12, 2014, has not been implemented so far. There is a growing clamour for further bolstering the RTI law and protection of whistle-blowers and RTI crusaders.

RTI crusaders are struggling and even sacrificing their lives to unearth corruption and scams across the country. It is depressing to note that more than 100 RTI applicants were killed over the last 17 years. In 2019, the Right to Information (Amendment) Act was passed sans any discussion in Parliament and it is said to weaken the powers of CIC and SICs. The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 also raised the hackles of activists. Sections 8, 9, 11and 24 of the RTI Act provide for exemption from the obligation to provide information. Clearly, proactive information as laid in Section 4 is not forthcoming. A number of RTI applications are denied information without giving any reasons. Critics call this phenomenon as RTI fatigue. The RTI

Act is yet to usher in a rights-based culture and become an effective catalyst for accountability. Information lies under a cloak of secrecy and reluctance. It is as if a divining rod is needed for the harried applicants. The very Act seems to be on a ventilator.