YouRTI.in launched to help RTI applicants

Hyderabad: Prof Sridhar Madabhushi, (Central Information Commissioner) on Thursday launched YouRTI.in, a website on quick process of RTI requests. The website in both English and Telugu languages is an initiative of Young RTI activists based in the city who have come up with the idea to help general public file RTI.

While launching the website at Press Club, Sridhar congratulated the efforts of YouRTI.in and lauded the ‘anonymity feature’ in the website. He expressed happiness that nearly 60 lakhs RTIs were being filed each year. He gave several examples of success stories of RTI such as access to answer sheets in the recent times. He said effective use of RTI was essential to preserve freedom of speech. He said RTI applicants should engage in prior research well in advance to frame questions effectively and avoid transfers and denials from the Public Information Officers (PIOs).

He spoke in length on the issue of missing and damage of files in the government and expressed concern over the maintenance of the important information. He encouraged (Media Education Foundation India) MEFI, Yugantar and other organisations striving for the cause to raise important queries and form teams to systematically file RTIs. He spoke on the current threats and challenges faced by RTI fraternity in different ways such as the attempts being made to dilute the power of RTI authorities including Central and State.

Sreenivas Reddy (Chairman, MEFI) criticized the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for their negligence of RTI despite strictures passed by the High Court. Sushil Kambampati, founder of YouRTI.in said, there is no conflict between Right to Privacy and Right to Information because public officials should have no expectation of privacy when they are carrying out their official duties.

According to Karim Ansari, an RTI activist working for YouRTI.in explained that the website has built-in features to enable general citizens to file RTI requests quickly and easily. Anyone can go and ask a query on the website for free. YouRTI team will frame the question and send it to the concerned authority. The responses received will be uploaded on the website. YouRTI.in also lets people send queries anonymously if they chose to.