Tuesday, October 2, 2007

RTI for New Democracy

Vishnu Rajgadia The Right to Information Act 2005 enables every citizen access to public information from government records. Earlier, this access was available to citizens of only nine states in the country but with the enforcing of the central act on 12 October 2005 this right is now available to every citizen. Experiences suggest that in the states where the Right to Information Act has been implemented, it has become an important tool of social development and governance. Awareness among the people about the use of RTI has had a great effect on the working culture of the government. It has made the officials more responsible towards the dispensation of their duties. There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that a newly formed state like Jharkhand requires the RTI Act for enhancing its performance. Right to Information has provided a base for new democracy. Until now all public information was out of the reach of the people as it came under the purview of the Officials Secrets Act (1923). Right to Information has removed this cover. Hence, it has provided a lead on the basis of which the foundations of new democracy can be set. In this blog, you can find a lot of material which are self-explanatory for the word New Democracy.

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