{"id":50402,"date":"2019-07-22T19:00:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T13:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=50402"},"modified":"2019-07-22T18:07:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T12:37:58","slug":"7-pm-the-tremor-of-unwelcome-amendments-22nd-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-the-tremor-of-unwelcome-amendments-22nd-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | The tremor of unwelcome amendments | 22nd July, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:<\/strong><strong> <\/strong>The Right to\nInformation (Amendment) Bill, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news:<\/strong>\nThe Right to Information (Amendment)\nBill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha on July 19, 2019. It seeks to amend the\nRight to Information Act, 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\nis Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI)?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under\nthe&nbsp;RTI&nbsp;Act, 2005, Public Authorities are required to make\ndisclosures on various aspects of their structure and functioning mentioned as\nfollow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>disclosure on their organization, functions, and structure<\/li><li>powers and duties of its officers and employees<\/li><li>Financial information.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why RTI?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To empower the citizens to seek\ninformation as a matter of right<\/li><li>To maintain transparency<\/li><li>To check the large-scale corruption\ncaused in the system<\/li><li>To demand greater accountability on the\npart of the public authorities, Central Information Commission and also State\nInformation Commission<\/li><li>To escalate the awareness of the\ncitizens regarding the governmental functions<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Who is included in the ambit of \u2018Public Authorities\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u2018Public Authorities\u2019 include bodies of\nself-government established under the Constitution, or under any law or\ngovernment notification. These include Ministries, public sector undertakings,\nand regulators.&nbsp;<\/li><li>It also includes any entities owned,\ncontrolled or substantially financed and non-government organizations\nsubstantially financed directly or indirectly by funds provided by the\ngovernment.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How is the right to information enforced\nunder the Act?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Act has\nestablished a three tier structure for enforcing the right to information\nguaranteed under the Act:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Public Authorities designate some of\ntheir officers as Public Information Officers.&nbsp; The first request for\ninformation goes to Central\/State Assistant Public Information Officer and\nCentral\/State Public Information Officer, designated by the Public Authorities.\nThese Officers are required to provide information to\nan&nbsp;RTI&nbsp;applicant within 30 days of the request. <\/li><li>Appeals from their decisions go to an\nAppellate Authority.&nbsp; <\/li><li>Appeals against the order of the\nAppellate Authority go to the State Information Commission or the Central\nInformation Commission.&nbsp; These Information Commissions consists of a Chief\nInformation Commissioner, and up to 10 Information Commissioners. &nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Advantages of RTI:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Transparency: It ensures the\nright of the citizens to acquire as much information they want regarding the\ngovernmental activities, rules and regulations, etc. This creates a room for\nbetter communication between the public authorities and the citizens.<\/li><li>Citizen-centric approach: Due\nto the enforcement of this Act, the authorities are sure to let out information\nas asked for by the citizens and this made the authorities to think more before\ntaking any random step.<\/li><li>Availability of Information: RTI\ncreated an easy form of letting out information to the person concerned thus\nresulting in accessibility of information relating to governmental activity to\nthe person who seeks for such information. Moreover, the application for\ninformation is to be responded by the public servants within 30 days of\napplication.<\/li><li>Reduction in Corruption: As\nall the information is accessible, the graph to that of corruption has taken a\ndown-curve.<\/li><li>Government-public relation: The\nAct also ensures the strengthening of government-public relation due to the\nincrease in communication.<\/li><li>A person can obtain information in any\nmanner, even in disks, floppies, tapes, cassettes, or by any other means.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Disadvantages<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Many departments of Government have\nappointed more than necessary public information officers (PIOs), which results\nin difficulty to gain information.<\/li><li>Difficulty to people\u2019s access to the\nPIOs. Without security pass people are not allowed to meet the PIOs and at\ntimes they are made to wait for hours for security passes.<\/li><li>Due to overburdened applications for\ninformation, sometimes, wrong information is given out. Sometimes, the\nauthorities fail to respond to the applications even at the expiry of 30 days\nwithin which information was supposed to be communicated.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\ndoes the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 propose?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill changes\nthe terms and conditions of service of the CIC and Information Commissioners at\nthe centre and in states.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The table below gives the comparison of the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 and the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"504\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/provision.jpg?resize=512%2C504&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-50404\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Argument\nby government for proposed changes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nfunctions being carried out by the Election Commission of India and the Central\nand State Information Commissions are totally different<\/strong>.\nMoreover, it points out that \u201cThe Election Commission is a constitutional body\nestablished by clause (1) of Article 324 of the Constitution. On the other\nhand, the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions are\nstatutory bodies established under the provisions of RTI Act, 2005.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, the\nCentre has reasoned that \u201cthe mandate of the Election Commission of India and\nthe Central and State Information Commissions are different. Hence, their\nstatus and service conditions need to be rationalised accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In light of this\ndifference, the Centre has proposed to amend the RTI Act 2005 \u201cso as to provide\nthat the term of office of, and the salaries, allowances and other terms and\nconditions of service of, the Chief Information Commissioner and Information\nCommissioners and the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State\nInformation Commissioners, shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central\nGovernment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Criticism\nto the proposed changes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Independence: <\/strong>The amendments would empower the Centre to make rules to\ndecide the tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of service of information\ncommissioners of the Central and also State Information Commissions. This will\nfundamentally weaken the institution of the information commissions as it will\nadversely impact the ability of commissioners to function in an independent\nmanner.<\/li><li><strong>Effects on federalism: <\/strong>By\ndiminishing the status of the CIC, IC and State CIC from that of a Supreme\nCourt judge would reduce their ability to issue directives to senior government\nfunctionaries. The change would &#8220;kill the RTI Act&#8221; and is an\n&#8220;affront to federalism, good governance and ultimately, democracy&#8221;. It\nwould also render freedom of speech meaningless.<\/li><li><strong>Circulating the Bill\nwithout any public consultation:<\/strong> National Campaign for People\u2019s Right to Information (NCPRI)\nsaid the move creates grave concerns about secrecy. The government has brought\nabout the Bill in complete secrecy and there have been no public consultations\non the Bill, which will impact the fundamental right to information of the\ncitizens of the country.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way\nForward:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nRTI Act is regarded as one of the most successful laws of independent India. It\nhas given ordinary citizens the confidence and the right to ask questions of\ngovernment authorities. According to estimates, nearly 60lakh applications are\nbeing filed every year. It is used by citizens as well as the media. The law is\nseen as having acted as a deterrent for government servants against taking\narbitrary decisions. Government should bring the amendment\nafter proper consultation with civil society and other stakeholders. It should\ntowards strengthening RTI rather than weaken it from within for a sustainable\nand growing democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/the-tremor-of-unwelcome-amendments\/article28628537.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/the-tremor-of-unwelcome-amendments\/article28628537.ece<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019. More in news: The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha on July 19, 2019. It seeks to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005. What is Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI)? Under the&nbsp;RTI&nbsp;Act, 2005, Public Authorities are required to make disclosures&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-the-tremor-of-unwelcome-amendments-22nd-july-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | The tremor of unwelcome amendments | 22nd July, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704765734},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}