Right to Information – An Overview

Introduction
Right to Information Act, 2005 can be
considered to be one of the most reformative and
ambitious legislations in both Indian political as
well as administrative history.It was enacted by
the 14th Lok Sabha, under the leadership of the
then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The
provisions of the act give to all Indian citizens the
right to information2. It empowers Indian citizens
against corrupt and erroneous administrative
practices.It replaced the Freedom of Information
Act3 and repealed the Official Secrets Act4along
withseveral other minor legislationstracing their
origin to the British Raj.
It can be asserted without any doubt that
this legislationhelps in raising public knowledge
about the functioning of the government. In a
developing country like India, availabilityof
information regarding functioning of public
organisations needs to be promoted further, in
order to tackle the menace of corruption.The
Right to Information Act, can be made more useful
for the public by its effectiveimplementation
leading to improved public administration and
betterment of the people.
Effective implementation of the act is
possible only through the government’s bringing
down of its iron curtains as well aspeople’s active
involvement in this process. It has been rightly
observed by Henry Clay thatthe government is
a trust and the officers of the government are
trustees and both the trustand the trustees are
created for the benefit of the people5.