Annotation
"A democratic society survives by accepting new ideas, experimenting with them, and rejecting them if found unimportant. Therefore it is necessary that whatever ideas the government or its other members hold must be freely put before the public. The free flow of information is must for a democratic society in particular because it helps the society to grow and flourish. It is now recognized that the right to information is vital to democracy for ensuring transparency and accountability in governance. It therefore ensures that governance is more participatory being a vital component of successful democracy."

Abstract
With the mental growth and advancement of science, technology and industry the growing consciousness of human rights and liberties paved way for democratic form of governance. Freedom is an inbuilt desire in almost every animate being. Therefore the growing consciousness for various liberties resulted in revolutions against the autocracies and monarchies in the various parts of the world and the political scenario was visited by democracy, growing and flourishing in a big way, in many countries of the world. The one of the major endeavors of democracy was to accord growth of human liberties and dignity.
Since our independence was the result of centuries old struggle and sacrifice, the people cherished high hopes and aspirations from the new setup. Accordingly, the Constitution of India provided befitting provisions in the form of fundamental rights and directive principles of the State Policy.
The right to information as propounded in the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, is the culmination of a stage in the advancement of human civilization. It is the embodiment of one of the mature facades of the democracy flourishing in the country. This right is also an index of growth of human rights and liberties in their vital palpitations, spontaneously flowing from the democratic credentials of the Country.

Introduction
The right to information act is popularly known as RTI Act. It has become a very important law that was enacted by the Indian Parliament in recent years. It has been proved as a very powerful tool for common people and social activists to fight against corruption and to have a better control upon officers of various government departments and agencies and also to protect their legal and constitutional rights. The transparency of the public authority information has increased. The secrecy of various kinds of information from public authority has reduced largely and resulted in transparency and accountability for a better democracy. In the famous 'tryst with destiny speech on the eve of Indian Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru articulated this challenge as 'the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunities.

Good governance must aim at expansion in social opportunities and removal of poverty. In short, good governance means securing justice, empowerment, employment and efficient delivery of services. Good governance is beneficial to the continuous growth and well-being of all people in India. The Government of India has placed good governance and inclusive growth at the centre of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. The enactments of the Right to Information Act aim at forwarding inclusive growth and better governance. Good governance" is a term that is often used to describe the desired objective of a nation-states political development.

The principles of good governance, however, are not new. Good governance in short is described as anticorruption, whereas authority and its institutions are accountable, effective and efficient, participatory, transparent, responsive, and equitable. These are the major characteristics of good governance as outlined by the United Nations. RTI is enacted to make India a corruption less country and thus it creates a social change. Web blogs and social networking sites (SNS) helps the user to express their opinion and also to share their knowledge. RTI is also discussed in various blogs and SNS and hence information Technology could be a tool for bringing good governance.

For good governance to exist in both theory and practice, citizens must be empowered to participate in meaningful ways in decision-making processes. They have a right to information and to access. Although widespread accessibility remains a barrier for many countries, one of those ways is through Information Technology (IT) applications such as the Internet. E-governance has emerged as a viable means to address development issues and challenges because citizens find social change through access to information. The paper will outline a detailed analysis on the present usage of Information Technology for the benefit of civil society towards good governance.

What is Right to Information?
Right to Information (RTI) is an Act of the Parliament of India to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens and replaces the erstwhile Freedom of information Act, 2002.

Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen of India may request information from a "public authority" (a body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to computerise their records for wide dissemination and to proactively certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.
Information disclosure in India is restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923and various other special laws, which the new RTI Act relaxes. Right to Information codifies a fundamental right of the citizens of India.

This Act is immensely vital for the functioning of any democracy as it sanctions its citizen the right to inspect the work of the government and ask for certified copies to know the status of the work of different government projects. The RTI Act mandates timely response to a request for information from a public authority. The government is our servant and we have no duty to explain why we seek information from them. The government holds all the information in our behalf, in trust and hence cant deny if you ask them how they are governing our country.

 

Historical legacy of Right to Information

The right to information gained power when UDHR was adopted in 1948 providing everyone the right to seek, receive, information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Also The International Covenant on Civil and Political rights 1966 says that "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression, the freedom to seek and impart information and ideas of all kind, regardless of frontiers".

Rightly as one of the significant objectives of Indian Constitution as the preamble describes, is to secure liberty of thought and expressions to the citizens of India. The Article 19(1)(a) of the constitution. The fundamental right to speech and expression can never be exercised until and unless the information regarding public matters is being circulated.

The right of information is an inalienable component of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1) (a) of Indian constitution. As held in the respective cases of Bennet Colman v. UOI[2] , SP Gupta v UOI[3], and Secretary, Ministry of information and broadcasting v Cricket assn. of Bengal[4].

The Supreme Court of India in Bennet Coleman case while taking into account the News print control order, allotment of newsprint to a newspaper was restricted, held that such restriction had not only infringed newspaper's right to freedom of speech but also readers right to read was cut down. And the readers right to access the newspaper was his right to information which was implicit in the right to Right of freedom of speech. Similarly in SP Gupta case the SC observed that "the people of this country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way, by those functionaries. They are entitled to know the very particulars of every public transaction. Also in Secretary, ministry of information & broadcasting v. Cricket Assn. of Bengal, the SC held that the airwaves were a public property and its distribution among the government media and the private channels should be done on equitable basis as the freedom of speech included the right to impart and receive information from electronic media.

Beside Article 19(1) (a), the other articles which give right to information under Indian constitution are Articles 311(2) and 22(1). Article 311(2) provides for a govt. servant to know why he is being dismissed or removed or being demoted and representation can be made against the order. By way of Article 22(1) a person can know the grounds for his detention. In Essar Oil Ltd v. Halar Utkarsha Samiti[5], the SC held that right to information emerges from right to personal liberty guaranteed by article 21 of constitution.
 

Nature and Scope of Right to Information

After the enactment of RTI Act, 2005 Right to Information is no more a constitutionalright. Now, RTI is only a statuary legal right. Before the enactment of RTI Act, 2005, RTI was part of Article 19(1)(a) ofConstitution of India (Freedom of Speech and Expression), which is Fundamental Right.

It is the right to obtain information from a public authority which is held or controlled by such authority. This right extends to every piece of information which has a public nature. Such as :-
# Inspection: means to see a work document or record closely, carefully and purposefully.
# Taking notes: may mean noting down certain information from the documents inspected.
# Certified samples of material: since it is to ensure transparency and to contain corruption, it authorizes the citizens to take samples from the material being purchased or used by the Public Authorities.

It has been realized that RTI Act, 2005 will be in the interests of both the stake holders of the political system, that is, information providers viz., the government and all the other public organizations and the information seekers, viz., the members of the public. It is expected to promote transparency and accountability in public administration and thus help in improving the decision making process, as also in reducing corruption, nepotism and casteism. This will enhance manifold the credibility of the government. On the other hand, it will provide an empowering tool in the hands of the public through which they will secure access to information which enable them to make informed choices and thus facilitate individual participation in public affairs and also enable them to assert their democratic rights more effectively.

In other words, RTI act,2005 has given due recognition to the fact that the right of access to information is the life-blood of a democracy since paucity of information stunts the development of a people as it deprives them of the opportunity to grow up to their optimum potential.

The Act envisages the harmonization of public interest with the right to information. In spite of all things said and done in favor of right to information, there are some areas where the public interest demands some element of secrecy. It has been felt that certain areas of Governance have to be kept outside the purview of the RTI Act, the same have been exempted under the specific provisions envisaged under the Act. Thus, a harmonious balance has been tried between the two.

The following Governments, Organizations and bodies are covered under RTI and are subject to it.
# Central, State and Local Governments;
# All bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by these governments;
# NGOs (Non Government Organizations) substantially financed directly or indirectly by appropriate government funds;
# Executive, Judiciary and legislature wings;
# The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir - which is covered under a State-level RTI law.

The Act specifies that citizens have a right to:
1. Request any information (as defined).
2. Obtain copies of documents.
3. Inspect documents, works and records.
4. Take certified samples of materials of work.
5. Obtain information about material held in any form (Electronic Media included) such as :
# Records
# Documents
# Memos
# Opinions & Advices
# Press Releases
# Circulars, orders & logbooks
# Contracts
# Reports, paper samples & models

As a matter of statutory provisions, the Act provides for imparting information being held by the public authority and it does not provide for redressal of grievances or entertaining suggestions for doing or not doing something. Though it aims at reforming the public administration by ensuring transparency and accountability and thus eliminating corruption, it does not provide for the remedy within its purview. It simply helps in unveiling what is happening within the system of governance through the public authorities. Therefore, there is no scope in the RTI Act to either make suggestions or to seek redressal of grievances.
 

Need and Purpose of Right to Information

The legislature and the judiciary function as open. More openly the legislature by way of open debate by the representatives of people to which press and people both have access. In a very similar manner the judiciary decides the cases only after giving both the parties to the cases, a chance of hearing. These two wings of government never normally carry out their operation in secrecy.

On the other hand the Executive always carries out its work in secret chambers and people or press hardly have a access or control over it. Nowadays the executive, apart from discharging its normal function of executing laws, promulgates delegates legislative functions and also adjudicates on controversial manners.

As Justice Krishna Iyer in the Maneka Gandhi case[6] said "a government which functions in secrecy not only acts against democratic decency, but also buries itself with its own burial". Therefore if look at the concept of power we can note that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is a certain danger that despite several efforts for welfare purposes, the power may be used arbitrarily and for corrupt goals.

Therefore a right to know is necessary to handle the affairs related to executive and provides an platform for people to participate in governance with proper knowledge.

The basic object of the Right to Information Act is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption, and make our democracy work for the people in real sense. It goes without saying that an informed citizen is better equipped to keep necessary vigil on the instruments of governance and make the government more accountable to the governed. The Act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about the activities of the Government.

Conceptual framework and application schema of RTI
The Parliament recognized that proper and efficient functioning of a democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information and that such transparency is vital for checking corruption and to hold governance and their instrumentalities accountable to the citizen of the country. The Parliament was also conscious that random and uncontrolled revelation of information is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the governance, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information.

In its endeavor to balance out and harmonize these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic idea, the Parliament enacted the RTI Act. The object of the RTI Act is to set out a practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of public authorities.

Sec. 4of the Act imposes an obligation on public authorities to maintain its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and form which facilitates the right to information under the Act.

Sec. 6of the Act entitles a person desirous of obtaining any information under the Act, to make a request in writing to the Central or State Public Information Officer specifying the particulars of the information sought by him. The applicant is not required to give any reason as to why he is requesting for the information.

Sec. 7of the Act requires the Public Information Officer to either provide the information or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in Secs. 8 and 9 within 30 days of receipt of the request. If the Officer fails to give a decision on the request within 30 days, he shall be deemed to have refused the request.

UnderSec. 19, if a person does not receive a decision within 30 days or is aggrieved by a decision of the Public Information Officer, he may prefer an appeal to an Officer who is senior in rank to the Public Information Officer in that Public Authority.

A second appeal is provided for against the order passed in the first appeal before the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission as the case may be. The powers of the Information Commission are enacted inSub-Sec. 9 of Sec. 19which includes the power to require the Public Authority to compensate the complainant for any loss or other detriment suffered and/or to impose any of the penalties provided under the RTI Act.

Sec. 20of the Act empowers the Information Commission to impose penalty on the Public Information Officer if the Commission is of the opinion that the Officer without any reasonable cause refused to receive an application for information or has not furnished the information sought for within the specified time under Sec. 7(1) or mala fidely denied the request for information or knowingly has given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information which was the subject of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information.

Sec. 22of the Act is a non- obstante clause giving overriding effect to the provisions of the Act.

Under Sec. 25, the Information Commission is required after the end of each year to prepare a report on the implementation of the provisions of the Act during that year and forward a copy thereof to the appropriate Government.
 

Filing of RTI

An RTI can be filed in three ways-
# Online – visit rtionline.gov.in and log in to file an RTI online
# Via Post – Send your application to the concerned department via registered post or speed post.
# In Person- Visit Public Information Officer of the concerned department to file the RTI.
 

Procedure for filing an RTI

Identify the department you have to seek information from. Certain subjects fall within the ambit of State or Central government and others fall within the ambit of local authority such as municipal administration/ panchayat;
Write out the RTI application by hand or type it English, Hindi or the official language of that area;

Address the application to the State/Central Public Information Officer. Write the name of the office you seek information from and clearly mention that " Seeking information under RTI Act";
Pay Rs. 10 to file the plea. You can pay in form of cash;

You should always take a photocopy of your application and keep it with you for future reference;

The law mandates that information should be provided within 30 days. If this does not happen you can file an appeal to the appellate authority with the name of the department and the address. The appellate authority is mandated to revert within 30 days from the date of the receipt of the appeal.

To ease the process of Indias experiment with transparency the Delhi government is all set to inaugurate an online RTI portal. With this portal, the process of filing, tracking, payment and response will be available at few clicks. Through this portal you will also be able to file appeals online. Delhi becomes the first Union Territory, to make the filing of the RTI and related process online.

To simplify the process for filing RTI there will be separate sections on the portal providing guidelines and frequently asked questions. The portal will also provide for a feedback mechanism. Through this portal one can file the application online, once that is done the portal will allow tracking the application. There will be a pendency report available, e-mail and SMS alerts will also be provided. In fact the documents can be uploaded and mailed to the applicant. RTI fee will be payable through SBI e-payment gateway.

Section 4(1) prescribes a time limit of 120 days for certain information to be disclosed suo moto at the level of the public authority. This is regarding the board information pertaining to functioning of an organization. The items mentioned in cl.(i) to (xvii) contain a comprehensive detail of establishment, procedure, duties, norms, rules, documentation, formulation of policy statement, staff pattern, salary structure, budget allocation, programmes concessions, permits, status of record, facilities available to the public and beneficiaries and the steps taken for the enforcement of right to information etc. It is basically to allow an insight to the citizens and without any specific request by an individual the detailed facts are notified to the public at large. Thus after such details are disclosed the basic purpose of the Act regarding transparency is achieved to a great extent.

Citizen, who desires to obtain any information under the RTI Act, should make an application to the Public Information Officer (PIO) concerned of the Public Authority in writing in English or Hindi or in the official language of the area in which the application is made. The application should be precise and specific. He should make payment of application fee at the time of submitting the application as prescribed in the Fee Rules. The applicant can send the application by post or through electronic means or can deliver it personally in the office of the public authority. The application can also be sent through an Assistant Public Information Officer.

This application may be written or in electronic form and it could be in writing or printed or may be sent through electronic means i.e. through e-mail or fax etc. As per circumstances and the conveniences of the applicant he may choose any mode. The choice of the language would be that of the applicant and the SPIO and ASPIO concerned cannot force the applicant to use a particular language. However, the SPIO may decide the mode of supply of information as per availability of the resources.

Benefits and merits of RTI
RTI activists have unveiled some of the most horrific scams like adarsh housing society scam, 2G scam, commonwealth scam, Red Cross Society Scam, Pratibha Patil land controversy. Simpreet Singh RTI activist said, "It just takes 10 Rs to right a wrong. The biggest achievement of RTI is that it tells the most powerful people that they are not beyond the reach of a common man."

The impact created through this legislation can be seen through some of the landmark judgements, for instance, the applications filed by Yogacharya Anandji and Simpreet Singh in 2008 in the matter of Adarsh Scam were crucial in disclosing the links between politicians and military officials. This 31-storey building had permission for only 6 floors which was meant entirely for the welfare of war widows and veterans. Instead, these flats went to several politicians, bureaucrats and their relatives.
 

Advantages of RTI

Empowerment of common people-People were facing so many problems to get the solution of their issues. And no one was bounded to answer them. But, with the RTI act, common people can ask questions regarding the work status of their complaints. They have the right to know the information which is related to them. The can ask for the development of their city, area and the work report of developmental programs. That is the biggest change which is a boon for the city dweller.

Control corruption-When a person asks for the particular service, then it is compulsory that the responsible officer gives the answer of the persons request within the time limit. So, the chances of corruption will automatically minimize result of this act.

Easy mode to spread information-It is the easy mode to spread information to the particular person who actually needs. It makes information confidential and safe too. People can get the direct answer from higher authorities and resolve their issues with ease.

It helps to reduce the corruption taking place in various departments of private and government organizations.

It strengthens the democracy and governance.

It is used as a tool for bringing transparency in the Indian administrative system.

It is an easy mode to spread the information in a right way among the common men.

Difficulties in implementation
Theoretically the RTI act is very good but it suffers from many inadequacies:
This act empowers the people to gather information. But the problem is that when 35% of the population is illiterate, then how anyone could expect that people will demand information. So I suggest the government to make more serious efforts towards improving the Literacy level.

The act lacks necessary teeth for defaulters. In cases where information has been denied without sufficient cause, the penalty is not so harsh enough so as to have a deterrent effect on those who do not want to share information.

The official mindset is a very big obstacle in the progress of this act. No official in normal condition wants to share information. They generally prefer not to share information, and therefore people find it very difficult to secure information from them. The act itself provides for several grounds on which the public information officer turn down the application. Although one is allowed to appeal to next higher authority but this is just making the matter worse.

The act being based on computerized records of data, it may take a long time in computerization of such vast data and therefore the doubt hangs over whether the act would be implemented in a time bound manner.

Issues faced on the demand side:
Low public awareness
Low awareness level: Section 26 of the Act states that the appropriate Government may develop and organize educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public, especially disadvantaged communities, regarding how to exercise the rights contemplated under the Act. However, as per the survey it was revealed that only 15% of the respondents were aware of the RTI Act. During the awareness survey, it was also observed that the major sources of this awareness were:
• Mass media channels like television channels, newspapers etc
• Word of mouth
While on one hand the Nodal Departments (with specific reference to the State Governments studied) have not undertaken any substantial steps to promote the RTI Act, on the other hand, some SICs like SIC- Orissa and SIC Andhra Pradesh have been promoting the usage of the Act through seminars and discussions at district level.

It was further observed that awareness level is low among the disadvantaged communities such as:
Women: In all the five states the awareness level among women was found to be low in comparison to men. The difference in awareness level between women and men ranged from 9% to 20%. The average awareness level among women was 12% in comparison to 26% awareness level among men.

Rural population: As observed in the previous case the awareness level in rural population was low compared to urban population. The difference in awareness level among rural population and urban population varied from 33% in Maharashtra to 5% in Andhra Pradesh.

OBC/SC/ST category: The awareness level among OBC/SC/ST category citizens was low when compared to awareness level among general category citizens.

Constraints faced in filing applications
The RTI Act under section 27(1) and 28(1), specifies to the appropriate Governments and the Competent Authorities to make rules pertaining to implementation of the Act. Under Section 6 of the RTI Act, PIOs are required to provide reasonable assistance to the applicant in drafting and submission of the application. This section attempts to provide the current levels of implementation of the Act and highlight the constraints faced by an applicant in filing applications.
# Non-availability of User Guides for RTI implementation for information seekers
# Lack in the standardization of RTI forms
# Inconvenient submission channels for RTI application
# Inconvenient payment channels for RTI fees
# Lack of assistance in filing the application
# Non-friendly attitude of the PIOs

Poor quality of information provided
During the information seeker survey, it was also highlighted than more than 75% of the citizens are dissatisfied with the quality of information being provided. The corresponding figure for OBC/SC/ST category of citizens stood much higher with 86% dissatisfied citizens. The percentage of people who said that incomplete information was provided to them was alarmingly high in Andhra Pradesh – 91% and Uttar Pradesh - 96%.

Constraints faced in inspection of records
Under Section 7(9) of the Act, information is to be provided in the form it is requested in, unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the Public Authority. During our discussions with PIOs, it was highlighted that some information requests require the PIOs to do a collation and analysis of data for past 10 years or more.

These cases are fit to use the provision in Section 7(9) and information in these cases can be provided through inspection of records17.However 89% of the PIOs said that they did not use the provision for inspection of records.

During the information provider survey it was noticed that Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) was using this provision to provide information to the applicants. This is an appreciable effort in generating transparency in the working of a Public Authority. If trained properly, the PIOs can provide an option to the citizens to inspect the records. This may help in providing timely and accurate information to the applicant.

Issues faced on the Supply side:
1. Failure to provide information within 30 days
2. Inadequate trained PIOs and First Appellate Authorities
3. Obsolete record management Guidelines
4. Non-availability of basic infrastructure
5. Limited use of IT
6. Ineffective implementation of Section 4(1)(b)
7. Lack of motivation among PIOs
8. Lack of monitoring and review mechanism
9. High level of pendency
10. Geographical spread of the Information Commissions
11. Variation in assumption of role by SIC and State Governments

Suggestive measures
1. Most of the political leaders collect huge amount of funds and accumulate a lot of properties by means of some supporting corrupt officials under various departments appointed in their areas. These officers do not try to disclose the records to the public. Under such circumstances, Right to Information Act is expected to break the vicious and unethical relations among some immoral politicians, dishonest contractors and corrupt bureaucrats. Hence it is suggested to make use of this Act as an instrument to achieve true democracy in India.

2. A change in the attitude of the people is also another crucial factor responsible for the success of the Right to Information Act in India. Instead of keeping any suspicious attitude towards the Act, people should convince its holistic approach and meritorious aspect. Gurnar Myrdal, a renowned economist of international repute, in his illuminating work 'Asian Drama has rightly emphasized on the attitudinal change for attaining economic development in the developing countries.

3. In spite of the existence of some operational problems, the success of the mission - Right to Information Act depends largely on how the people are united, organised and aware of their surroundings and their preventive capacity to fight against corruption and unlawful activities. It is thus suggested to the people to be united and organised in order to make this Act successful.

4. Awareness and consciousness among the people are the pre-requisites of the success of this Act. How far the base level administration will be corruption free and will be able to maintain transparency that depends on the complete awareness among the people. It is therefore suggested to the people to achieve a desired level of awareness for effective implementation of Right to Information Act.

5. It is feared that there is every chance of misuse of the Act by some opportunist and influential people. The success of the Right to Information Act also depends on the civic consciousness of the people and thus they should be more vigilant about what is happening in the government sector.

6. The Poor people have limited capacity and strength to fight against bureaucrats with the help of Right to Information Act. The people should therefore achieve a desired level of education, gather courage and do away with their shy nature to fight against such bureaucrats.

7. Abusing of provisions, frivolous allegations, and asking for information with no specific intent may result in putting authorities into embarrassment and killing their time and energy to no effect. It is suggested to the general public to ask for sensible information with a good intention.

1. People seeking redressal of their civic issues can visit the Right to Information clinics established by the government. These clinics act facilitation centre for dissemination of information.

2. The public functionaries should be more active and sensitive towards the general public and should supply the required information with more enthusiasm. They should be aware of their duty to advise and assist information requesters. Likewise, they should be fully aware that the people have a right to call on any officer for assistance, and that officer has a duty to help them. The people should be given guidance on whom they should approach if the officials are unsure whether to release information.

3. The Public Information Officers at the institutions providing information are found busy with number of other activities other than providing information. The Public Information Officers thus appointed should perform gathering and disseminating of information as their prime job.

4. A stitch in time saves nine which means a timely effort prevents more work later. Hence it is suggested that the Right to Information authorities should adhere to section 7 of the Act which expects to provide the information as expeditiously as possible. This suggestion is given as it is observed that the officers try to dispose off the request for information within a month.

5. The delay in providing information due to the loose connections between levels of implementers needs to be avoided. There should be co-operation among the different levels of officers involved in providing information. This will avoid the harassment caused to the general public to give the application to the concerned Public Information Officer.

6. It is suggested that every public authority should computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

7. In case of illiterate applicants the request cannot be made in writing. The officers in such a case should render all reasonable assistance to the person making the request orally to reduce the same in writing.

8. To be on a safer side, it is advised to the officers to provide the information which is brief, true and easily understood by the citizens. This will avoid further complaints resulting into wastage of time, energy and money. If some rules, references, bye-laws are to be quoted; a copy of these may also be supplied to the applicant so that he can understand the limitations of the person concerned. In addition while giving replies; satisfaction of people should be kept in mind.

9. The public has every right to question the officers as the officers are appointed to serve the public. The officers should deal with the public politely even if they ask wrong information or use filthy language. Whenever citizens come with requests for information they should be given a good welcome and not considered as an obstruction in their work.

10.The Public Information Officers must make the heads of the departments or organization, understand the importance of Right to Information Act, procedure to be followed, time framework, etc. Public Information Officers must direct them that this is to their own advantage as this would promote efficiency and responsiveness.

11. The success of the Right to Information Act basically depends on the awareness of the people. There is lack of specific institutional and financial provision to spread awareness in the public for the Act to generate expected results. The government should take steps to increase awareness among the people by providing the institutional financial support.

12. Further, complete awareness largely depends on the level of education given to the people. If the people will be educated, they will try to understand their rights and facilities available to them. They will be vigilant towards their rights and a spirit of protest will be developed among them. Therefore, the success of the Right to Information Act ultimately depends on the eradication of poverty and illiteracy. To achieve this, the government while implementing the target oriented policies and programmes, should try to reduce the rate of illiteracy as far as possible within a stipulated period of time.

13. Public authorities should not maintain secrecy as far as possible at the time of implementing the policies and programmes of the government. It must be open for all. The government should give necessary instructions to different departments to follow the principle of openness so that the transparency in the department can be maintained.

14. Instead of playing an evasive role, the bureaucrats should be simple, sympathetic to the problems of the common people and lucidly explain the plans, policies and programmes of the government.

15. Recognising how important it is that all officials covered by the law understand it and support it, experience has shown that one of the most important activities that need to be undertaken when preparing to implement any Right to Information law is to provide training to all officials. All Public Information Officers and appellate authorities need to be fully trained on what their responsibilities are under the law, how to manage applications and of course, how to apply and interpret the law.

16. It is observed that due to inadequate support staff, there is slow pace of disposal of request, the applications pile up and there is long waiting period. Adequate and efficient support staff should be put in place for quick and effective pro-active communication and information transfer.

17. Certain phrases used for maintenance of records like 'subject to availability of recourses, 'in a reasonable time, etc that may create confusion and controversy amongst the masses should be framed properly so that false grounds for refusal of information can be avoided.

18. There are many exemptions to the Act like the class exemptions, prejudice based exemptions and time limited exemptions. These exemptions prevent the information from being received by the seeker. The exceptions should be minimised so that there is more transparency.

19. The procedure prescribed for obtaining information includes writing an application, submitting the evidence of payment of application fee and sending the application to the concerned Public Information Officer. Though this procedure is not very complicated it should be further simplified so that people get an initial understanding of Right to Information and how it works. Thus the procedure should be minimised to afford and easy to understand.

20. Even five years after the enactment of the pioneering Right to Information Act, penalties for delays in providing what has been sought under the law are imposed in very rare cases. There must be stringent penalty and effective prosecution system for violating the mandatory provision.

21. There are many cases where the information commissioners have alleged misuse of RTI or felt that the information sought was frivolous. Issue of frivolous Right to Information applications needs to be handled carefully. Special staff should be appointed to handle the frivolous allegations and demand for information with no specific intent, so as to save time and energy of the higher authorities.

22. In order to ensure good performance of Public Information Officers in implementing the Right to Information Act, it is suggested the there should be allocation of responsibility to the Public Information Officers, appellate authorities and to other senior level officials.

23. Many departments of the Government of India seem to have appointed multiple public information officers. This results in citizens having to run from office to office seeking out the correct Public Information Officer sometimes in vain. Appointment of multiple public information officers should be avoided so that harassment to the citizen is avoided.

Concluding Remarks
The Right to information is a sine quo non of democratic polity. Information always empowers people and ensures transparency of administration .But peoples access to information is very limited because of the fact that mechanism is not so effective and mans brain deliberatively holds back information. The Right to Information Act 2005 seems to be an effective legislation but what about its effective implementation. And it requires aware and educated people who can use it for their welfare. So government first needs to ensure that a majority of population becomes educated so that this act may survive for a longer period and serve the deprived and poor people of this country. Also a high order Judicial Activism is also necessary regarding the implementation. If it succeeds in its purpose it will necessarily increase public participation.

Many of the problems in implementation of Right to Information Act are due to lack of clear accountability established through appropriate government rules and lack of controls to measure the effectiveness of implementation. The Act needs to be thoroughly amended to not only remove the unjustifiable provisions but also to include necessary provisions like protection of whistleblower, punishments in respect of violation of the provisions and the yet to be constituted Lok Pal bill. There is a need to conduct a thorough study detailing the roles and responsibilities of various entities and establishing a control mechanism. Knowledge by the people about their government is indispensable if democracy is to succeed. The government cannot operate successfully if its activities are veiled in ignorance, misunderstanding and mystery. Public authorities must come into the market place and tell people simply and clearly what they are trying to do and why. They should explain and justify their methods. They should be frank about difficulties and shortcomings. Only by a deliberate effort of this kind can prejudice and ignorant or malevolent criticism be avoided, and a discriminating body of public opinion built up.

There is a move to amend the Right to Information Act so as not to disclose the whole information but selective information which would amount to lack of transparency avoiding the exposure of vested interests and revert to secrecy. While corrupt officials have a stake in trying to keep potentially damaging information secret, many honest officials also resent having to divulge information due to an ingrained culture of secrecy that views answering the publics questions as an attack on their personal power and esteem. While the system allows public access to even cabinet decisions, little is being done to open information relating to the past, or provide reasonable access to information on critical areas like national security.

The campaign for the Right to Information Act was started by grass-roots movements. The idea was to empower people with a legislation and an administrative apparatus that would keep a check on the government. Our Right to Information Act is considered to be one of the best in the world, but it will be effective only if the independence of Right to Information commissions is maintained. The attempt to block access to due notings was defeated by a sustained peoples campaign. A similar effort may be needed to preserve the autonomy and independence of information commissions. An overhaul of information commissions is necessary. They have to be rid of the babu mindset. The penalty clause meant to haul up officials refusing to give correct information has to be effectively used.

It is revealing that the Central Information Commission has not one case to show where an erring official has been penalised. The commissions have to put in place a transparent mechanism where complaints are heard so that decisions are not made on arbitrary or subjective grounds. Proper reporting of the proceedings at the information commissions would ensure accountability. It is in the collective interest of the nation that Right to Information becomes an effective tool to ensure good governance.

Bibliography
Books
Naib, Sudhir, "The Right to Information in India", (2014), Oxford Publications.
Dr. Myneni, S. R., "Media Law with Right to Information Act", 2nd Edn.(2014), Asia Law House.
Dr. Verma, R.K., Dr. Verma, Anuradha, "Right to Information : Law and Practice ", 2nd Edn.(2010), Taxmann Publications.
Dr. Verma, R.K., Dr. Verma, Anuradha, "PIOs guide to RTI ", (2011), Taxmann Publications.
Tandon, Rajesh, "Right to Information: Law and Practice", 2nd Edn.(2015), Lexis Nexis Publications.
Mishra, Sudhanshu Shekhar, "Right to Information and rural development in India", 1st Edn.(2009), New Century Publications.
Roy, Aruna, "The RTI story : Power to the People", 1st Edn.(2018), Roli Books.

Articles
Parmar, Vijaysingh, "Govt issues guidelines for better implementation of RTI act", (2013), available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Government-issues-guidelines-for-better-implementation-of-RTI-Act/articleshow/26536308.cms
Shukla, Ashutosh M, "Report to suggest measures to improve RTI", (2014), available at http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-report-to-suggest-measures-to-improve-rti-2025284
Knoff, Howie, "7 recommendations to improve RTI", (2015), available at http://corwin-connect.com/2015/12/7-recommendations-for-improving-rti/
Sanyal, Sampurna, "Problems and challenges faced by the RTI Act 2005", (2014), available at https://prezi.com/qaywsg-wahir/problems-and-challenges-faced-by-the-rti-act-2005/
"Right to Information (RTI) Act - Need, Application process, Advantages", (2015), available at https://www.careerride.com/view/right-to-information-rti-act-need-application-process-advantages-21375.aspx
Wajahat Habibullah, "Implementation of Right to Information Act: Issues and Challenges", (2009), available at https://www.orfonline.org/research/implementation-of-right-to-information-act-issues-and-challenges/
"Scope of RTI act of India, 2005", (2011), available at http://muddassirshah.blogspot.in/2011/03/scope-of-rti-act-india-2005.html
Tewari, Anshul, "Right to Information : A right to be exploited", (2009), available at https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2009/01/right-to-information-india/
Manoj Kumar Bhati, "Right to Information in India", (2011), available at http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l188-Right-to-Information-in-India.html
Pandey, Anubhav, "All you need to know about RTI in India", (2017), available at https://blog.ipleaders.in/right-to-information-2/

Acts
The Right to Information Act, 2005
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
The Constitution of India, 1950

[1] *Author is the student of BA.LLB.(Hons.), Alliance School of Law, Bangalore
[2] AIR1973 SC 106
[3] AIR1982 SC 149
[4] (1995) 2 SCC 161
[5] AIR 2004 SC 1834
[6] AIR 1978 SC 597

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