RTI DECEASED: THE STATE OF DEMOCRATIC UNFREEDOM

Posted on 26/05/2023 (GMT 08:00 hrs)

Updated on 14/06/2023 (GMT 17.09 hrs)

RTI is dead! RIP RTI! Alas! RTI has breathed its last…

The RTI Act (2005) was introduced in India to ensure democratic accountability and dialogue between the so-called “governing class” and the so-called “governed”. However, given the rise of democratic un-freedom in the past couple of decades (as pointed out by various international forums and media-houses such as Freedom House, V-Dem Institute, Amnesty International etc.), the RTI as a democratic tool has ceased to operate as a link between the public domain and the ruling class’ shadowy realm.

The RTI Activists have constantly engaged in ensuring transparency in every sphere and layer of the administrative/bureaucratic hierarchy by posing pertinent questions to the concerned authorities by means of this RTI tool. Even so, the opacity of governmentality has forever overshadowed this channel of smooth, direct, unhindered communication, e.g., no…