The Indian constitution has a provision for providing information regarding the functioning of Government. Though it has been enacted in the Constitution to make the data easily available for the Citizen of India, the RTI Act, 2005 is enacted.
Read our article further to understand the Provisions and features of the Right to Information Act, 2005. And how you can access the secure data and benefit from the act.
Right to Information- RTI Act, 2005
The primary objective of the Right to Information Act, 2005 is to provide right and timely information to the public about the activities of the Government.
As the data and information becomes transparent, the government and the authorities would be more careful with the governance. Thus, the RTI Act, will in turn reduce the corruption and increase the accountability of the officials.
The act is widely used by the journalists, social activities, and moreover the public for obtaining the information with respect to any of the ministries or Departments of Government of India.
The provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 are as follows
Who can ask for the Information?
The information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 is only available for Indian Citizens. Thus, the request and the information regarding the Governance as given in the later part of this article are only available to Indian Citizens.
What are the Departments covered under RTI Act ?
Any authority or body or institution of self-government
- Established or constituted by or under the Constitution
- By any other law made by the Parliament or a State Legislature
- By notification issued or order made by the Central Government or a State Government.
are covered under the RTI Act and having the responsibility to disclose the information as per the request of the citizens.
Thus, all the Ministries and Departments of Government of India are covered under the RTI Act. As of now the 37 Ministries/ Departments are covered under the RTI Act as given below.
- Department of Agriculture Research & Education
- Department of Agriculture & Cooperation
- Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries
- Department of Ayush
- Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Consumer Affairs
- Department of Disinvestment
- Department of Food & Public Distribution
- Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion
- Department of Personnel & Training
- Department of Public Enterprises
- Ministry of Culture
- Ministry of External Affairs
- Ministry of Food Processing Industries
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
- Ministry of Home Affairs
- Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
- Ministry of Panchayati Raj
- Ministry of Power
- Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
- Ministry of Steel
- President Secretariat
- Vice-President Secretariat
- Ministry of Water Resources
- Union Public Service Commission
- Department of Economic Affairs
- Department of Revenue
- Department of Youth Affairs
- Ministry of Environment & Forests
- Department of Heavy Industry
- Ministry of Tourism
- Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
- Ministry of Shipping
- Ministry of Corporate Affairs
- Planning Commission
- Department of Administrative Reforms & PG
Information that can be requested through RTI Act
Individual can only request for the information available with the Public Authority (Institution under State/ government).
The information can be in any material and in any form. Thus, the information can be in the form of records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form.
Moreover, It also includes information relating to any private body which are under the public authority under any law for the time being in force.
Information Exempted under RTI Act, 2005
The following are the information that are exempt from the RTI Act, 2005 for disclosure for the public.
- Information, disclosure of which would prejudicial affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interest of the State, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offense.
- Information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or State Legislature.
- Cabinet papers, including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other Officers.
How to File RTI Application?
If any individual desires for the information from any of the Department/ Ministries of Government of India, he can make an application through both online and offline mode.
You can file an application through the official website of the department, or you can send the physical request to the concerned department by post.
The application should contain the following information
- RTI-Act-2005-Provisions-and-Benefits.
- The evidence of payment of application fee
- Address of the applicant, for getting an information.
Upon submitting the Application through the website, the reference number will be generated. Note this number for future reference and communication.
The authority will be sending you the information in due time, based on the information you requested.
Conclusion
The important objective RTI Act, 2005 is to create a powerful citizen with a collective knowledge about the functioning of government.
The act provides any data in any form with respect to the functioning of Government of India available to the public. Thus, making the officials to be more vigil and culminating the corruption in the society.
We have just covered the basic features of the RTI Act here and we hope this post is helpful for you for any queries please write a comment or Contact Us.