BJP WEAKENS RTI ACT, DEMOCRACY BEING HOLLOWED OUT: KHARGE

BJP WEAKENS RTI ACT, DEMOCRACY BEING HOLLOWED OUT: KHARGE

14-OCT-ENG 10

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

PATNA----------------------Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the Modi government is weakening the RTI Act. He said that the 2019 amendments to the RTI Act took away the independence of Information Commissioners, and the 2023 Data Protection Act has become a tool to conceal corruption. This has caused serious damage to transparency and democracy.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday accused the Modi government of gradually weakening the Right to Information (RTI) Act and hollowing out democracy and civil rights. Kharge, in a post on the social media platform X, said that 20 years ago, the Congress government under Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi ushered in a new era of transparency and accountability by enacting the RTI Act 2005, but over the past 11 years, the Modi government has consistently weakened it.

Kharge alleged that in 2019, the government amended the RTI Act to control the appointment, salaries, and tenure of Information Commissioners, making independent institutions subservient to the government. He said that the subsequent Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 removes the public interest clause from RTI, eroding transparency and becoming a means of concealing corruption.

Kharge said that the Central Information Commission is functioning without a head, the seventh time in the last 11 years. He also stressed that eight positions have been vacant in the Commission for 15 months, stalling the appeals process and depriving thousands of people of access to justice. A "no data available" mentality prevails in the country today - Kharge

Kharge also said that a "no data available" mentality prevails today. The government avoids providing information on issues such as COVID-19 deaths, NSSO 2017-18, ASUSE 2016-2020, and PM CARES. He claimed that more than 100 RTI activists have been murdered since 2014, creating an atmosphere of fear among truth-tellers and suppressing dissent. The Congress leader concluded by stating that by weakening a powerful democratic tool like the RTI, the government is evading accountability, and this is a direct attack on citizens' rights.