Survey

Objective of the Study

1 to study the awareness about the provisions of RTI Act among law students

2 to study the perception about the RTI act among law students.

Method

This is an exploratory study initiated through questionnaire with the help of primary data. Law
students were respondents for this study. Random sampling technique is used to select the target
population. Simple statistical Techniques like tabulation, percentile were used for data analysis. The
sample size is of 50 units.

Limitations of the study:

The study was conducted on the basis of the data collected from limited respondents. Therefore
findings of the study may not be applicable to the larger population. Time and resource constraint is
also applicable.

Data analysis and findings;

Q (1) Are you aware of the political environment during which the idea of a Right to Information
came into being?

Findings of the question no 1- 60% respondents were aware of the political environment during
which the idea of a Right to Information came into being.

Q(2) Is Right to Information a tool to curb corruption at a Pan-India Level?

Findings of the question no 2- the survey revealed that 70 % of the respondents said that Yes RTI
should cover every Agency Authority or body in Power.

Q(3) Do you feel RTI is a bridge to reduce the gap between the individual and the State?

Findings of question no 3- the survey revealed that 100% of the respondents felt RTI is a bridge to
reduce the gap between the individual and the State

Q(4) Do you feel that certain pre-conditions are necessary to access the Right to Know?

Findings of the question no 4- the survey revealed that 100% of the Respondents felt that certain
pre-conditions are necessary to access the Right to Know.

Q(5) Are you aware of the recent Ammendment to the Right to Informaton Act and the repercussion
on the “Right to Know” of the same?

Findings of the question no 5 –the survey revealed that 40% of the respondents were aware of the
recent Ammendment to the Right to Informaton Act and the repercussion on the “Right to Know” of
the same.
From the study it can be concluded that the level of awareness RTI act among Law students is high..
Majority of the respondents felt that it is milestone legislation that could curb corruption. it is a
powerful tool of citizen empowerment. Respondents felt that it will improve the accountability and
transparency in the public offices.

It can be said that the right to information plays a vital role in promoting transparency,
accountability, openness, good governance, empowerment of citizens and curb corruption. It is a
feather on the cap of the Indian Democracy.

Conclusion

To start with, the RTI Amendment Bill has been drafted in complete negation of all standards of pre-
legisltive consultation. Shashi Tharoor called it a RTI Elimination Bill. The proposed changes were not
put in the public domain before being recorded in Parliament. This blocked any plausibility of
citizens communicating their perspectives, recommendations and concerns about the substance of
the Bill.

The RTI Act, 2005 was sanctioned because of a people's movement with broad contributions from
citizens of differing Socioeconomic strata .This brought about the making of a law which is viewed as
one of the most progressive information access legislations in the world. No alterations to the law
must be made without following a due democratic procedure of consultation with the citizens of
India who have requested, utilized and protected this legislation.

Second, the proposed amendment would drastically undermine citizens fundamental right to
information. The ammendments seek to end the autonomy of information commissions — the final
adjudicators under the law, responsible for ensuring that provisions of the RTI Act are not violated.

This change has provoked discomfort among many, including the activists behind the people’s
movement that led to the RTI Act 2005, feeling that this change will make those officials upholding
the right to information vulnerable to pressure from the government. If this pressure affects the
behaviour of these officers, the integrity of the right to information becomes compromised.

The RTI law fixes the tenure of information commissioners at five years, subject to the retirement
age of 65 years. The salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the chief of the Central
Information Commission are fixed at the same level as that of the chief election commissioner.
Those of the central information commissioners and state chief commissioners, are on a par with
election commissioners. The chief and other election commissioners are paid a salary equal to the
salary of a judge of the Supreme Court, which is decided by Parliament.

The amendments seek to empower the central government to decide the tenure, salaries,
allowances and other terms of service of all information commissioners in the country. This is a clear
aendeavour to undermine their independence as it would possibly make commissioners compliant
with the wishes of the government at the Centre, lest their tenures or salaries are adversely
impacted.

Third, the rationale provided for the amendments is utterly irrational. The Bill states that treating
information commissioners on a par with Officers of the election commission is incorrect, as the
latter is a constitutional body while information commissions are statutory bodies.
There is, however, nothing keeping any law from ensuring tenure, and protecting terms of service of
statutory regulatory bodies by equating them to Officers of constitutional bodies. In fact, this
practice is being followed for various institutions, including the CVC and the Lokpal. The fixed tenure
and high status conferred on commissioners under the RTI Act is to engage them to carry out their
functions independently and direct even the highest offices to comply with the provisions of the law.

Fourth, the Indian RTI Act has engaged a huge number of Indians to hold public functionaries
responsible for delivery of fundamental rights and entitlements. Anywhere between fourty and sixty
lakh RTI applications are filed every year across the nation, of which an enormous extent are by the
poorest and the most marginalised who seek information about their basic rights denied to them
due to corruption.

Sunita Devi, a slum inhabitant in Delhi, was not provided her rations under the Public Distribution
System (PDS) for years on the pretext that her ration shop was not receiving foodgrains. When an
Application was filed by her under the RTI Act and when she received a copy of the Monthly Stock
Register of her ration Shop, she found out that her ration shop was receiving its 100% quota every
month.

When she filed an application under the RTI Act and received a copy of the monthly stock register of
her ration shop, it showed that the shop was receiving its full quota of ration every month. The sale
register was full of names of Individuals who were either dead or didn’t live in slums.

Using this information, Sunita uncovered the Corruption in the PDS in her electorate constituency
and obtained justice for herself and thousands like her

Using the information obtained, Sunita exposed the corruption in the PDS in her constituency and
managed to get justice, not just for herself, but thousands like her. The RTI Act has empowered
citizens like Sunita Devi to access their right to food, old age pensions, water, sanitation, healthcare
and education.

Any attempt to dilute the law would deal a blow to the ability of people living at the margins, in
remote villages and slums of the country, to hold the government accountable for the delivery of
basic services and rights.

Finally, the RTI Act has been used broadly by citizens to question the major offices in the country. In
order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority right to
information has no alternative. RTi is a powerful tool that can deliver significant social benefits.
Other than just providing information it has been a guardian ensuring all those coming under its
purview to work in accordance with rules and regulations without any irregularities. People have
used the law to verify the educational qualifications of elected representatives and sought
information about assets held by public servants. Innumerable big-ticket scams, like the Vyapam
scam and the Adarsh scam have been unearthed using the RTI Act. The law has given people an
opportunity to closely monitor the functioning of their government and participate meaningfully in
the process of governance. On issues like NPAs, demonetisation, RBI, etc., the information
commission got the government to reveal significant information- something it can do only if it has
both authority and independence. Any dilution of the legislation, which is being used so effectively
to show truth to power, would be detrimental for the country.

The Modi led BJP Government came under fire from several activists and opposition members for
the proposed amendments into the RTI Act. They also alleged that the Modi govt was trying to make
the RTI toothless. Rahul Gandhi tweeted “Government is diluting RTI in order to help the corrupt
steal from India. Strange that the normally vociferous anti-corruption crowd has suddenly
disappeared”

The opposition and activists said that this will hamper the autonomy of the Information Commission.

The amendment has the possibility to give the BJP government complete control over the CIC and
his office. The skeletal framework of the Central Information Commission remains in place, but
without the vital organs. This is the Gujarat model of governance at work.

Public and political opposition to the RTI Amendment Bill has forced Modi sarkar to defer its
introduction in Parliament. One hopes that the government will drop the idea of amending this
seminal piece of legislation. In the meantime, there is little choice but to collectively oppose the
onslaught on our fundamental right to information.

Political View

The Narendra Modi government seemed to be strong after its re-election. However now it seems to
be scared of the Right to Information (RTI) and the Chief Information Commission (CIC) as if they
were a threat to their power.

Under the RTI Act The Information Commissioner in India, is like a Toothless monster. It is so weak
that is cannot even enforce its own order.

Inspite of being Independent, the fostered culture of secrecy, which is so imbibed in the civil
servants that they are unable to come out of it before they have moved on to transparency duties.

It seems as if the Government is scared of the bureaucratic persons, Who appeared stunned because
of the vast number of citizens who seek information about about the functions of these bureaucrats.

The CIC can, at his maximum impose a penalty of Rs. 25000. It cannot even enforce its own order.
The Commission does bot have the power of the Central Administrative Tribunal.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the YSR Congress Party (Andhra Pradesh) and the Biju Janata
Dal (Odisha) were the major regional parties who defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- who
initially were against the Bill in The Lok Sabha, but helped them in the Rajya Sabha, which resulted in
a smooth passage of the Bill.

The RTI Ammendment just added a feeble power to the Central Government against citizens who
aresubjected to corrupt governance continuously.

The Governments anxiety is so intense that they have not disclosed what term and Salary is to be
given to the IC’s. The unaware Parliamentarians who ascented to the Bill without thinking of the
consequences. The Government was so audacious to not answer the MP’s who demanded
information about what the Government was going to prescribe.