Question

Give information about the 'Right to Information Act'.

Answer 1

1. This kind of Act was first applied in Sweden in 1776. In 1946, The United Nations declared the right to information a fundamental human right. In 1982, L.K. Kulwal, a resident of Jaipur in Rajasthan and a social activist, initiated the process by applying to know the Jaipur Municipal Corporation's work for cleaning the city.
2. In the case filed in this matter, the High Court gave a clear verdict stating that the 'Right to Information' is a fundamental right of all citizens. 1990 Aruna Roy started the 'Majdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan' movement.
3. A need for the 'Right to Information' was expressed through this movement. The Divisional Commissioner of Bilaspur at that time, Harsh Mander, showed courage in disclosing official information while serving as a bureaucrat. The information he disclosed was in the context of distributing food grains in lieu of daily wages.
4. The struggle of Anna Hazare in 2001, had a decisive role in Maharashtra in this matter. The Act was implemented in Maharashtra on 12th October 2005.
5. The definition of the term' information' includes official records, documents, memoranda, e-mails, comments, consultations, press notes, circulars, orders, logbooks, tenders, reports, correspondence, formats, models, electronic data, the information of private institution or an individual that is available in the records of any public establishment.
6. Right to information grants access to official documents, records, permission to obtain their copies, to take notes, to extract passages, to get samples of authorized material and prints of data stored in CDs, Floppy discs, Tapes, Video Cassettes, or in any other form, or stored on computers.
7. Citizens can get the desired information after applying for a public authority's 'Information Officer' position.