What is Right to Information (RTI) Act

Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, a citizen of India has the right to demand information from any government body. The government body has to provide the information within 30 days. If it is a life-threatening matter, the answer should be provided within 24 hours. However, this does not include information that might compromise the country's security. This act has helped make the working of government offices more transparent and accountable.

This law was passed by Parliament on 15 June 2005 and came fully into force on 12 October 2005, has given the people the right to information. People could now demand to know what is happening in government bodies. Every day, over 4800 RTI applications are filed. In the first ten years of the commencement of the act over 17,500,000 applications had been filed.

RTI is a fundamental right for every citizen of India. The authorities under RTI Act 2005 are called quasi-judicial authorities. This act was enacted in order to consolidate the fundamental right in the Indian constitution 'freedom of speech'. Since RTI is implicit in the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, it is an implied fundamental right.