Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

RTI Act

If the proposed amendments to the Right to Information Act are passed, it will be rendered a toothless tiger. That the Government has bowed to public pressure and deferred the amendment on file notings is welcome. In a democracy, the people are supreme. They have every right to know how a government they elect functions.

P.T. Abraham,
Kochi, Kerala

Any person familiar with the working of the government machinery will find the demand of the champions of right to information on including the file-notings in the purview of the Act absurd. A citizen should be enabled to get factual information within a timeframe but should have no right to demand how a decision was taken and who wrote what on an issue.

File notings at various levels may refer to notings on other files carrying precedents and connected documents of confidential nature. The government will become a laughing-stock if it is made duty-bound to furnish pages and pages of xerox copies of file-notings to anyone for his or her mere asking.

La.Su. Rengarajan,
Chennai

One wonders how many are going to benefit from the RTI Act. In rural areas, people are not even aware that such an Act exists. Have all the State Governments appointed Information Commissioners? Can the poor afford to pay for information? These are some issues the Government should address immediately.

G. Nagender,
Nalgonda, A.P.

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