?Democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed?, says the preamble of the Indian Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The act provides effective access to information for citizens of India, which is under the control of the public authorities. It promotes transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. The Right to Information Bill, 2005 was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 11, 2005 and by the Rajya Sabha on May 12, 2005 and received the assent of the President of India on June 15, 2005 and came to force on October 12, 2005.
This Briefing paper analyses the highlights and the status of implementation of the RTI Act in India and also looks at similar laws in other countries. (
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