India’s Right to Information (RTI) Act came into force on October 12, 2005. It is one of the strongest transparency laws in the world. It essentially says that if any information cannot be denied to a lawmaker, i.e., a Member of Parliament or state legislature, then it cannot be denied to any citizen of India.

It empowers citizens to be on par with the so-called rulers, who are in essence people’s representatives. It has transformed governance in India. For the first time, citizens had a legally enforceable right to ask questions of the state and expect answers.

It empowered citizens across class, caste, and region to hold government agencies accountable. No longer was the citizen a passive recipient of state authority, and the state was accountable to the citizen.

The RTI was the culmi

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