Centre trying to strengthen RTI in order to curb its misuse

The Ministry of Information has decided to hold the RTI officials responsible, in case the information sought through the act of the Parliament of India is misused, manipulated or used as a weapon to tarnish the image of the government by the recipient.

New Delhi: The Modi government is deeply troubled with the Right to Information Act (RTI). If sources are to be believed, government officials say that the information sought in RTI is mostly sought to tarnish the image of the government or for misuse. In this regard, the Ministry of Information has decided to hold the officials responsible and also strengthen the Act.

Also, from now on focus will be laid on those queries being sought through RTI and a piece of detailed information in simple language about the query put forward through RTI will need to be provided to the officer.

In addition, it would be mandatory to provide the information clearly in one's colloquial language, so that this info may not be misused by the recipient against the government, manipulated or used as a weapon to tarnish the image of the government. If this happens, then those officers will also be held responsible for it.

If reliable sources of the government are to be believed, the information broadcasting ministry of the government is concerned about a section of the media constantly trying to tarnish the image of the Modi government through information sought by RTI, which officials are unable to handle properly. Even the top ministers of the Government are infuriated and many times officials of the Ministry of Information Broadcasting have also been summoned in this matter.

The Ministry has also decided that any information sought by the RTI in relation to the government will have to be finally passed before the senior officials. Hence, by scrutinizing it completely, it will be seen that no errors creep in or there is no scope for misrepresentation or misinterpretation of information. In other words, efforts are being taken to ensure that the image of the Modi government isn't tarnished nor RTI workers cannot tamper with.

Recently, a journalist of a channel had put up 240 RTI applications seeking information about the lockdown and it was told that the government had imposed the lockdown without consulting the officials.

Last year, a meeting of the Group of Ministers related to RTI was convened in October in which a group of nine ministers had made suggestions in this regard.

Not only this, but the government is also concerned that the government is being targeted at the global level and also at the international level. Hence, the government is instructing officials to increase maximum contact with foreign journalists and also provide clear and correct information from the ground.

It has also been suggested by the Group of Ministers that the Ministry of Information should identify 50 journalists who are spreading false rumours about the government, and another 50 such journalists who have positive views about the government so that the ministry can save the image of the government from being tarnished.