Skip to main content

New RTI rules could put whistleblowers at risk, say activists

By

THE DRAFT RULE COMES AT A TIME WHEN NEW DATA CONFIRMS THAT 65 RTI APPLICANTS HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE 2005, WHEN THE LAW CAME INTO FORCE
The government will soon notify new Right to Information (RTI) rules, which can put a whistleblower's life in danger and allow appeals to be withdrawn, as per its  commitment in the Supreme Court.
Activists say this will weaken the only law that empowers citizens to question the government.
The Centre told the Supreme Court earlier this year that it was in the process of framing new rules for regulating the transparency law in an appeal filed by  information watchdog Central Information Commission (CIC) with the apex court.
The CIC had challenged the Delhi high court order nullifying its 2007 regulation, saying they were in violation of the RTI Act. In absence of any regulation, the CIC  was finding regulating appeals difficult and approached the Supreme Court for redress.
During hearing, the Centre gave an undertaking that new rules in consultation with the CIC will be notified soon. The government has also assured court that it will  put in place a fresh set of RTI rules to include some of the provisions contained in the 2007 CIC regulations. The case will be heard on May 2.
The draft rule issued by the department of personnel and training has raised a lot of hackles among RTI activists as it comes at a time when new data confirms that 65  RTI applicants have been killed since 2005, when the law came into force, and over 400 assaulted. “The most dangerous aspect of the new rule is abatement (lapse  without action being taken) in case of death of the applicant. This is in clear violation of the CIC resolution of September 2011 that spoke of proactive disclosure of  information sought by the applicant after his or her death,” said Ventakesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
Another area of concern was regarding a provision that allowed an applicant to withdraw appeal before the CIC.
The Hindustan Times New Delhi, 26th April 2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

By
  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...
Post a Comment
Read more