December 10, 2025
Md Nadimul Haque’s Zero Hour mention on the urgent need to strengthen the Right to Information Act
Sir, under Article 19 of our Constitution, the right to seek information has been recognised as the Fundamental Right. Despite this, the RTI Act is being systematically demolished by this Government. When it was introduced, India’s RTI Act was miles ahead of similar laws in other countries. We are the only country where there is a time limit of 30 days for providing information. Sadly, twenty years later, the NDA, that is, ‘No Data Available’ Government, has made a …of the RTI Act. As of November 2025, eight of the ten posts at the Central Information Commission are vacant. To make it worse, India does not have a Chief Information Commissioner since September 2025. Due to this, it takes almost two to three years to dispose of pending second appeals, by which time, the information given becomes useless. This Government likes to talk about digital India. In reality, the RTI website is a nightmare. Over the last several months, the RTI activists have been complaining about website crashes and delayed OTPs. By not fixing the issue, the Government is showing how reluctant and scared it is about disclosing information. We saw the same issue with the Wakf UMEED portal recently, which was full of glitches. Yet the Government not only failed to fix it but also failed to extend the deadline. The people of India demand information, which is their right. The people of Bengal deserve to know as to why Rs.52,000 crores of our pending MNREGA dues have not been released by the Union Government despite court order. We deserve to know by when Bengal’s pending dues of about Rs.2 lakh crores, under various schemes, will be released by the Union Government. We have seen how this Government runs away from accountability in the Parliament. By weakening the RTI Act, the Modi Government is running away from being accountable to the people. In the end, I can only urge the Government to fill vacancies, restore capacity and protect the sanctity of this law and Indian democracy. Otherwise, the RTI Act remains intact on paper, while transparency collapses in practice, and that collapse is entirely this Government’s responsibility. Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!
