Introduction: RTI and Democratic Governance

The Right to Information Act, 2005 is widely regarded as one of India's most transformative pieces of legislation. It operationalises the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to include the right to know (S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, 1982). It also reflects the constitutional principles of Article 21 (right to life with dignity) and Articles 38 and 39 (Directive Principles on welfare and just social order).

The RTI Act displaced the Official Secrets Act, 1923 — a colonial-era law that presumed government information to be secret by default. The RTI Act inverts this presumption: government information is public by default; secrecy is the exception that must be justified.

Genesis: The RTI movement in India grew from grassroots activism, particularly the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan led by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey in the 1990s. The MKSS organised jan sunwais (public hearings) where citizens compared official records with actual work done — revealing large-scale embezzlement in public works and employment programmes. Rajasthan enacted the Right to Information Act in 2000, five years before the central law.