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Right to information
Official Secrets Act
had been passed during British Period at the regime of 
LordCurgeon
. According to this the security and unity of the country can be maintained if the public document would be made confidential from the general public, in practical theyhad made every document confidential. Hence the citizens were being deprived from notonly public information but also their personal information. Due to this Act the publicofficers were continuously terrifying the citizens by making the thing confidential. Thistradition had been maintained even after the independence, but due to this practicecorruption, exploitation, inactivity, inefficiency, have been rampant at large scale.To remove these evils
“right to know”
had been made fundamental right under right tofreedom of speech and expression provided by
Article 19 (1) (a)
. It is said that it is theera of transparency so there is no use of making any thing confidential. It includes theright to know about the information of conduction of government except the matter relating the security of country and public interest, in which case the information can not be revealed. So right to know is the fundamental right where no restriction can be madeexcept the ground of restrictions given in
Article19 (2).
The main objectives of this Act are to secure access to information under the control of  public authority, to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. The demand for this right had been insisting since last many years, and itwas said that right to information is the most essential right under democratic system, sothat every citizen may know how the authority perform their action. The objectives of thisAct are to improve transparency and openness.
Problems and Hindrances:
But after the enforcement of this Act there are many irregularities in implementation.
•
Though there is clear penal provision for not providing information withinspecified time, but it is not enough. The official deliberately does not provideinformation. Many times our organization members had not received requiredinformation from Education Department, Children Department and CommunityDevelopment Society (CDS).
 
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Many times our organization members received wrong information in relation toration card and ration shop.
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Where an application is made to public authority for an information which is held by another public authority, the public authority to which such application ismade, shall transfer the application to that public authority and inform theapplicant immediately about such transfer, but the former public authority returnsthe application to the applicant which charges extra postage cost and unnecessarydelay and sometimes the validity of the postal order may be expired. Thusauthorities are clearly violating the provisions of section 6(3).
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Some organization members have been threatened by the quota holders aboutwhom the information has been demanded.
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Many times the authority refused to provide information by saying that therequired information does not belong with their designation and department. Lotsof money is spent in follow up procedure. So for any information he has to paytwo, three or more times for postage.
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Lacks of resources are the main problems. The authorities are not entertaininghand written application. Fees and postage charges are also creating hindrances tothe poor people.
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Many times the authority is providing indirect information or insufficientinformation.
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The illiterate people are not able to exercise their under Right to Information asthey are totally unaware about this Act.India became free from British Rule 60 years ago. The government officials havecontinuously exploited the citizens in name of confidentiality. Due to this the citizens are being deprived from many scheme of the government which has been introduced time totime for welfare purposes. Confidentially causes lots of corruption in offices of government department, like about the scheme, budget of the scheme, functioning of thescheme, and so on. Many scams had taken place in budget of various schemes. Thegovernment officials do not tell the citizens about the scheme, and they misappropriatedthe budget and the citizens remained unaware about the scheme. It causes loss togovernment and citizens both. So Right to Information Act, 2005 provides the citizens
 
right to know about the functioning of government. But making Law or Act is notenough; its implementation is foremost thing. As it is said that every law should befollowed in letter and spirit both so if this Act would be implemented properly, after next60 years the India can be assumed corruption free and there would neither any exploiter nor any body being exploited.
Suggestions:
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Though as per section 7(1) of the Act, information should be provided within 30days from the date of filing of application but the public authority takes 30 days in providing information. There should be immediate action on application for information. Thirty days duration provides opportunities to authorities to delay in providing information.
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Though there is penal provision for providing wrong information, yet it does not provide any relief to the applicant. The applicant should be provided requiredinformation immediately.
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The quality of the paper of information is inferior, and it destroys very shortly.
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Though there is penalty for noncompliance of right to information act, but thereshould be penal provision to make the Act more effective.
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There should be review committee at district level in the presidency of DM,which reviews the application for information along with the action taken on theapplication. The committee should inquire the numbers of application from everydepartment; know about the action taken by the authorities on the application. Thecommittee should also check that how many information have been provided andhow many application have been kept in pending.
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There should be a review committee at state level which inquires the activities of district level review committee quarterly. It should ask DM about its monthlyactivities and report.
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All information regarding the submitted application, action taken on suchapplication, and information provided on such application should be published atthe official website of district, so that any body can check the status of hisapplication.
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