Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005

Story hook

It is 15 March 1996 in the village of Devdungri, Bhilwara district, Rajasthan. Aruna Roy + Nikhil Dey + Shankar Singh of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) sit cross-legged before villagers and bureaucrats at a Jan Sunwai (public hearing). Muster rolls of state drought-relief works are read aloud. Half the names are dead people; bills exist for buildings that don't. Within hours, ~Rs.3 crore of embezzlement in one block is documented.

The MKSS demand grows into the slogan "Hamara paisa, hamara hisab" — "our money, our accounts". Tamil Nadu (1997) becomes the first state with an RTI law; eight more follow. National Advisory Council (2004) drafts the central Bill. On 15 June 2005, Parliament unanimously passes the Right to Information Act. It comes into force on 12 October 2005.

By 2024, ~1.5 crore applications have been filed. RTI has exposed 2G (Rs.1.76 lakh crore CAG estimate), Commonwealth Games, Adarsh, Vyapam, the Rafale procurement, the PM-CARES Fund opacity, and countless local-government corruption cases. The CIC ruling on the CJI's office (Subhash Chandra Agrawal v. CPIO, 5-judge, 2020) brought the Supreme Court itself under RTI.

But the RTI Amendment Act 2019 put CIC tenure + salary in Centre's hands — civil society called it the "Defang RTI" law. For UPSC, RTI is the most-tested transparency law in GS-II.

Why this matters for UPSC

• Prelims: 1-2 questions almost every year on sections, time limits, exemptions, CIC structure, 2019 Amendment.
• Mains GS-II: Pure RTI essays — effectiveness, amendments, whistleblower link, CJI office case.
• Interview: "Have you used RTI?" + "Has 2019 Amendment hurt RTI?".