As owners of all powers of the state, people have the right of access to all information. To ensure this right of the citizens, Right to Information Act was passed by the parliament in 2009 which makes it mandatory for the authorities to disclose information sought by citizens. While Article 4 of the Act imposes compulsion of disclosure, Article 7 makes some exemption to it. The Article mentions some areas and criteria, information on which are not mandatory to be disclosed. But it has been observed that knowingly or unknowingly, this Article has been misused or wrongly used, thus RTI applicants getting deprived of information.
To make a deeper analysis of the Article, MRDI conducted a perception survey that tried to find its scope, relevance, overlap or conflicting issues and need for expanding or reducing areas of exemption. Methodologies including key informant interview, focus group discussion, divisional workshop and national seminar were applied in conducting the survey. Participants of these interactions shared their perception and made their comments. The survey chalked out a set of recommendations on the basis of the responses, keeping the spirit of the Act in mind. This publication is a compilation of the findings, comments, and recommendations of the survey.
Report perception survey on section 7 of RTIA
