3 months ago
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge connected Friday accused the Narendra Modi-led authorities of systematically weakening the Right to Information (RTI) Act, a time aft the Economic Survey called for a “re-examination” of the astir two-decade-old transparency law.
The Economic Survey, tabled successful Parliament connected Thursday, argued that the RTI Act whitethorn necessitate re-examination. It suggested exempting confidential work records and exploratory oregon draught argumentation discussions from disclosure by introducing a imaginable “ministerial veto”.
Mr. Kharge said these recommendations reflected an intent to dilute nationalist accountability.
‘BJP weakening RTI framework’
The Congress main alleged that the BJP authorities had been weakening the RTI model since coming to powerfulness successful 2014. He pointed to the pendency of implicit 26,000 RTI cases arsenic of 2025 and recalled amendments introduced successful 2019 that allowed the Centre to find the tenure and salaries of Information Commissioners, which, helium claimed, undermined their independence.
Mr. Kharge besides criticised the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, saying it diluted the RTI Act’s nationalist involvement clause. According to him, the instrumentality had been utilized to “weaponise privacy” to artifact accusation and shield wrongdoing from scrutiny.
Referring to organization vacancies, Mr. Kharge said the Central Information Commission (CIC) had functioned without a Chief Information Commissioner until December 2025, marking the seventh lawsuit successful the past 11 years erstwhile the station was near vacant. He described this arsenic a deliberate effort to weaken the transparency regime.
Raising concerns implicit the information of transparency activists, the Congress president claimed that much than 100 RTI activists had been killed since 2014. He besides accused the authorities of failing to instrumentality the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014, passed during the Congress-led UPA government, to support those exposing corruption.
Drawing a parallel with the Centre’s attack to payment schemes, Mr. Kharge asked whether the RTI Act would conscionable the aforesaid destiny arsenic the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). “After sidesplitting MGNREGA, is it RTI’s crook to get murdered?” helium asked.
