Peoples' Right to Information in India – Deepening Democracy?

ABOUT THE TALK: India’s Right to Information (RTI) Act provides a practical regime for people to exercise their fundamental right to information. The law has empowered people to meaningfully participate in democracy. Estimates suggest that every year four to six million RTI applications are filed across the country. The law has been used extensively in the last 19 years to secure access to basic rights and hold governments accountable for corruption and abuse of power. It has also been used to question the highest authorities of the country on their performance, their decisions and their conduct. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Anjali Bhardwaj is a leading human rights activist who has been closely associated with the Right to Information (RTI) movement in India since the year 2000 and is a Co-Convenor of the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI). She has co-authored several national assessments on the implementation of the RTI Act in India and has been a petitioner in landmark cases in the Supreme Court of India on furthering peoples’ right to information. In 2021, Ms Bhardwaj was recognized by the US State Department as one of the 12 global 'anti-corruption champions’. Additionally, she is the founder of Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a group encouraging citizens’ participation in government in the slum settlements of Delhi. She will be accompanied by Amrita Johri who is a working committee member of the NCPRI and has been involved in campaigns for safeguarding and furthering the RTI Act.