Anjali Bhardwaj & Amrita Johri - The Modi Govt Is Trying To Destroy The RTI Act // Big Brother Logs On? 10 Central Agencies Can Now Snoop On Any Computer

By Dilip -
Secrecy in amending the RTI Act as well as in the appointment of Information Commissioners in the CIC reveal the government's intention to destroy the spirit of the transparency law.
With over 6 million information applications filed every year, the Indian Right to Information (RTI) Act is the most extensively used transparency legislation globally. The law has empowered ordinary citizens to hold the government accountable. It has been used for a range of issues: from exposing lapses in the delivery of essential services and violation of basic rights, to questioning the highest authorities of the country on their performance, their decisions, and even their conduct.

A critical provision of the RTI Act, which gives it teeth, is the setting up of independent information commissions, in states and at the centre, to receive appeals and complaints about violations of the Act. The commissions are the final adjudicators under the law and are empowered to direct governments to disclose information and impose penalties on erring officials. Thus, the information commissions are seen as playing a critical role in guaranteeing peoples’ right to information.
In recent years, there have been several significant and politically sensitive decisions by information commissions, including directing the RBI to declare names of loan defaulters, declaring political parties to be public authorities under the ambit of the RTI Act and ordering the Delhi University to provide information regarding the results of the batch of 1978, the year in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims to have graduated… read more:
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/the-modi-govt-is-trying-to-destroy-the-rti-act-thats-dangerous-for-democracy_in_5c1b6318e4b0407e90775ad4?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage

Big Brother Logs On? 10 Central Agencies Can Now Snoop On Any Computer
NEW DELHI: Investigating agencies will have more sweeping powers to intercept and monitor information on computer devices after a new home ministry order signed by Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday. Ten central agencies have been equipped with powers of "interception, monitoring and decryption of any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer".

HIGHLIGHTS
  1. Home Ministry gives 10 central agencies sweeping powers
  2. Can now intercept, monitor data on any computer, not just emails, calls
  3. Includes Intelligence Bureau, anti-narcotics and tax agencies
The agencies listed in the ministry order are the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, CBI, National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat (R&AW), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (in Jammu and Kashmir, North-East and Assam only) and the Delhi Police Commissioner.

"For the first time, powers of scanning data at rest have been given to various agencies. Earlier, only data in motion could be intercepted. But now data revived, stored and generated can also be intercepted as powers of seizure have been given," a senior bureaucrat explained to NDTV..
read more:
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ministry-of-home-affairs-order-investigative-agencies-can-now-snoop-on-any-computer-centre-clears-ne-1965954?pfrom=home-topscroll

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