Right To Information Act Merits And Demerits 
“Where is the life: we have lost in living Where is the wisdom, we have lost in knowledge Where is the knowledge, we have lost in information. - T S Eliot Where is the information, we have lost in suppression. -V.R. Krishna Iyer
Introduction
The veil of secrecy that has traditionally shrouded activities of government is being progressively lifted and this has had a salutary effect on the functioning of governments in free societies. As a major step in India’s march to becoming, not only the world’s largest, but also the world’s most intense democracy. The Right to Information act has indeed, in one stroke, brought, till recently the unforeseeable, reality, the right of every citizen of India to access information held by or under the control of not only the executive but also of the judiciary and the legislature, from the office of the president of India to that of the humblest village council. 1 As would be expected, this step has elicited much debate and discussion across India’s civil society both in town and country side. More recently, based on the experience of the last few years, much has also begun to be written on the subject. “Earlier thought the preserve of only the most developed countries among the world’s democracies, the right to information is now looked upon as a necessary component of any democracy. To make such democracy real even in those countries which are still categorized as ‘developing’, the Right to Information is increasingly considered an inseparable part of any public participation in the process of governance and hence of development”. - Wajahat Habibullah Former Chief Information commissioner India.
Mac Bride rightly argues:
“If individuals are
Introduction
The veil of secrecy that has traditionally shrouded activities of government is being progressively lifted and this has had a salutary effect on the functioning of governments in free societies. As a major step in India’s march to becoming, not only the world’s largest, but also the world’s most intense democracy. The Right to Information act has indeed, in one stroke, brought, till recently the unforeseeable, reality, the right of every citizen of India to access information held by or under the control of not only the executive but also of the judiciary and the legislature, from the office of the president of India to that of the humblest village council. 1 As would be expected, this step has elicited much debate and discussion across India’s civil society both in town and country side. More recently, based on the experience of the last few years, much has also begun to be written on the subject. “Earlier thought the preserve of only the most developed countries among the world’s democracies, the right to information is now looked upon as a necessary component of any democracy. To make such democracy real even in those countries which are still categorized as ‘developing’, the Right to Information is increasingly considered an inseparable part of any public participation in the process of governance and hence of development”. - Wajahat Habibullah Former Chief Information commissioner India.
Mac Bride rightly argues:
“If individuals are