Page 200 - SST Class 07

The government has a law by which a bribe-taker Information Officers in all districts. All
can be punished, but it involves a complicated government offices have a designated post of
procedure, so most of the people prefer to pay a Information Officer. An application can be filed
bribe. In our case, Shivam is not willing to pay a with an Information Officer seeking to know the
bribe; at the same time, he does not want to information regarding the status of any work,
involve himself in a complicated procedure as well. record, application etc. The Information Officer is
What can he do? responsible to give this information to the
applicant. It is his duty to see why a job was not
RIGHT TO INFORMATION done within the specified time limit. If it was not
done within a specified time limit, it is necessary
There are a lot of people like Shivam who are
compelled to pay a bribe to get their jobs done in for him to take action against the erring
different government offices. The jobs of people government employee. The time limit for giving
such an information is 30 days.
are obstructed by the government employees only
with a motive to get a bribe, though they too are Quiz Time
well aware that taking a bribe is a crime. But Write True or False :
getting a government employee caught red-
handed is a complicated procedure and we 1. Some state governments passed a Right to
cannot expect all people to go for it. So, some Information Act. ______
people raised their voice. They staged dharnas, 2. The government has not fixed a certain system
took out processions, wrote in the newspapers, for all types of jobs. ______
and made a favourable popular opinion that they 3. Bribe is a chief source of corruption in our
should be informed why any job is being society. ______
obstructed in a government office. The
government had to bow to this demand. Some 4. Commercial advertising has resulted in
______
consumerism.
state governments passed a Right to Information
Act. These state governments were Delhi, 5. All government offices have a designated post
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, of Information Officer. ______
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Goa. Under Definition of ‘Information’
these acts, it was compulsory for a government
Information means any material held in any form
office to inform the concerned applicant the
position of any case. Then the national Right to with a government agency, i.e., files, records for
Information Act, 2005 (RTI) was passed. This law tenders, contracts, agreements, memoranda of
understanding, log books, notifications,
is applicable to whole of the country.
applications, orders, correspondence etc.,
including emails, letters, opinions, advices,
samples, materials in electronic formats and
audio/visual materials.
Thus, we see that all types of government records
can be sought from the government, except those
which involve national security.
A police station A block A road transport
development office office Meaning of ‘Right to Information’

Right to Information Act, 2005 The right to information means :
Under this law, the Chief Information Commission q The right to seek any information from any
of India has been set up at New Delhi and State government authority.
Information Commissions have been set up in q The right to take certified copies of records
state capitals. Under them, have been appointed
held by a government authority.
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