Caravan News
NEW DELHI – National political group Welfare Party of India (WPI) on Thursday termed the RTI amendments made by the Narendra Modi government a ‘process to strengthen totalitarian form of government’.
Condemning strongly the Modi government for the amendments in the Act, Dr SQR Ilyas, national president of Welfare Party of India, said that it is a process to strengthen the totalitarian form of government and to discourage transparency and accountability in the government departments.
Expressing his concerns over the amendments, he said that the amendments proposes to change the tenure and salary of the Chief Information Commissioner and other Information Commissioners, which can be used to threaten or lure them with arbitrary removal/ extension/curtailment in order to suit the government and called this move dangerous.
Dr Ilyas pointed out at the recent order issued by the government that “All the documents/information which the government feels privy and the disclosure of the same may hamper the interest of the state shall be exempted from revealing to the public even on the request under the RTI Act, destroying transparency and accountability,
has already weakened the Act and this move is another step forward to destroy the democratic institutions in the country.
He appealed to the people to stand in solidarity and oppose the present move and to protect and uphold democracy.
Ignoring strong objections from the opposition parties, the amendments to the Right to Information Act were passed in the both houses Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
