Democracy is meaningless if you didnt get the answer to your questions.

The right to information is a basic right that's in line with the principles and spirit of Democracy. India, being the largest democracy in the world enacted this wonderful piece of Legislation in 2005. It's intended for ensuring accountability and transparency of a Govt office, or such offices that are substantially funded by the Govt Exchequer. RTI being the worlds mostly used legislation, has made a tremendous impact on Governance as it often referred to as a Damocles sword hanging above the rulers. But, the recent trend of stockpiling the RTI applications is an alarming reflection of the weakening democracy.

It's noticed that there are 3,14,323 RTI applications are now pending in India at different levels. As it have four layers starting from Central Assistant Public information officer, Appellate Division, State public information officer, and then Central public information officer, in a bottom- up fashion, delay in reply from any of these layers(30 days+ further 15days) is smockscreening on transparency and accountability. The most number of pending cases are reported from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal. There is a shocking estimate that the information commission will take another 24 years to clear the pending cases under RTI in West Bengal. With respect to the RTI act, 2005, the authorities are bound to pay penalties if they fail to provide the information unless that are not considered with confidentiality. But in case of 95% pending applications, there is no penalty imposed by the state so far.

Another reason for stockpiling of RTI, is the lack of Human Resources. In the state of Jharkhand and Tripura, the state information commission was defunct for 29 months and 15 months respectively. In Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, and Anthrapradesh there is no Cheif public information commission. In total, one fourth of the posts comes under information commission remain vacant. There is only 5% women in the entire workforce, so women are also not adequately represented.

As we all once cherished for RTI, now these trends show the picture of RTI as a toothless tiger. The Govt, despite the intentions of incumbency, should act immediately to uphold the power of RTI and the principles of democracy. The vacant posts need to be filled immediately and the backlogged cases should be disposed by launching some special interventions. Without the right to question and the Right to receive answers, 'Democracy' is a meaningless word.