United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson and Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the Union Government for making changes in the Right to Information Bill. Calling it as a matter of utmost concern, Sonia Gandhi in a statement said, ‘The Central Government may use its legislative majority to achieve its aims but in the process, it would be disempowering each and every citizen of our country’.
‘It’s clear that the present Central Government sees the RTI Act as a nuisance & wants to destroy the status & independence of the Central Information Commission which was put on par with the Central Election Commission and Central Vigilance Commission’, she further added.
Sonia Gandhi, Congress: It's clear that the present Central Govt sees the RTI Act as a nuisance & wants to destroy the status & independence of the Central Information Commission which was put on par with the Central Election Commission and Central Vigilance Commission. pic.twitter.com/gsy5lqw7on
— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2019
‘It is a matter of utmost concern that the Central Government is hell-bent on completely subverting the historic Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. This law, prepared after wide-spread consultations and passed unanimously by Parliament, now stands on the brink of extinction. Over the past decade and more, 60 lakh of our countrymen and women have used RTI and helped usher in a new culture of transparency and accountability administration at all levels. foundations of our democracy have, as a result, been strengthened immeasurably’, she said in a statement slamming the Union Government.
The Lower House of the Parliament, Lok Sabha, on Monday, cleared the bill approving changes in Right to Information, amid massive of Oppositions that alleged that it was an attempt to undermine the law and make the transparency panel into a “toothless tiger”.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State (MoS) Jitendra Singh said the amendment in the bill is aimed at institutionalization, streamlining and ease of delivery of RTI Act.
ALSO READ:
- Karnataka Crisis: ‘Decision on Floor Test to be taken today’, says Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar
- Calcutta HC extends Former Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s interim protection by one week
- Karnataka Crisis: Shiv Sena seeks HD Kumaraswamy’s resignation; tells Centre to ‘Dismiss govt or impose President’s rule’