By Venkatesh Nayak* While replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on budgetary proposals for Jammu and Kashmir for the next financial year (2020-2021), the Hon’ble Finance Minister claimed, transparency had increased , corruption had ended and true democracy had been instituted there with the downgrading of the erstwhile State to a Union Territory last year. While the effect of J&K’s status-change on democracy and corruption is something which local people should be able to comment on, the claims of transparency can always be verified by anybody using The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). Here is as sampler. Transparency in apple procurement in J&K How many apples were bought from growers in Jammu and Kashmir under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) that the Central and State/UT level governments implemented through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) during the current season (2019-2020)? The figures these government