Nation marks 10 years of Digital India, yet RTI filing with Parliament remains offline

As India commemorates a decade of the ambitious Digital India mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1, 2015, a critical digital gap remains unaddressed: citizens still cannot file Right to Information (RTI) applications online with the Indian Parliament.

While the RTI Act, passed in 2005, empowers citizens to seek information from public authorities, there remains no online provision for submitting RTI queries to the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. This is despite the Central Government having launched the online RTI portal (www.rtionline.gov.in) more than a decade ago, facilitating e-filing of applications to most central ministries and departments.

However, Parliament — the very institution that enacted the RTI Act — is not covered under this portal. The Lok Sabha, designated as a “competent authority” under the RTI Act, is responsible for establishing its own rules and systems. To date, it has not set up a digital mechanism for RTI submission.

Ironically, the Digital Sansad platform (https://sansad.in/), created under the Digital India mission to make parliamentary proceedings more accessible, also lacks a link or facility to file RTI applications. No separate online RTI portal exists for Parliament either.

As a result, citizens are compelled to follow the outdated method of sending a physical application along with a ₹10 Indian Postal Order or Demand Draft to the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) at the Lok Sabha Secretariat in New Delhi. This process is time-consuming, expensive, and contradicts the eco-friendly and paperless vision of the Digital India initiative.

The RTI helpline operated by Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (Phone: 9924085000) contacted the CPIO of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, who acknowledged that an online Sansad RTI portal is “in the process of development.” Until it becomes operational, the old physical filing method remains the only option.

Inquiries with the CPIO of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs also revealed that citizens cannot file RTIs concerning Parliament through the central RTI portal either, further highlighting the administrative loophole.

“Even after 20 years of the RTI Act and 10 years of Digital India, Parliament has no provision for online RTI filing. It’s a glaring omission that questions the seriousness of the government’s commitment to digital transparency,” said Pankti Jog, Executive Secretary of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel.

This digital exclusion of Parliament from the RTI ecosystem not only contradicts the core goals of the Digital India mission — such as easy access to services and reduced carbon footprint — but also undermines the constitutional right of citizens to seek information efficiently.

Comments

Disappearing schools: India's education landscape undergoing massive changes

The other day, I received a message from education rights activist Mitra Ranjan, who claims that a whopping one lakh schools across India have been closed down or merged. This seemed unbelievable at first sight. The message from the activist, who is from the advocacy group Right to Education (RTE) Forum, states that this is happening as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, which floated the idea of school integration/consolidation.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. I don't know who owns this site, for there is nothing on it in the About Us link. It merely says, the Nashik Corporation site "is an educational and news website of the municipal corporation. Today, education and payment of tax are completely online." It goes on to add, "So we provide some of the latest information about Property Tax, Water Tax, Marriage Certificate, Caste Certificate, etc. So all taxpayer can get all information of their municipal in a single place.some facts about legal and financial issues that different city corporations face, but I was least interested in them." Surely, this didn't interest...

Did Bank of India send a fake SMS, or is its website under attack?

On the evening of February 14, after banking hours, I received a strange SMS from Bank of India (BOI)—where I maintain a very small, largely inactive account. I had opened it years ago simply because a branch was located near my home. However, finding their services quite poor, I rarely use it anymore.

A story Gujarat forgot: Dalits and the Dakor temple movement

The other day, I was talking with Martin Macwan, a well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader. He revealed to me an interesting chapter of the Gandhian movement in Gujarat — how Ravishankar Maharaj (1884–1984), a prominent Gandhian social reformer of the state, played a pivotal role in the struggle for temple entry for Dalits (then referred to as Harijans) in the late 1940s.

Varnashram Dharma: How Gandhi's views evolved, moved closer to Ambedkar's

My interaction with critics and supporters of Mahatma Gandhi, ranging from those who consider themselves diehard Gandhians to Left-wing and Dalit intellectuals, has revealed that in the long arc of his public life, few issues expose his philosophical tensions more than his shifting stance on Varnashram Dharma—the ancient Hindu concept that society should be divided into four varnas, or classes, based on duties and aptitudes.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

Remembering R.K. Misra: A 'news plumber' who refused to compromise

It is always sad when a journalist colleague passes away — more so when that person has remained firm in his journalistic moorings. Compared to many others, I did not know R.K. Misra, who passed away on February 23 after a long illness, very intimately, but we interacted occasionally over the years.

Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

Search This Blog