Amrtha Kasturi Rangan

Scenario 1: You go to a cinema and it's cold.

Over the last few months, rains--whether they flooded India enough or not--have certainly flooded the news.

On October 11, 2014, the Government of India launched an ambitious scheme for village development – the Saansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).

Raujibhai came to Dholavira with the excavation team of the Archeological Society of India when he was 19 years old.

Guest Post: Amrtha Kasturi Rangan, Arghyam

“When a State Government instead of itself undertaking a work, if it allows an agency like the petitioner Company by substantially funding them to undertake such work which is essentially that of a municipality, no one can say that such work of the petitioner company as a private activity. On the other hand, it is very much a public activity over which public interest can generate”.

Judgement in WP NO. 9794 of 2008 and M.P. Nos. 1 and 2 of 2008

The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 was enacted to ensure transparency and accountability. As per the Act any citizen can write and ask for information from a “public authority”.  The Act also requires that public authorities make information about themselves available to the public – mandatory disclosure.

From its time of enactment, there have been several challenges in operationalizing the RTI Act. A progressive civil society has constantly challenged hesitation and delay in providing information. Several ambiguities have required judicial intervention to interpret the letter and the spirit of the Act. Here we look at the success of widening the scope of accountability to include private agencies who partner with the government under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.