ABSTRACT
The Indian Parliament legislated on the Right to Information Act in May 2005. This chapter seeks to emphasize that ‘information’ has distinct temporal and spatial significances; while secrecy and surveillance characterize how the elite and ruling classes hold economic and political power, ‘open government’ has increasingly become a watchword for populations living precariously under neo-liberal regimes in the so-called developing nations. Transparency and accountability have long been acknowledged as integral to political reform as well as a human right both in academic and policy debates. Freedom of Information (FoI) is even recognized in international law: Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide that every person should have the right to seek and impart information. After India’s independence from British rule, endeavours to grant a FoI law by successive governments were always fraught with legislative indecision and judicial ambiguities.
