Govt reduced need to file RTI application through proactive disclosures: Amit Shah
New Delhi: The objective of the Modi government is to proactively put out as much information as possible in public domain to reduce the need for RTI applications, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday.
The success of a government does not lie in the high number of Right to Information (RTI) applications, Shah said while addressing the 14th annual convention of the Central Information Commission (CIC) here.
"Low number of RTI applications in spite of convenient avenues to file them means the government's work is satisfactory. Large number of RTI applications does not represent the government's success.
"We want to introduce a system where people do not feel the need to file an RTI application to get information," the home minister, who was the chief guest at the event, said.
The dashboard system introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that everyone gets information about ongoing schemes online without filing RTI applications, Shah said.
"Through the use of dashboard, we began a new transparent era. One can go to the dashboard and see how many toilets have been built. Using the dashboard, one can check when one will get electricity connection under the Saubhagya Yojna. Any illiterate woman can click the dashboard and get to know when she will get a cooking gas cylinder," he said.
Asserting that RTI should be there, Shah said the government has gone two steps ahead of the law in ensuring transparency.
"The government has made the administration's work so transparent that there is minimum requirement to file RTI applications. The system should function in a way that we don't need to file RTI applications," he said.
"I have a request to the CIC, that you not only dispose of RTI applications but also inform people about the steps that have been taken to ensure that we do not need to file RTI applications," the home minister said.
Shah said during the last 14 years, the country has been successful in fulfilling the intention of framing the law. The fundamental thought behind the RTI Act is to build the trust of the public in the system, he said.
"The system runs on the four corners of the Constitution. The core objective of this law is to create trust among people that the system runs according to the Constitution.
"When this trust awakens about the Constitution and the system, the participation of people increases automatically which takes the country forward. But when there is mistrust, participation of people takes a back seat," he said.
In a country like ours, it is important that trust and involvement of people in the rule and system are strengthened, the home minister said.
"We came out of a very long colonial rule when the objective of the administration was not the welfare of the people or treating them equally. The objective of the administration at that time was to fulfil the wishes of their masters. Because of this a gorge of mistrust developed between the people and the adminstration," he said.
The mistrust was so deep that it seemed difficult that people will be able to come out of it, Shah said.
"During the last 14 years, we have been able to fill gap of mistrust using the RTI. The trust of the people in the administration and the system has awakened," he said.
Calling the transparency law a major milestone in the democratic journey of the country, he said that "we can give good governance only through transparency and accountability, and the RTI has helped us a lot in improving transparency and accountability".
"When we assess the results of the RTI, we find that transparency has been increased, corruption has been reduced and the speed of governance has also been increased due to the RTI Act. We are heading towards a digitally empowered society," the home minister said.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
