Stop destruction of RTI Act, Jairam Ramesh tells Vaishnaw

Mr. Vaishnaw has argued that the Supreme Court’s 2017 judgement affirming the right to privacy had anyway rendered Section 8(1)(j)’s wiggle room “infructuous”. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday (March 23, 2025) urged Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw to stop an amendment that would lead to the “destruction” of the Right to Information Act, 2005. The Section of the 2005 law “that gives citizens equal right to information as legislators who represent them is totally eliminated,” Mr. Ramesh said.

In the letter to Mr. Vaishnaw, Mr. Ramesh excerpted the original text of the RTI Act’s Section 8(1)(j), which allows citizens to apply with public authorities for information that is personal in nature, as long as there is a public interest in doing so. In the excerpt, Mr. Ramesh struck through the text that the amendment had been deleted. 

Over 30 civil society bodies have raised alarm about the amendment, which has been enacted through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, but not yet notified — the law requires the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, which are currently in draft stage, to be published in the Gazette of India, giving activists and the Opposition some time to push back on the change.

The previous form of the amendment allowed for public authorities to disclose personal information — such as copies of ledgers of subsidy beneficiaries — if there was a “larger public interest” justifying their release. But the amendment effectively prohibits the disclosure of any personal information.

Mr. Vaishnaw has argued that the Supreme Court’s 2017 judgement affirming the right to privacy had anyway rendered Section 8(1)(j)’s wiggle room “infructuous”. But activists have ferociously pushed back against that argument saying the RTI Act had already made a conscious balance between personal privacy and the right to information. While Mr. Vaishnaw insisted that personal information that is anyway required to be proactively published by other laws will continue to be available — essentially allowing public authorities to curate what personal information is released in public interest.

“In the interests of transparency and accountability, I would urge you to pause, review and repeal Section 44 (3) of the Data Protection Act, 2023 which destroys the RTI Act, 2005,” Mr. Ramesh wrote.