This guy uses the Right to Information a LOT!
This is fairly interesting.. and the law gives great powers to the common man. So, things that were tough to get.. will become easier to get from the Government!
Meet Harikumar P. This 24-year-old from the northern Karnataka pocket of Kasargod could put a parliamentarian to shame, going by just the volume of Right to Information (RTI) questions he tables.
Since the RTI bug bit him sometime last year, the MBA-qualified education consultant has tabled "around 2,500" questions under this fairly powerful Indian law that entitles the citizen to seek out and obtain a wide range of official information from government officials.
He doesn’t make much of it, but when asked, has files of information to show for.
"It’s almost an almirah (cupboard) full of information by now. I’ve not counted, but kept track via an Excel file, and there are about 2,500 applications made," Harikumar said.
From information related to Indians believed to be detained in Pakistani jails, to the earnings of the state from gambling and lotteries, to the number of cases pending in courts across India – Harikumar has it all.
The RTI Act 2005 was enacted by parliament giving citizens of India, except in Jammu and Kashmir, access to government records. Any citizen may request information from a "public authority" (a government body or one funded by it). A reply has to follow within 30 days. It is fairly unique law, even at the wider global scale.
The law was passed by parliament June 15, 2005 and came into force Oct 13 the same year. Information disclosure in India was hitherto highly limited due to laws like the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws, which the new RTI Act now overrides.
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