RTI - A weapon in the hands of media to ensure basic human rights to citizens a case study of its awareness and use by youth

Abstract

Information to Democracy is what oxygen is for human. It has been almost a decade since the Right to information Act has altered the long followed paradigm of Government officials and institutions, of Confidentiality as the rule and Disclosure an exception into Transparency being the norm and secrecy an exception. Right to Information, as stated by the commonwealth human rights initiative, in India, is implicit in the constitutionally enshrined Right to freedom of speech and expression article 19 (1)(a) and Right to life and liberty (article 21) .RTI has indeed proved itself as a weapon to help people get their basic human rights and take to task corrupt officials in the government machinery who deprive masses of their due rights .This paper throws light over the journey of RTI since its genesis, looks at it as an important tool in the hands of common men, journalists and mulls over its prospects in the times to come. The paper through a case study tries to find out the level of awareness regarding Right to Information act and its use by under graduate and post graduate students in Jaipur.