QUESTION 2
GS2
10 marks
“Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss.
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Discuss how the 2019 RTI amendment affects the independence of Information Commissions.
DiscussExplain the different sides of the issue, use evidence, and finish with a balanced view.
Demand-wise check
- 1Change: tenure, salary and terms of Central and State Information Commissioners now set by the Centre through rules (earlier fixed in the Act, on par with Election Commissioners)≈30 words
- 2Concerns: executive control, unequal terms, chilling effect, federalism (Centre setting state terms)≈30 words
- 3Government view: CIC is a statutory, not constitutional, body; anomaly corrected≈30 words
- 4Other issues: vacancies, pendency; DPDP Act's amendment to Section 8(1)(j)≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
What changedArguments of criticsGovernment's viewWider concernsConclusion
Where marks usually go
- Not stating exactly what the amendment changed
- One-sided argument
Draw this
- Before/after table: tenure, salary, who decides
Value addition
- RuleRTI Rules, 2019 fixed a three-year term for Information Commissioners (earlier five years under the Act).RTI Rules, 2019
- CaseAnjali Bhardwaj v Union of India (2019): the Supreme Court ordered timely appointments to Information Commissions due to vacancies and pendency.Supreme Court, 2019
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Aditya Srivastava · AIR 1 · Page 23 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Akash Kumar · AIR 101 · Page 11 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Aditya Srivastava · AIR 1 · Page 7 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
Next: plan for one minute, write it in 7 minutes, then get it checked.