President of India Unveil 13th Convention of CIC

1. The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the 13th Convention of the Central Information Commission in New Delhi today (October 12, 2018).
2. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that free flow of information is the essence of democracy. And for the people of a free and free-spirited country, information is power. They have a right to know how they are being governed;

• how public money is being spent, how public and national resources are being deployed,
• how public services are being delivered, and
• how public works and welfare programmes are being carried out.

In a democracy, there is no such thing as too much information. Information overload is always preferable to information deficit.

3. The President also emphasized the fine balance between the Right to Information and the Right to Privacy. He commended the CIC for upholding the RTI’s basic charter that public records, with some exceptions for subjects such as national security, are open to public scrutiny – but private records of individual citizens are protected from intrusive third-party curiosity.

4. He said that we must be cautious against fringe cases that try to use the RTI mechanism to settle personal scores. Especially in an age when privacy has become a matter of such intense debate, it is crucial to maintain this balance.