The Right to Information Act of 2005 (‘RTI Act’) in India empowers citizens to demand transparency and accountability from the government. However, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (‘DPDP Act’) weakens it by amending Section 8(1)(j), limiting access to personal data without any public interest evaluation. This change threatens openness, accountability, and the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution.

The Indian Supreme Court has interpreted right to information to be included under Article 19 (1) (a) in cases such as State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain and S.P. Gupta v. Union of India. The RTI Act empowers every citizen with the right to information and provides for the mechanism to realise this right. Corollary to this right is the duty of every public authority, under Section 7 of the RTI Act, to maintain records and publish them in a timely manner for the public. However, this right is subject to exceptions under Section 8. For instance, if citizens seek secret or privileged information, or information that could affect the sovereignty of the nation, there is no obligation on the information officers (Central Public Information Officer [‘CPIO’] or State Public Information Officer [‘SPIO’]) to release such information.