? The Act does not cover Jammu and Kashmir. Wajahat Habibullah is currently the chief information commissioner, Central Information Commission. ? Information means any material in any form but does not include "file notings". ? Reasons for seeking information need not be given. ? If the officer concerned does not respond, he is liable to pay a penalty to be deducted from his salary. ? There is an application fee, except for those designated below poverty line. Applicant must be provided information free of cost if the PIO fails to comply with the prescribed time limit. ? States are being asked to develop systems and processes with the help of Centre for Good Governance. ? The finance ministry attracts the largest number of RTI queries. The department also recorded the largest number of denials as much of the information sought, including account details of individuals, was classified as personal. ? The central commission receives 15,000-16,000 cases per month but is able to clear only 1,800 cases in a month. By DnyaneshJathar SuvarnaBhagyawanthadbeenwaiting for three years for her grandfather's death certificate. "I was tired of making trips every week to inquire whether it was ready," she recalls. A balwadi teacher at Kharad village in Maharashtra, Suvarna needed the certificate to enable her grandmother to apply for the widow pension. "A panchayat member promised to issue me the certificate if I paid him Rs 500," she claims. She filed a Right to Information appeal (RTI), instead. This was after attending a meeting organised by Bahujan Hitay Trust, an NGO, to inform villagers about the new Right To Information Act. "I asked whether I could use RTI to know why the certificate was not being issued. I was told I could, so I did." Suvarna sought information about distribution of death certificates, the documents required and the time it normally took for issue of the certificate. "You will not believe it, I got the death certificate delivered at home two days after I sent in my application." Suvarna is not alone. Archana, from Ambhe village, used RTI to secure a ration card for her family. "Our card meant for below poverty line families was lost and for the next two years, my father kept frequenting the tehsil office for a new ration card." said Archana. "When I sought details about ration card distribution under RTI last December, we got our card within a month." For the first time in the history of independent India, a legislation has taken the lid off the darkness in which governments preferred to let the public languish, rather than come clean on its acts of commission and omission. The RTI Act has provided a weapon to the poor as well as the rich to take on the most powerful. Activists like Aruna Roy, Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare had taken up the cause of people's right to information and as their movement gained ground in the second half of the 1990s, states began to make their own legislations in response to public pressure. The historic act was passed by Parliament on June 15, 2005, and it became effective from October 13, 2005. In post-independence India, no other legislation has empowered the people, be they peasants or princes, so much. Activist Shivaji Raut, who has addressed nearly 600 meetings across Maharashtra to make people aware of the Right To Information Act, says the RTI has given citizens the courage and confidence to question the system. "Thanks to RTI, people are now becoming corruption literate. In a democracy, people need response. When you get a response to the information you seek, you start having an active/ faith in the system," said Raut. According to a survey, in Maharashtra alone some 3.7 lakh citizens have filed/ queries under RTI in the last 3-4 years. But this seemingly large number, says Raut, means not even one per cent of the state's population has started using RTI as yet. "At present, it is being used only by enthusiasts, activists and NGOs. The real transformation will take place when middle classes, intellectuals and women will start questioning the system." Activists like Raut, NGOs like Public Concern For Governance Trust (PCGT) and Bahujan Hitay Trust (BHT) are working to take the RTI to the poorest of the poor. Both have been using RTI extensively to promote the concept of sustainable governance in villages. And their efforts are bearing fruit. "BHT and PCGT began working in six villages in Ambernath tehsil in August 2008," said Santosh Jadhav of BHT. "Some 60 village volunteers met and decided to file RTI queries on 10 most pressing issues for these villages." One of the first issues to be taken up was that of village schools. All six villages have one zilla parishad school each with one teacher teaching four grades, first standard to fourth standard at the same time in one common room. When the RTI query was filed, the district education department promptly appointed three teachers each in all six schools. "Now they have one teacher for every grade," said Jadhav. He also recounts how RTI queries by villagers made state electricity distribution company change power supply lines. "The query was filed on March 24 and within a fortnight, officials changed the wires, a work pending for almost three years." It isn't for nothing that RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi, now an information commissioner with Central Information Commission, calls RTI one of the most powerful tools that has made India a truly participatory democracy. But what is of concern for RTI champions is the delay in disposal of appeals and selection of commissioners. There is a concern that the posts of information commissioners may be given to 'pro-government' retired bureaucrats, who can be found in abundance but whose commitment to the RTI is lukewarm at best.