03-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Digital India's promise falls short: Lok Sabha RTI filing stuck in past
AHMEDABAD: Ten years after the launch of the ambitious Digital India mission, citizens still cannot file RTI applications online with the Parliament of India.
Despite a national RTI portal enabling digital filing for central ministries, the Lok Sabha lacks any such mechanism, forcing applicants to rely on outdated physical methods involving postal orders or in-person visits.
Even the Digital Sansad portal, created to offer accessible parliamentary information, fails to provide a link or option for filing RTIs. This glaring loophole exposes a serious disconnect between Digital India's promises and Parliament's digital preparedness.
The RTI Act, enacted in 2005, empowers citizens to hold authorities accountable. In line with this, the Central Government launched an online portal, allowing RTIs to be filed digitally with all Union ministries, saving both time and money. But Parliament, despite being the very institution that passed the Act, has no online filing mechanism of its own.
