The Right to Information and Societal Accountability: The Caxe of the Delhi PDS Campaign

摘要

Many development scholars in India see the recently enacted the Right to Information (RTI) as a tool to ensure transparency and accountability in the day-today functioning of government. The poor so far have been denied basic rights and necessities 'through a web of lies based on information that is quoted but never revealed' (Roy et al, 2006), In this context, legal tools like the RTI and other supporting mechanisms, such as public hearings and public audits, have 'eroded the social acceptability of corruption' (Roy et al. 2007), The RTI has emerged centre-stage in societal actors' demands for direct accountability.