Right to Information has completed 10 years. But what has been the experience of these 10 years? Where is the implementation failing? October 12, 2015 marked the 10 anniversary of the implementation of the Right to Information Act (RTI) in the country. Enacted in 2005 as an implementation of the election promise of the UPA-1, the RTI act has since caught the imagination of citizens from across the spectrum like no other act has done in the history of Independent India. One major reason for whatever success it has seen is the ease of use. Unlike filing petitions in courts or applications to government departments, RTI application is way simpler to file. On this 10 anniversary, it’s a good time to look at the implementation and what needs to be done further to improve the implementation. Awareness of the RTI act The success of any law depends on efficient implementation which in turn depends on the awareness levels in citizens. According to a study done by RTI Assessment and Advocacy Group (RaaG) in 2013, the awareness levels about the act are still poor. Not more than 35% are aware of the act in rural areas and about 40% are aware of the act in urban areas. One of primary reasons for the lack of awareness is the lack of publicity by the governments both at the center & the states. The publicity for the RTI act was never on par with other welfare schemes. For e.g., a scheme like the Jan Dhan Yojana is known to most people, because the government ensured that the information reached the beneficiaries through various platforms. Similar promotional activities are essential for the awareness of RTI act. While the central government does telecast a few advertisements, the state governments have been least interested. Dedicated RTI Programs like Janne ka Haque on Doordarshan should continue. Information flow in most rural areas of the country happens through teachers. Hence a lesson on RTI should be included in the higher classes so that both teachers & students learn about it. It is also heartening to note that the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will start a Certificate & Diploma course on the RTI act. TV & Radio are two essential media that the government must utilize. Utilization of the RTI act As per estimates, about 40 lakh RTI applications are filed in the country every year in both central & state governments. This is still less than 0.5% of the entire population in the country. While the adoption has been higher in the urban areas, it is still low in the rural areas. Another major concern in the utilization of the RTI act is the issue of Gender. The RaaG study found out that a mere 8% of all the applications nationally were women. This ratio was abysmal in states like Rajasthan & Assam (4%) and Bihar (1%). It is surprising that the adoption is very low by women and there has been so scientific understanding of these abysmal numbers. The bias in the utilization of the RTI act is also seen in the Rural –Urban divide. Hardly 1/4 of all the applicants are rural while the rest 3/4 are Urban. This is particularly important when close to 69% of the Indian population lives in rural areas as per the 2011 Census. Special emphasis by the government both in respect of Women & Rural areas is the requirement of the day. The government could use the lakhs of self help groups in the villages as a medium to spread awareness about the act. How are people using it? Another interesting aspect of the 10 years is the way people are using this act. Broadly speaking, citizens are using this act in three ways, Though there are certain cases where the RTI act is being used as a tool for blackmail or for settling personal scores, these are negligible in number. The Supply side issues It cannot be denied that the government brought in the RTI act in 2005 without putting the adequate infrastructure or planning in place. Even till today, the continuous rise in the number of applications and other problems related to the supply side can be largely attributed to this lack of preparedness and lack of intent. Most Government officials at all levels look at the RTI act as an unnecessary burden on them and hence the least interest to implement the same. Some of the major issues that still stand unresolved are Information & Record Management: Despite numerous initiatives, the record management in the government departments is in shambles. It gets worse as you go down the government hierarchy. Finding a record in a Mandal/Block level office is like navigating a maze. Unless there is proper record management, finding a record and providing information within the stipulated 30 days is going to be very difficult.