Do the Poor Benefit from the Right to Information Act

Bibliographic Data

ID8373976
AuthorsSujoy Dutta (0000-0002-5881-1194, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume62
Issue2
Pages361-384
Publication date2022-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsian Survey (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-4687 • E-ISSN: 1533-838X
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/as.2022.1534279
OpenAlexW4226193038
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

I investigate to what extent India’s Right to Information Act is useful for poor households. Drawing on empirical data from central Uttar Pradesh, I study two categories of poor households—urban and rural—possessing Below Poverty Line cards. These cards entitle their holders to several subsidies, but they are poorly targeted: certain communities receive more cards, while most of the deserving poor do not receive them. The Act is meant to create space for democratization, enabling the poor to challenge local power holders; but there are obstacles to their taking advantage of it. They are scarcely educated, and unaware of the Act, and they get no support from government agencies responsible for implementing it. This has encouraged the use of manipulative tactics by local representatives and government bureaucrats seeking power, control, and domination. But the poor do find ways to receive their entitlements

Business · Democracy · Democratization · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Local government · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Power (physics · Space (punctuation) · Subsidy · Corruption and Economic Development · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Public Administration