Read the following passage
carefully and answer the questions:
James Madison said, “A people who mean
to be their own governors must arm themselves with power that knowledge gives.”
In India, the Official Secrets Act,
1923 was a convenient smokescreen to deny members of the public access to
information. Public functioning has traditionally been shrouded in secrecy. But
in a democracy in which people govern themselves, it is necessary to have more
openness. In the maturing of our democracy, right to information is a major
step forward; it enables citizens to participate fully in the decision-making
process that affects their lives so profoundly. It is in this context that the
address of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha is significant.
He said, “I would only like to see that everyone, particularly our civil
servants, should see the Bill in a positive spirit; not as a draconian law for
paralyzing Government, but as an instrument for improving Government-Citizen
interface resulting in a friendly, caring and effective Government functioning
for the good of our People.” He further said, “This is an innovative Bill,
where there will be scope to review its functioning as we gain experience.
Therefore, this is a piece of legislation, whose working will be kept under
constant reviews.”
The Commission, in its Report, has
dealt with the application of the Right to Information in Executive,
Legislature and Judiciary. The judiciary could be a pioneer in implementing the
Act in letter and spirit because much of the work that the Judiciary does is
open to public scrutiny, Government of India has sanctioned an e-governance
project in the Judiciary for about ` 700 crores which would bring about
systematic classification, standardization and categorization of records. This
would help the judiciary to fulfil its mandate under the Act. Similar capacity building would
be required in all other public authorities. The transformation from
nontransparency to transparency and public accountability is the responsibility
of all three organs of State.
1. A person gets power
(A) by acquiring knowledge
(B) from the Official Secrets Act,
1923
(C) through openings
(D) by denying public information
2. Right to Information is a major
step forward to
(A) enable citizens to
participate fully in the decision making process
(B) to make the people aware
of the Act
(C) to gain knowledge of
administration
(D) to make the people
Government friendly
3. The Prime Minister considered
the Bill
(A) to provide power to the
civil servants
(B) as an instrument for
improving Government-citizen interface resulting in a friendly, caring and
effective Government
(C) a draconian law against
the officials
(D) to check the harassment
of the people
4. The Commission made the Bill
effective by
(A) extending power to the
executive authorities
(B) combining the executive
and legislative power
(C) recognizing Judiciary a
pioneer in implementing the act in letter and spirit
(D) educating the people
before its implementation
5. The Prime Minister considered
the Bill innovative and hoped that
(A) It could be reviewed
based on the experience gained on its functioning.
(B) The civil servants would
see the Bill in a positive spirit.
(C) It would not be
considered as a draconian law for paralyzing Government
(D) All the above
6. The transparency and public
accountability is the responsibility of three organs of the State.
These three organs are
(A) Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha
and Judiciary
(B) Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha
and Executive
(C) Judiciary, Legislature
and the Commission
(D) Legislature, Executive
and Judiciary
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