Expenditure on India's information commissions has fallen 91% in six years

Since FY17, the budget allocation for information commissions has shrunk by 82.7% from Rs 31.9 crore

The number of Right to Information (RTI) queries received in Financial Year 2021 (FY21) increased by 45.7 per cent to 1.33 million in six years, according to the Central Information Commission's annual report for 2020-21. However, the budget allocated to the information commissions has plunged.

Since FY17, the budget allocation for India's information commissions (ICs) has fallen by 82.7 per cent, from Rs 31.9 crore to Rs 5.5 crore in FY22 (source: Budget documents). Although between FY17 and 18, the expenditure on ICs overshot the budget, it has since reduced. Actual spending on the ICs across the country has declined