The Right to Information (RTI) Act,2009, was a milestone in the legal history of Bangladesh toensure people’s right to obtain information from thegovernment offices and other organizations. This act coversmost bodies owned, controlled, or substantially financedeither directly or indirectly by the government andnon-governmental organizations (NGOs). The act aims atgiving citizens the right to hold the governmentaccountable. In the 1990s, civil society advocated for theRTI Act as one of the best-fitted tools to establish goodgovernance. The act was drafted by the government and civilsociety organizations (CSOs) together, following an analysisof a few other RTI Acts. A caretaker administration furthercemented the path for the introduction of the RTI Act. TheCouncil of Advisors of the caretaker administration approvedthe RTI Ordinance in September 2008, and it became formallyrecognized as a law from October 20, 2008. Thedemocratically elected new government passed the RTI Act inMarch 2009, in the very first session of Parliament. Thecontext of introducing a law for RTI in Bangladesh wasdifferent from that of India. The demand came from thegrassroots level in India with a 40-day sit-in protest by acitizens’ rights body in 1996. In the case of Bangladesh, itcame from Dhaka-based elites and lacked connection with thegrassroots (Article 19 2015). The RTI Act, 2009, helpsinvestigative journalism, but that is not the entire goal ofthis act. The goal is to empower citizens with informationand make livelihoods easier for the ones who will otherwisehave no means of getting answers from the state or othersocial actors.
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