The Appropriate Government's duty to educate and propagate RTI — s. 26 — Right to Information (RTI) Notes

The Appropriate Government’s duty to educate and propagate RTI — s. 26

A right nobody knows about is a right nobody uses. Section 26 is the Act’s answer to that problem — it makes the Government responsible for teaching citizens that the right exists and how to use it. It is the awareness-generation limb of the Act.

The duty to make the right usable

Section 26 obliges the appropriate Government (Central or State) to take the following steps, to the extent of available financial and other resources:

A. Educational programmes

Develop and organise educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public — especially of disadvantaged communities — as to how to exercise the rights contemplated under the Act.

B. Encourage public authorities

Encourage public authorities to participate in these programmes and to undertake such programmes themselves.

C. Train officers and prepare materials

Promote timely and effective dissemination of accurate information, and train Central/State Public Information Officers and produce relevant training materials.

D. Publish a user-guide

Within eighteen months, compile and publish a guide in the official language, in an easily comprehensible form, containing the information a person may need to exercise the right (the object of the request, the particulars of PIOs, fees, appeal procedure, and so on).

So s. 26 is the bridge between the right on paper and the right in practice: without awareness, training and a user-guide, the machinery of ss. 6–20 sits idle.

Section 26(1), RTI Act, 2005: “The appropriate Government may, to the extent of availability of financial and other resources — (a) develop and organise educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public, in particular of disadvantaged communities, as to how to exercise the rights contemplated under this Act…”

In Simple Terms: The Government must teach people — especially the poor and disadvantaged — that the RTI right exists and how to use it: through awareness programmes, training of officers, and a plain-language user-guide. It is the “make the right known” duty.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — the 8-mark note on s. 26

Facts. “Short note on the Government’s duty to propagate RTI.”

Rule. s. 26: educational programmes (esp. for the disadvantaged), encouraging public authorities, training PIOs, and a user-guide within 18 months.

Apply. State the four limbs briefly, then add the why: awareness is what turns a paper right into a used right, and s. 26 targets the disadvantaged so the Act does not become a tool only for the literate and urban.

Conclusion. A crisp four-point answer with the purpose line earns the full eight marks.

flowchart TD
    A["s. 26 — duty of the appropriate Government"]
    A --> B["Educational programmes (esp. disadvantaged)"]
    A --> C["Encourage public authorities to participate"]
    A --> D["Train PIOs; prepare materials"]
    A --> E["Publish a user-guide (18 months)"]
    classDef box fill:#e8f0fe,stroke:#333,color:#111;
    class A,B,C,D,E box;

Case Laws

CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay (2011) — awareness and proactive disclosure (ss. 4, 26) reduce individual applications and make the right genuinely usable.

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