Anna Hazare, Ahmednagar , maharashtra [ an ex serviceman Social worker ] was instrumental in getting the act passed. However the state delayed appointment of Public Inforrmation Officers for about a year but ultimately it was done. Apart from this there is also another Act " The Maharashtra Government Servants Regulation of Transfers and Prevention of Delay in Discharge of Official Duties Act, 2005 " which is also a very potent Act.

thanx rajan for the information

Disclosure of Government Information in India is governed by a law enacted during the British rule over large parts of what is now India, the Official Secrets Act of 1889 which was amended in 1923. This law secures information related to security of the State, sovereignty of the country and friendly relations with foreign states, and contains provisions which prohibit disclosure of non-classified information.Civil Service conduct rules and the Indian Evidence Act impose further restrictions on government officials' powers to disclose information to the public. In 1975, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgement (State of U.P v Raj Narain AIR 1975 SC 865)  on the citizen's Right to Know.

India is the 87th country in the world to have RTI. The concept is imported. Indian rulers cannot think of such progressive empowerment of we the people.....However, S/shri Aruna Roy [Rajashthan], Anna Hazare [Mahara], Arvind Kejriwal [Ex-IRS officer, Delhi], Shailesh Gandhi [ IIT engineer and industrialist in Mumbai ]etc are among the group which made it possible this in India.  I quote

Now it is upto the citizens to effectively and tirelessly use it to change the way we are being governed. 60 year old anti-citizen mentality of babus will take at least 6 years to change and to realise that in democracy the citizen is the ultimate AUTHORITY.

Dear Friends,

  Thanks to one and all for your timely reply in details.It really help many in and around the country about the origin of RTI act in India.

In Kolkata Police and in most of the departments of Government of West Bengal you will become tired of seeking information but no one will part with the same .The on record  example in West Bengal is the fact that  99% of its departments have not complied with the basic provisions of RTI act 2005.All the information concerning the departments are shrouded till today in mystery. Kolkata Police provides information which is mostly a pack of lies. No one dares to challenge them out of fear of persecution or prolong legal battle and expenses involved in it. adil

As pointed out by J.P.Shah, its not only in India RTI exist. Yes, in all those States RTI came into existence through the sacrifices of some people, but I must add that United Nations is the main actor for giving birth to RTI in all those countries. RTI does not just fall down from the blues but through the various working of the UN in the field of discussions on Poverty which led to the discussions on Corruption and this again led to issue of good governance and transparency and finally "Power to the People" was the only ultimate solution: Thanks to all those involve in giving  birth to RTI in this country but we must give credit to UN that is how I sincerely feel about RTI.

thanks to all forelaborate discussion.united states is a country of libertyand has got remarkable contribution.i expected mr assumi to mention official secrecy Act made by British.in wb official position is very slow reason is known to many.drscpratihar

UNLESS PEOPLE ASSERT THEIR RIGHTS GIVEN BY LAW, NOTHING WILL MOVE. WHY NOT ASK MAMTA BANARJEE TO TAKE A LEAD IN THIS MATTER AND LEAVE NANO? IF IN WB THIS IS THE SITUATION, THEN RTI IS THE BEST ACT TO OPEN UP THE GOVT. WHY NOT FILE WRITS IN HIGH OR SUPREME COURTS UNDER PIL? PRESENTLY LEAVE POLICE ON ONE SIDE, U CAN CATCH HOLD OF OTHER DEPTS. IN OTHER STATES, POLICE IS VERY MUCH AMENABLE TO RTI, AS OTHER DEPTS. IN MUMBAI, IGs and POLICE COMMISSIONERS HAVE BEEN MADE TO FALL IN LINE WITH RTI. EVEN IAS OFFICERS OF PRESIDENT'S SECRETARIATE WERE PULLED UP UNDER RTI. LAGE RAHO.....AND ONE DAY U WILL SUCCEED. PL VISIT WWW.RTIINDIA.ORG

As a matter of fact, it was it was Sweden which passed the first  freedom of information law in the world in the year 1766,  principally sponsored by a  Finnish clergyman  Anders Chydenius, who had been inspired by the humanist Confucian philosophy and and the fact that the Chinese emperors were expected to:

  “ admit their own imperfection as a proof for their love of the truth and in fear of ignorance and darkness.”

In India, "Bhim" Tehsil of state of Rajsthan which witnessed first ever  triumph for Right to Information when a mass-based organisation led by "Aruna Ray"called the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) took an initiative to lead the people  –

 to assert their right to information by asking for copies of bills and vouchers and names of persons who have been shown in the muster rolls.

MKSS has organized several public hearings (jan sunwai). People’s anger made one Engineer of the State Electricity Board to return, in public, an amount of Rs.15,000 he had extracted from a poor farmer.

Dear Guest,

Probably, you did not go through my scribe fully, and patiently. Mention of Sweden has been made in the international context. And it was the first country to pass freedom of Information law.

In India also, it was not like that one fine day Indian Government woke-up and decided to pass the RTI Law. It was the tremendous internation pressure, mandates of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other International public laws, Judgments and opinions of Supreme Court of India and also continuous efforts of various NGOs and fighters of civil rights including H.D. Shourie, Arvind Kejriwal, Aruna Ray, Nikhil Chakravorty, Kuldip Nayyar, Swami Agnivesh andMedha Patkar.

And all these, boosted the awareness of people of India of their fundamental right i.e. right to information to such a magnitude that India for the first time witnessed the incident like Bhim Tehsil in Rajsthan in the year 1998.

Shri Anna Hazare, of course one of them. He was instrumental in passing of Maharashtra Right to Information Act, 2002.

I understand, you may not like anything talked about RTI without mention of "Shri Anna Hazare". 

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Excellent topic of discussion.