Right To Information Act, the key to good governance: Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, Aug.15 : The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said on Friday that providing good governance has always been the mission of his government, and in this context, he claimed that several steps had been taken over the past four-and-half-years to make the administrative machinery "transparent, efficient and responsive".

In this regard, he said that the introduction of the Right to Information Act was one major step.

"We have initiated reform and modernization of Government. The National e-Governance Plan will make it easier for all our citizens to deal with the various agencies of Government," he said.

The Right to Information Act 2005 mandates a timely response to citizen requests for government information. It is an initiative taken by Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to provide a- RTI Portal Gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the details of first Appellate Authorities,PIOs, Directory of Employees etc. amongst others, besides access to RTI related information published on the web by various Public Authorities under the government of India as well as the State Governments.

The National e-Governance Plan (2003-2007) of the Indian Government seeks to lay the foundation and provide the impetus for long-term growth of e-Governance within the country. he plan seeks to create the right governance and institutional mechanisms, set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of Mission Mode Projects at the center, state and integrated service levels to create a citizen-centric and business-centric environment for governance.

ANI