Author: Venkatesh Nayak
The United States enacted legislation requiring disclosure of records tied to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, stripping officials of the discretion to suppress inconvenient truths. India’s information classification regime, which still permits secrecy on grounds of “embarrassment to government”, offers a stark contrast. On the last day of November 2025, the United States Congress passed the Epstein Files Disclosure Act (EFDA), a law ordering the federal government to open its files on one of the most politically sensitive criminal investigations in recent American history. Within thirty days, every federal agency was required to release all documents, photographs, emails and video footage…
By Venkatesh Nayak In an era where transparency is a constitutional duty, the Department of Space seems to be prioritising secrecy over accountability. Two recent RTI attempts reveal how its commercial arm, New Space India Limited (NSIL), and authorisation body IN-SPACe are stonewalling legitimate public interest queries by citing dubious exemptions, shielding beneficiaries of taxpayer-funded space technology from public view. In March 2025, the Department of Space informed Parliament that NSIL had signed 75 technology transfer agreements with private entities and onboarded unnamed firms to build Earth Observation satellites. It also announced a satellite-based plan to monitor 1 lakh fishing…
