<span style="color: #222222;">Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has said that the main aim of RTI is to empower citizens, bring transparency, get the system rid of corruption and take the democracy to the hands of people in the true sense. He said this while inaugurating the 15th Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in New Delhi today.  Mr. Birla described the Right to Information Act as an important law to ensure transparency and accountability in governance and strengthen common people.  He stressed the need to increase the confidence of people in the system. Mr. Birla added that one should not bother if the number of grievances are high as it shows that people have active participation and faith in the governance. He also said several initiatives have been taken by the Central Information Commission to make RTI more effective and people-centric.<br />''<br />''The Speaker also talked about steps taken by the Centre for effective implementation of government schemes with the help of digital tools including Direct Benefit Transfer.<br />''<br />''Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, in the last eight years a number of decisions have been taken to increase transparency in governance. He said most of the information is now in public domain and RTI can now be filed online anytime and from anywhere. The Minister added that disposal rate by the CIC remained unaffected even during COVID-19 period.</span><br />