Nuclear weapons details shifted out of RTI purview

NEW DELHI: Information on the country’s nuclear weapons stock-pile and any details on their testing has now been put out of the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Strategic Forces Command has been added to the list of 25 organizations excluded from the purview of the RTI Act except for information pertaining to corruption or human right allegations.

This is the first addition made to the list by the Narendra Modi Government after the UPA in 2011 had last added the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) to the list of the intelligence and security organisations which are exempt from RTI Act.



The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) administers control over the tactical and strategic nuclear stockpile of the country, which includes the land-based and sea-based nucleararmed ballistic missiles.

SFC operationalises the directives of the Nuclear Command Authority which works under the command of the Prime Minister and SCF has the responsibility of the process of delivering nuclear weapons and warheads in the event of a planned strike.

SCF also does testing of the nuclear missiles, like Agni-4 and Agni-5. The Union Government on the other hand has been actively trying to broaden the access to RTI by adding a host of public authorities to the Online RTI Portal like public sector financial institutions and banks, all the zones under railways ministry and its PSUs, Maharatnas and Navratnas PSUs, central universities and educational institutions.

From a list of about 500 public authorities to which RTI’s can be filed online at present, nearly 300 more public authorities are to be added to the portal by the end of this year.