Hyderabad/Chandigarh, Apr 11 (Reporter) The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has expressed serious concern over the government's attempt to curtail the public’s right to information under the guise of protecting privacy. In a statement issued on Friday, IJU President K. Sreenivas Reddy and Secretary General Balwinder Singh Jammu said that the proposed changes to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, as envisaged under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, would effectively dilute the RTI Act and undermine citizens' empowerment. The DPDP Act, which has already received Presidential assent, will come into force once the rules are notified. One provision in the Act modifies Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, which previously allowed disclosure of personal information in the public interest. The revised provision removes that allowance. Additionally, the DPDP Act eliminates a key safeguard in the RTI Act which stated that “information which cannot be denied to Parliament or a State Legislature cannot be denied to any person.” The IJU leaders emphasised that the existing RTI Act adequately safeguards individuals' privacy rights, and that altering Section 8(1)(j) would render the law ineffective by preventing access to information that can expose corruption. Calling the move retrogressive, they urged the government to withdraw the proposed changes in the interest of transparency and accountability in public life...////...