Which of the following statement about Official Secrets Act OSA is incorrect ........

Indian Polity Indian Parliament

Which of the following statement about Official Secrets Act (OSA) is incorrect?

The OSA deals with cases of espionage, wrongful possession and communication of sensitive information detrimental to the security of the State.

The degree of sensitivity of information is decided in accordance with Departmental Security Instructions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Second ARC recommended that the Official Secrets Act should be extended to even non-state actors.*

In case of clash between Right to Information and OSA, public interest shall prevail.

छोटे Courses बड़े Results

Master Indian Parliament

Prepare through Micro-courses

Try Now

Explanation:

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), in its Report of June 2006, had, inter-alia, recommended that the Official Secrets Act (OSA), 1923 should be repealed, and substituted by a chapter in the National Security Act, containing provisions relating to official secrets.
The Official secret Act 1923 is India's anti espionage act held over from British colonisation. It states clearly those actions which involve helping an enemy state against India. It also states that one cannot approach, inspect, or even pass over a prohibited government site or area. According to this Act, helping the enemy state can be in the form of communicating a sketch, plan, model of an official secret, or of official codes or passwords, to the enemy.
Second statement is correct. Depending on the level of sensitivity of the information and the implications of its disclosure for national security — which could be to cause “exceptionally grave damage” to simply “damage” — they are (i) Top Secret, (ii) Secret, (iii) Confidential and (iv) Restricted.
“Top Secret” is for information whose unauthorised disclosure could be expected to cause “exceptionally grave damage” to national security or national Interest. This category is reserved for the nation’s closest secrets.
Secret” is for information whose disclosure may cause “serious damage” to national security or national interest, or serious embarrassment to the government. It is used for “highly important matters”; is the highest classification normally used.
“Confidential” is for information that might cause “damage” to national security, be prejudicial to national interest, might embarrass the government.
“Restricted” is applied to information meant only for official use, which is not to be published or communicated to any person except for official purposes.
Third statement is incorrect. The ARC had recommended that Official Secrets Act be removed.
Fourth statement is correct. The Official Secrets Act has not been totally overridden by the Right to Information Act, 2005.
According to the RTI Act of 2005, in case of a clash with the Official Secrets Act, the public interest will prevail.