Attorney-General for India, R. Venkataramani, has clarified that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, does not weaken the Right to Information Act, 2005. According to a government source, in a written opinion, Mr. Venkataramani stressed that transparency is maintained despite recent changes. Civil society groups have criticized the amendment of Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. The amendment changed a partial exemption concerning personal information from government bodies to a total exemption, raising fears that transparency could suffer. However, the Attorney-General pointed out that another part of the RTI Act, Section 8(2), which remains unchanged, requires government bodies to disclose personal information when the public interest outweighs harm. He said, "Section 8(2) of the RTI Act, 2005 mandates disclosure of exempted information whenever public interest outweighs harm." Mr. Venkataramani declined to confirm authorship of the opinion when asked by The Hindu. The Union government, which implemented the RTI amendment in November 2025, argued similarly. The Attorney-General said, "There is no dilution of accountability and transparency due to [the] DPDP Act. It only provides a legal framework to ensure balance between privacy and transparency, as mandated by the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy case judgment." Previously, Section 8(1)(j) exempted personal information unless it served larger public interest, with safeguards ensuring information not denied to Parliament would not be denied to citizens. The amendment removed these clauses, triggering strong protests from transparency activists. Despite the concerns, the Attorney-General's opinion affirms that the law seeks to balance privacy concerns with transparency obligations.