In short: What do Indians actually file RTIs about? Based on 3,000+ RTI applications submitted through FileMyRTI between January 2025 and June 2026, demand is dominated by personal grievances (78%), is overwhelmingly long-tail (nearly half are bespoke custom requests), and clusters around education, civic accountability, and land records — led by Telangana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
This report shares aggregate, anonymised proportions from real RTI applications filed via our platform. It is a snapshot of demand among FileMyRTI users — useful as a directional signal, not a census of all RTI activity in India. No personal data is included; all figures are proportions.
RTI Demand by Category
Sorted by share of applications.
| Category | Share |
|---|---|
| Personal RTI (individual grievances — documents, delays, status) | ~78% |
| Property & Land RTI | ~10% |
| Social / civic RTI | ~8% |
| Other | ~3% |
The Top RTI Problems People File About
By individual problem type (share of all applications):
| Problem | Share |
|---|---|
| Bespoke / custom problem (outside standard categories) | ~48% |
| Complaint / grievance tracking | ~12% |
| Exam answer-sheet copy | ~10% |
| Marksheet / certificate verification | ~5% |
| Gram Panchayat works | ~2% |
| Land records (Khasra / Pahani) | ~2% |
| Passport delay | ~2% |
| FIR / police status | ~1.4% |
| Income-tax refund | ~1.3% |
| EPF / pension & mutation & land survey (each) | ~1% |
Where RTI Demand Comes From (Top States)
Share of applications that recorded a state.
| State | Share |
|---|---|
| Telangana | ~30% |
| Delhi | ~17% |
| Uttar Pradesh | ~12% |
| Andhra Pradesh | ~5% |
| Maharashtra | ~3% |
| Bihar | ~3% |
| Rajasthan, Karnataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat | ~1.5–2% each |
What the Data Tells Us
- RTI is overwhelmingly long-tail. Nearly half of applicants (~48%) describe a bespoke problem that doesn't fit a neat category — proof that real RTI need is highly individual, and why generic "file RTI" tools underserve people.
- Education is the single biggest standard theme. Exam answer-sheet copies (~10%) plus marksheet/certificate verification (~5%) mean roughly one in six RTIs is education-related — driven by students contesting results and verifying credentials.
- Civic accountability is a major pillar. Complaint tracking (~12%), gram-panchayat works, street lighting and fund-utilisation queries together show citizens using RTI to hold local government to account.
- Land & property demand concentrates in the south. Khasra/Pahani, encumbrance, mutation and survey RTIs cluster heavily in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, reflecting active land-record disputes in those states.
- Three states drive the bulk of demand. Telangana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh together account for roughly 6 in 10 located applications.
Methodology
Figures are aggregate proportions of more than 3,000 RTI applications submitted through FileMyRTI's online platform between January 2025 and June 2026. Test records were excluded. No personal data is used or disclosed; only category, problem-type and state proportions are reported. This reflects demand among FileMyRTI users and is a directional signal, not a statistical census of all RTI activity in India. "Bespoke / custom" denotes applicant-described problems outside our standard service list.
How to Cite This Report
This report is published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) licence — journalists, researchers and writers are welcome to use these figures with attribution:
Source: FileMyRTI RTI Demand Report 2026, FileMyRTI.com.
For a custom data cut (by state, category, or period) for a story or study, contact our team at Admin@filemyrti.com.
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