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www.GOALias.blogspot.com144 Politics in India since IndependenceCredit: Pankaj Pushkar“Ghotala Rathyatra”, a populartheatre form evolved by MKSS.Movement for Right to InformationThe movement for Right to Information (RTI) isone of the few recent examples of a movementthat did succeed in getting the state to acceptits major demand. The movement started in1990, when a mass based organisation calledthe Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) inRajasthan took the initiative in demanding recordsof famine relief work and accounts of labourers.The demand was first raised in Bhim Tehsil in avery backward region of Rajasthan. The villagersasserted their right to information by asking forcopies of bills and vouchers and names of personson the muster rolls who have been paid wages onthe construction of schools, dispensaries, smalldams and community centres. On paper suchdevelopment projects were all completed, but itwas common knowledge of the villagers that therewas gross misappropriation of funds. In 1994 and1996, the MKSS organised Jan Sunwais or PublicHearings, where the administration was asked toexplain its stand in public.The movement had a small success when theycould force an amendment in the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act to permit thepublic to procure certified copies of documents held by the Panchayats. ThePanchayats were also required to publish on a board and in newspapers the budget,accounts, expenditure, policies and beneficiaries. In 1996 MKSS formed NationalCouncil for People’sRight to Information inDelhi to raise RTI tothe status of a nationalcampaign. Prior to that,the Consumer Educationand Research Center,the Press Council andthe Shourie committeehad proposed a draftRTI law. In 2002, a weakFreedom of InformationAct was legislated butnever came into force. In2004 RTI Bill was tabledand received presidentialassent in June 2005.Credit: Sudhir Tailang/UNDP and Planning Commission