I Have The Power
A small awakening rustled inside me today. It started off with a flutter and as the hour passed by, it gradually aggregated into a hurricane. All inside me. It lambasted my soul like anything and really spiked an urge to do something about the problem. No, it doesn't concern the loo.
A gentleman by the name Sailesh Gandhi visited the office today. This charming 50 year ex-IITian is one of Mumbai's well-known social activists, who while giving up his cushy job spends all his time advocating the use of the Right To Information Act to the unaware. And I was party to one such awareness session today; someone who despite having an indepth knowledge of the Act and the associated citizen empowerment, could never figure out a direction to use it. Tonight, my RAM is updated with all the nitty-gritty details.
The RTI Brahmastra now gives me an opportunity to bare open that cupboard full of lies and corruption behind closed government doors. I now have the right to ascertain the name of the corporator in charge of the potholes - you see the potholes near my place have very few roads. I now have the right to determine the amount of dough spent on my ward, the land laundering process, the garbage collection timings etc. All the information on my fingertips in 30 days. Withholding anything makes me the darling of the media after exposing all the scams. It just costs me a paper, pen, literacy skills, 10 rupees, an envelope and 10 minutes . A simple letter to the Public Information Officer stating the query from the confines of my home and the work's done. The ball is always in my court. If a slumdweller can do this to avail a ration card legally, why can't I? If I can do it, then anyone can do it. If everyone does it, then the politicians will asphyxiate to extinction - and join the exclusive gang of dodos.
Every such freedom struggle has to be hampered and hijacked by the ruling class and this one is no exception. The government is so threatened by the success of the Act that it plans to gag a few rulings within the Act. It has been toned down for a while since they plan to do surreptitiously. However, a petition drive is on the way to make the govt accountable and to prevent any amendments to the present Act.
This hurricane brewing within me is bigger than Katrina(the fiery one), something which even Katrina (the Salman one) cannot anticipate!
A gentleman by the name Sailesh Gandhi visited the office today. This charming 50 year ex-IITian is one of Mumbai's well-known social activists, who while giving up his cushy job spends all his time advocating the use of the Right To Information Act to the unaware. And I was party to one such awareness session today; someone who despite having an indepth knowledge of the Act and the associated citizen empowerment, could never figure out a direction to use it. Tonight, my RAM is updated with all the nitty-gritty details.
The RTI Brahmastra now gives me an opportunity to bare open that cupboard full of lies and corruption behind closed government doors. I now have the right to ascertain the name of the corporator in charge of the potholes - you see the potholes near my place have very few roads. I now have the right to determine the amount of dough spent on my ward, the land laundering process, the garbage collection timings etc. All the information on my fingertips in 30 days. Withholding anything makes me the darling of the media after exposing all the scams. It just costs me a paper, pen, literacy skills, 10 rupees, an envelope and 10 minutes . A simple letter to the Public Information Officer stating the query from the confines of my home and the work's done. The ball is always in my court. If a slumdweller can do this to avail a ration card legally, why can't I? If I can do it, then anyone can do it. If everyone does it, then the politicians will asphyxiate to extinction - and join the exclusive gang of dodos.
Every such freedom struggle has to be hampered and hijacked by the ruling class and this one is no exception. The government is so threatened by the success of the Act that it plans to gag a few rulings within the Act. It has been toned down for a while since they plan to do surreptitiously. However, a petition drive is on the way to make the govt accountable and to prevent any amendments to the present Act.
This hurricane brewing within me is bigger than Katrina(the fiery one), something which even Katrina (the Salman one) cannot anticipate!
posted by Tejas at 1:08 PM
1 Comments:
Very true!!...We do have the power...its just that nobody is bothered...We complain and we debate...But never initiate...That's where the problem lies.
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