Project Mission & Background:
Project Location: Jaipur, Rajasthan
RTI Act has strong potential to bring about far-reaching changes in the functioning of our democracy. It is pertinent to closely track the evolution of this Act as it works in the hands of the people. This project is designed to collect information about people's RTI experiences in a systematic manner.
This information will be used to answers the following broad set of questions that are crucial for any further action or advocacy:
How is the Act being used?
What are the Problems in Using the Act?
What are the Outcomes of the Use of this Act? Does the Act truly help in bringing about better governance and accountability?
Are public offices falling in line with the spirit of the Act and what could be the role of civil society in ensuring this?
NGO/Sowmya's achievements so far:
• Right to Information (RTI) and the Right to Work: Since 2004
• Journalist: 3 Years
• Indian Express, Chennai
• the Business Standard, Mumbai
• Wrote on rural economic (Rural Mural)
• “Research for People”: Jaipur mid-2002
• study on the working and living conditions of migrant construction workers
• micro-study on the causes of migration at the village level in one panchayat in Ajmer district
• asd
• Funded by India Friends Abroad
• Awareness of the RTI and NREGA
• Practical implementation
• Maintain flow of information between media and campaign
• Article in Tehelka
• Syed Hussain Story
• Sariya Mali Murder
• for webpage please take files from aid-members yahoo group ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aid-members/files/2007/ProjectsUnderReview%20/ )
NGO/Sowmya's Future Goals:
Continue effort in the field of Journalism and create a comprehensive documentation on RTI usage in Rajasthan
AID Chapter(s) involved in the project:
Pittsburgh and AID RTI Team
AID Project coordinators contact information:
Gaurav Bhardwaj ( Pittsburgh ) � gauravdj@gmail.com (412) 908-3385
Somu Kumar (AID RTI team) � somukumar@gmail.com (703) 728-8987
State: Funded by Pittsburgh for 2007-08
Budget: Rs. 1,06,000 ($2436)
AID Funded for: Rs 1, 06, 000 ( Pittsburgh )
AID is involved with this NGO/Sowmya since: 2007
AID is involved in this project since: 2007
Project objectives:
• How is the Act being used? Documentation of various cases would help in understanding the numerous uses of right to information by people in demanding accountability from different spheres of governance.
• What are the Problems in Using the Act? Collation and analysis of various cases would help to evolve a detailed understanding of the problematic areas in the use of the RTI Act at every stage involved, right from the point of applying information to obtaining it.
• What are the Outcomes of the Use of this Act? Does the Act truly help in bringing about better governance and accountability? Answers to these can be best captured through concrete case studies of the consequences of using the RTI Act, which hence need to be properly documented in the first place.
• Are public offices falling in line with the spirit of the Act and what could be the role of civil society in ensuring this? Collation of information pertaining to the status of suo-moto disclosures in various offices in Rajasthan could help to keep a track of whether or not government offices are taking this Act seriously and making an effort to usher in an era of transperancy and accountability on their own.
About Somya Sivakumar
• Undergrad from Stella Maris College , Chennai
• Masters in economics from the Delhi School of Economics in 2001
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