Call it a classic case of mass awakening after facing years of neglect. Having woven many success stories in urban areas, the Right to Information Act (RTI) is reaching rural areas too. And in a first, six villages in the far flung areas of Kalyan have been taught to use the RTI Act to bring about some positive change in their lives.
Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT), an NGO spearheading a pilot project at the six villages adopted by them last year— Ambhe, Kharad, Dhoke, Kushavali, Mangrul and Shiravali— has undertaken the daunting task of reducing corruption in these areas.
“The RTI Act has often been used in urban areas frequently but in rural areas no one is aware about it. Hence, we took this initiative to empower each and every person in the villages above 14 years to use the Act to bring about a positive change in their lives,” said former police commissioner and a member of the trust Julio Ribeiro.
After months of awareness programmes, the Act seems to have brought some positive change. “Before the RTI Act was introduced to them, no one in the village knew that death certificates can be obtained free-of-cost,” said Swarna Bhagyawati from Ambhe gaon. Bhagyawati used the RTI Act to obtain the death certificate of her grandfather almost two years after his death. She needed the certificate to enroll her grandmother in the Widow Pension Scheme.
This was one of the first success stories in the village. “We started the project in Ambhe gaon and more and more locals became interested in it after seeing positive changes around them. Thus the awareness wave spread from here to the other five villages,” said programme manager Shabnam Siddiqui.
The task did not come easy to PCGT. “We faced a lot of teething trouble. These areas are largely inhabited by tribals. In most villages, the gram panchayat head would give veiled threats to volunteers. The trend continues even now but thankfully the awareness has remarkably grown,” said Siddiqui.
PCGT partnered with local NGO’s to build a strong network in the villages. Awareness was spread through innovative methods like street plays and regular interaction with the community. “The volunteers interacted with various communities through street plays and passed on the message,” said Siddiqui.
Interestingly, most of the volunteers were young girls who have benefited from the Act. This, according to Siddiqui, is both a boon and a bane. “It is always heartening to see women come out for such work. But then their parents become easy targets for threats from the panchayat heads,” said Siddiqui. “They would coax the parents to not send their daughters saying it would destroy their marriage prospects. But despite this we have got an overwhelming repsonse,” Siddiqui added.
PCGT plans to replicate the model in other villages too. “The RTI Act is the most potent tool the common man has. ,Unfortunately in rural areas its power is yet to be tested. The success in these villages has proved that this can be replicated in other villages of India,” said Ribeiro.
Source: Indian Express
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