Anna Hazare's campaign may lead to a new Lokpal Bill, but it has legitimised middle-class vigilantism and other kinds of civil society mobilisation. NOW that Anna Hazare has declared victory, it is time to take stock of one of the most powerful recent mobilisations of people in India, focussed on influencing policy or lawmaking processes. The victory, however, is largely symbolic. The original demand of the movement, carefully built around Hazare's...
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Arvind Kejriwal, RTI activist and Magsaysay award winner interviewed by Vidya Subrahmaniam
'We want to pressure the government and assert our rights as citizens.' Arvind Kejriwal received the Magsaysay award in the Emergent leadership category in 2006. A mere five years later, he has far surpassed that milestone, winning acclaim and notice for the way he conceived and crafted Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. He talks to Vidya Subrahmaniam about the Jan Lokpal campaign, what it accomplished and why it often became controversial. The scale...
More »Survival in the shadow of dams by Ananda Banerjee
Floods are vital to Kaziranga; dams on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra could disrupt the balance A few weeks ago, much of the grasslands of Kaziranga National Park were under water. The monsoon floods bring with them their own set of problems—some of the animals, for instance, have to be rehabilitated—but they are required for the very existence of the park. The annual floods of the Brahmaputra creates grasslands, floodplains, and...
More »State excludes SPE Lokayukta, EOW from RTI by Joseph John
Amidst much indignation over the need for more transparency to fight corruption, the state government has ordered to keep the Special Police Establishment (SPE) of the Lokayukta and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) out of the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005, raising suspicion over the motive behind the action. The General Administration Department issued a notification on August 25. RTI activists and civil society groups allege that the government...
More »Death of an activist. Murder or suicide? by Priyanka Dubey
SHEHLA MASOOD’S eventful life was brutally cut short on 16 August, when her body was found in the front seat of her car. A fierce wildlife conservationist and RTI activist, 38-year-old Shehla was also a flamboyant socialite of Bhopal. The murder in broad daylight outside her bungalow in the posh Koh-e-Fiza area sent ripples across the otherwise peaceful city. With the state media jumping from one conclusion to another and...
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