Abhinandan Sekhri speaks to Aruna Roy, social activist and founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, on her book The RTI Story: Power to the People. Explaining the reason for writing this book, Roy says, “The basic intent was to write a narrative that would bring the truth of our lives into the public domain. Since we are in an era of narratives pouring out of every crevice and all sorts of distortions of history and facts, this book is born out of documents and other records collected by the MKSS and other organisations associated with us.”
Roy emphasises that the book is about grassroots activism and its importance in instigating national campaigns. Further in the interview, she answers questions on the pendency and backlogs in Right to Information cases, the efficiency of various tools to get one’s message across (hunger strike, yatras, jan sunwai), the camaraderie that activists share among each other, and the difficulty in turning the bureaucracy around in the country.
Watch.
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