AT a time when national level poetics in India has been rocked by a number of corruption scandals, some grassroots organisations are also fighting the somewhat

neglected battle for eliminating or at least reducing corruption in various rural development programmes, particularly those aimed at helping the weaker sections.

"The amount involved in a corruption scandal of a village or a cluster of villages may of course appear small when compared to a state level or a national level scandal, but we must remember that there are over five hundred thousand villages in India. Multiply what you see in a single village by this number and you get what is easily the biggest corruption issue", says Aruna Roy Mazdoor Kissan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Adds Shankar Singh. "The fact that this village-level corruption generally involves snatching resources from the poorest people makes it all the more important that such corruption should be fought and resisted."

This is precisely what the MKSS has been consistently doing. First there was a long successful struggle against the nonpayment of minimum wage at rural employment works. Secondly. there were a series of Jan sunwais or public hearings at which many shocking exposes df corruption were made in front of a large audience by comparing official records of various government projects and programmes with the reality of these programmes as experienced by the villagers.

The concern of MKSS did not end merely with exposing corruption. As Nikhil Dey. an activist of MKSS, says "It is even more Important to try to ensure that the money taken away from people living in poverty is restored so that it can be used for their actual welfare. After all our real concern is the welfare of people. 'Towards this end, MKSS has given a lot of attention to follow up work on its public hearings but the government has so far responded generally with half hearted measurers.

This entire difficult and prolonged process convinced the MKSS that one of the most effective methods of fighting villagelevel corruption is to provide people the right to obtain copies of official records (such as.muster rolls, bills and vouchers) relating to rural development and anti-poverty programmes implemented in their areas. This soon became a central point in the demands being raised by MKSS. Several other organisations were also quick to appreciate the potential of obtaining this 'Right to information’ and it began to appear that this demand raised by MKSS will have state-level or perhaps even national-level impacts.

This feeling was strengthened in 1995 when in his budget speech made on April 5 the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Mr. Bhalron Singh Shekhawat declared that he would allow photo copying of all records on development expenditure of the state, at the panchayat level, for a fee. He further said that this right to information will cover development expenditure going back to five years.

This was a major step forward in the efforts to obtain the right to information for checking village-level corruption, especially as nothing like this had been promised earlier by the Chief Minister of any other state in India. While waiting for the promise of the CM to take practical shape, the MKSS quietly continued the work to consolidate these gains, including follow up of public hearings. It also stepped up efforts to establish state level and national level linkages with other activists groups, lawyers, officials and media persons so that the struggle for the right to information could be broadened. A state level meeting was organised in Beware town of Rajasthan. A meeting of concerned officials and social activists in Mussoorie led to the formation of a national group on the right of information, support by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. This committee has already prepared and circulated the draft of an access to Information Act.

The Press Council of India an the Press Institute of India have taken a lot a of interest in this issue and extended support to the enactment of such an act.

However, the state government continued to delay issuing orders on the promise made by the CM. despite repeated demands made by MKSS. MKSS decided that if tne relevant orders are not issued till one year, then it is time to initiate a movement on this demand. So it decided to start an indefinite Dharna in Beware town on April 6. exactly one year after the Bromise made by the CM. Fearing a political fallout of this harna at election time, the state government quickly issued a half-hearted order on the right to information which fell far short of the original promise made by the CM.

While providing for inspection of records and noting down details, the orders did not include photocopying of relevant records. This not only creates problems for illiterate or near illiterate persons, in addition tne legal validity of the information written down by hand is doubtful. The order was silent on the period within which recourse would be available, as also the number of recourse that may be inspected for the fee specified in the order. It also did not specify how delaying tactics on the part of reluctant officials can be avoided, or how illegally diverted money will be recovered and refunded to villagers. On all these accounts this order failed to do justice to the original promise made by the CM. Therefore, after seeing the order on April 8. the MKSS decided to continue the Dharna which continued for nearly six weeks.

From May 6 (a month after it started) ft was also extended to Jaipur, the capital of Rajastan.

while it was only to be expected that this Dhama will attract MKSS members from villages, what came as quite a surprise was that it also obtained very enthusiastic participation of the citizens of Beware town, many of whom had earlier not even heard of MKSS. These supporters ranged from editors and political leaders to vegetable vendors and daily wage workers. Some workers donated a part of their daily earnings while some vegetable vendors donated regular supplies of potatoes and tomatoes. Some photographers provided their services free while the tent shop charged only one third of its normal rate. Several rival trade unions forgot their differences for the time being to extend joint support to the Dharna. The honest image of the MKSS and the genuineness of the Issue also contributed to this support. >

The Dharna was withdrawn only after the state government constituted a high powered committee to look into the practical aspects of implanting the Right to Information.