i am posting after a long time. I have been quite active with India Against Corruption and had a brainstorming session with some people in the US. One of the topics was to create a company that would be an rti resource centre which would make it easier for consumers and govt agencies to get outcomes. See this ted talk http://www.ted.com/talks/shaffi_mather_a_new_way_to_fight_corruption.html. It is not a new idea but the talk was 2009 so i wonder whether the idea got off the ground or not. I would like to help entrepreneurs who can build a large business in this area. I can be reached at sanjaybhargava at yahoo.com.
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I liked the point made by Nikhil — ” If you empower people to use the RTI and inform them about what the responsibility of the government is, it is a better way”. Fits into the point made by Sanjay in his post –“create a company that would be an RTI resource centre which would make it easier for consumers and govt agencies to get outcomes”.
This would be a terrific company to have — a monetised company which can also be a conduit/platform for legislative changes which strengthen economic and social aspects of democracy, leading to rapid economic progress in India.
Hi Sanjay,
if there’s any way that I can help this organization, do let me know. I’m at nikhil at medianama dot com .
A problem you might want to address is the lack of information/knowledge of the responsibility of government agencies, MPs and MLAs – people can’t hold them accountable if they don’t know what to hold them accountable for. I remember coming across a non-profit which was creating a wiki on the responsibility of government agencies. Can’t remember the name, but had met them at the Open Data Camp organized by Accountability India. If you empower people to use the RTI and inform them about what the responsibility of the government is, it is a better way.
We’ve been using the RTI since March this year to get government data, as well as policy documents that should have been made public, but have not. for example: http://www.medianama.com/2011/05/223-internet-control-rules-public-comments/
The power that it gives to citizens is staggering, and we’ve been encouraging others to use it as well.
I’m trying to see how I can get more involved in my local area (to begin with), and then also look at using it for broader issues.