Which popular movement was responsible to pass the Right to Information Act?

The first major step forward in the history of the freedom of information movement in India was spearheaded by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan that forced the state government to pass the right to information Act in 1997.

The MKSS, led by Aruna Roy, was a people’s movement that began at the grassroots but reverberations were felt across the whole country. It was a movement by peasants and workers that demanded social audit of accounts in the villages and thereby exposed the corruption at the lower levels of administration. Their campaign for Right to Information has been effectively linked to the livelihood issues of the rural person and is deeply rooted in the struggles and concerns of survival and justice of the most disadvantaged rural people.

MKSS’s demand for right to information arose from the demand to get minimum wages and check rampant corruption by inspection of muster rolls and bill vouchers. They employed a direct technique to fight for the right to information, namely, the use of jan sunwais or public hearings.