A group of alert citizens use the Right to Information Act to change their little world

You pinch the administration and they will respond. The RTI act has kept hope alive.”RAVI NAIR

RIGHT TO KNOW : MUMBAI - MAHARASHTRAFire StarterA group of alert citizens use the Right to Information Act to change their little worldBy Kimi Dangor
“To change the system, you must penetrate it,” says 23-year-old Muringathery Sebastian Varghese, seated in a tiny tenement in Bhamanpuri village in Mumbai. As youth president of his church, this mechanical engineering student has discovered a weapon that will help him understand and navigate this system better. “The Right to Information Act is like a brahmastra,” chimes Pramod Sawant, 25, an employee with a media group. It’s a national holiday, August 15, but the two young men have dutifully turned up for the Action for Good Governance for Networking in India (AGNI) and Active Alert Citizen’s Forum meeting. Seated around a small room lined with yellowed newspaper clippings are also social activists James John, Ravi Nair, Ashok Pai, Sheeba Nair, Walter Noronha and Melwyn D’Costa among others, united by a cause that goes deeper than just celebrating the country’s independence. Export manager Ravi Nair, 31, says, “For activism, you need passion.” As the Andheri K-East ward coordinator for agni, a non-political, non-sectarian voluntary movement for good governance, he should know. The ward is not only the biggest but also the most active one in Mumbai, holding discussions on topics ranging from concretising roads and activating water connections to removing drainage blocks and illegal hoardings.
Presiding over this motley group is John, 38, a former naval officer and handball player. “When I joined the Indian Navy in 1988, Mumbai was a different city—we had playgrounds and footpaths. When I returned to the city in 2002, the footpaths had disappeared and open spaces had been encroached upon, ” he says. Letters of protest gave way to activism as he became a member of AGNI K-East Jaag and co-founded the Active
Alert Citizen’s Forum. Today, a dedicated group of nearly 25 members keeps track of the 15 area corporators’ funds, and gets anumber of things done, like clearing clogged sewage drains, installing water pipelines, preventing illegal tree-cutting and water theft. All with the help of RTI Act. Meeting once a month, the group perseveres despite physical threats and attacks. They pool in to print a newsletter that has a column dedicated to the Act with explanatory case-studies. John and his band of K-ward activists are always at the forefront of civic benefit. “The administration knows that we will keep following up. You pinch and they will respond. The RTI Act has kept hope alive,” asserts Nair. And AGNI

LAW MUST NOT REMAIN ON PAPER

ACTIVISTS AT THE 9TH ANNIVERSARY FUNCTION OF AGNI ON SATURDAY

CITIZENS' GROUPS came together to evoke the rule of law on the ninth anniversary celebrations of AGNI, a citizens' group.
On the backdrop of rampant corruption, vote bank politics and the nexus between land mafia and law enforcers, the various groups - AGNI, CitiSpace, Lok Satta Movement - are spearheading the need to enforce the rule of law. "Law must not remain on paper, it must be ruthlessly enforced," said D.M. Sukhtankar, vice-chairman, AGNI.
Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud highlighted the need to sensitise the judiciary to comprehend diversities, social context, and experimentation to allow creative interpretation of the law.
"Flooding the courts with too many litigations have made the courts dysfunctional," he said. He stressed on the need to incorporate citizens as major stakeholders in the process of governance.
Lauding the Clean Up campaign as an example of active citizen participation, former police commissioner Julio Riberio said: "To enforce the rule of law, a change in people's mindset is needed."

Citizens should be involved in governance: HC judge

AGNI CELEBRATES 9 YRS

Citizens should be involved in governance: HC judge

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: The real problem facing today’s society is not designing law but implementing it. And the task of implementing it is given to those whose conduct itself is under scrutiny, said Justice D Y Chandrachud of the Bombay high court. He was delivering the keynote address on the subject Enforce the Rule of Law at the ninth anniversary celebrations of the city’s wellknown NGO Action for Good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI) on Saturday at the St Xavier’s college hall. Talking about his own experience as a judge, Justice Chandrachud said that each time he heard a matter he asked himself “Do I make a difference?’’ because he did not see the orders being implemented. “We must contemplate the need to incorporate citizens as stake holders and increase the participation of citizens in governance as well as allow experimentation,’’ he said. One of the greatest problems faced by the judiciary, said Justice Chandrachud, was access to information. “The information is provided by those who are themselves under scrutiny.’’ Elaborating, he recounted how when the farmers’ suicide case came up in the Bombay high court, the judges asked the Tata Institute of Social Sciences to carry out a survey and to find the reasons behind the suicides. The institute, he said, submitted an excellent report. Nearer home, with regard to the problem of hoardings, the court took a two-pronged approach ruling no hoardings on heritage structures and set up a citizens’ committee to report on whether the hoardings were in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone notification and the Motor Vehicles Act. He pointed out that the municipal commissioner was on record that the hoardings added to the grandeur of Mumbai. “There is,’’ he said, “a deliberate act of suppression of information and the right to information act is performing a valuable function,’’ he added. AGNI has now decided to form a core group of various NGOs that will prepare an action plan and launch a campaign to ensure the rule of law.

CHARTER OF DEMANDS SUBMITTED Act against mobocracy, activsists tell top cop

Mumbai: A delegation of activists on Tuesday, presented a charter of demands to commissioner of police Hassan Gaffoor on Tuesday, against mobs taking the law into their hands.
The delegation comprising AGNI activists James John, Gerson da Cunha, former civic chief D M Sukhtankar, former top cop Julio Ribeiro and others, said most issues are being settled with increasing attacks on citizens. What’s
worse is that the politicians, powerbrokers and the police are mere spectators to the events, or sometimes, even the cause provocateurs. Citizens insisted on enforcement of the rule of law. “There should be greater collaboration between the people and the police in fighting elements perpetrating mobocracy,’’ said activist James John of the (AGNI) who was also the victim of one such attack by a mob. “In addition to the existing police stations, it would be good if there were special nodal offices that would take care of these incidents,’’ he added.

Activist beaten up by suspected MNS workers

MUMBAI MIRROR BUREAU
VINDICATED: James John at the hospital

Activist James John paid the price for trying to collect evidence against alleged MNS workers who were forcing shop keepers to down their shutters. John, an activist with citizen’s group AGNI, was beaten up badly by five suspected MNS workers on his way back home on Wednesday evening at J B nagar, Andheri. Doctors at BSES Hospital in Andheri (W), where John was admitted, said, “He has broken two upper ribs and has sustained injuries on his lungs.” Ashok Pai, another AGNI activist and a close friend of John, said, “He was returning home from work around 6 pm. He saw five men forcing shop owners to close their shops. John started clicking pictures which the miscreants objected to.” James and his fellow activists from AGNI claim the five miscreants belonged to MNS and were creating havoc in the area to protest the arrest of their party chief. Police officers from Andheri Police station have recorded John’s statement. The officers say they will file an FIR once John is in a position to tell them what happened that day.