Armed with RTI, blind man shows way

[sidmis]

Armed with RTI , blind man shows way
as reported in Yahoo! News, Sep 8 2008

DESPITE THE fact he cannot see, Ratnaji has shown the way to hundreds in his Gujarat village. Availing the Right to Information (RTI), he charted a new course for his village to fight corruption and to work for peoples' prosperity and the village's development.

A Below Poverty Line (BPL) resident of Rangaru village in Rajkot district, Ratnaji secured documents using the Right to Information (RTI) to expose the degree of corruption prevalent in the village. The documents showed that many works registered as completed in the papers were actually never taken up and remain incomplete.

Having official details in their hands, the villagers have launched a movement to force babus to complete the works. It is one of many examples where RTI applications have made government authorities to act in several parts of the country.

But, Ratnaji's story is different. What stirred him to file an RTI application was the ridicule he faced for being blind at a village panchayat meeting when he wanted to know the progress of few development works.

"They told me, you are blind and burden on the village. You cannot contribute to it.

Stay home and the village will feed you," Ratnaji told HT over phone from Rangaru village in Rajkot district in Gujarat.The public insult triggered a passion in Ratnaji: to prove his worth before village folks.

For that, he had to expose corruption in village development works. He had no clue how to achieve it until his brother suggested the way out - the RTI . "They (Ratnaji and his brother) came to us and asked whether RTI can help them in exposing corruption.

We told them yes, it can," said Pankaj Jog of RTI helpline at Rajkot, recalling how Ratnaji was hellbent to prove himself.An insensitive bureaucracy didn't make it any easier.

In the meantime, panchayat members learnt about his efforts and started pressurising his family to make him withdraw the application. Ratnaji was not willing to relent.

"Nobody understood how I felt when I was insulted for being blind. I had to generate a lot of courage to taken on powerful people," he said.

When the district office provided him information that exposed the corruption in village works, Ratnaji proved his worth to his detractors. "On paper, the village had a tube-well, drainage and proper lighting.

But, in reality, no such work was carried out," Jog said. Ratnaji was joyous and more so, because his RTI application had turned the one-man battle into a mass movement.

The villagers were now standing with Ratnaji asking questions from the panchayat members. "Now, the work that was shown as completed is being done in your village," Ratnaji said.

Armed with RTI, blind man shows way - Yahoo! India News

[Atul Patankar]

As reported by Vijaysinh Parmar of TNN at timesofindia.indiatimes.com on January 31, 2009

AHMEDABAD: Today, Rangpar villagers are happy to see that there is a two km road connecting their village to the highway. The Gando Baval (babool) shrubs along the roadside have been cleared by the gram panchayat authorities. But it was not all that simple to get these basics to this small village of Wankaner taluka in Rajkot district. It took a visually challenged Ratna Ala, 26, to open the eyes of the authorities through the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

TOI had reported the dilapidated condition of this village and the struggle of this man to get the system to work.

"At last some development work has been started by gram panchayat. For the last two years I have been using RTI to get information regarding how many schemes panchayat implemented and how much money they spent on each work. Although I did not get accurate information , it helped them realize that their inefficiency would be exposed,'' Ala told TOI.

Ala's struggle is on, but he is happy that the road has been constructed and the dense shrubs which were a hindrance to passers-by, is cleared. "I can't see, but I can feel the joy of villagers,'' says Ala. Ala is a farmer and has studied up to Class X.

Rangpar is a tiny village of 750 people, 25 km from Wankaner in Rajkot district. When Ala first confronted the panchayat, it humiliated him. He thenmet several officials but no one took note. But Ala was determined to carry on till the village got all facilities it's entitled to under different government schemes.

"Ala's work is praiseworthy. People support him but not openly as no one wants to confront local authorities. But Ratna stood firm and results are there,'' says villager Bhurabhai Barot.
Source: Blind man shows the way using RTI-India-The Times of India

[ganpat1956]

Shifted to Success stories from RTI News & Discussions.

[karira]

26-yr-old visually challenged man will receive first Rahul Mangaonkar RTI Award

Ratna Ala, a visually challenged 26-year-old youth, who used RTI to expose the improprieties of the local administration and got development to his village, will become the first recipient of the Rahul Mangaonkar Award for Best Use of RTI for Common Cause.

The award was conceptualised to cherish and perpetuate the legacy of TOI journalist Rahul Mangaonkar, who had pioneered the use of Right to Information in journalism. Ala will be felicitated at Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry Auditorium on Sunday at 10.30 am.

A native of Rangpur in Wankaner taluka of Rajkot district, Ala is visually impaired. He used the RTI to replace a stony path connecting his village to the main highway by a two-kilometre pucca road. His family belongs to below the poverty line.

Ala, a class X passout, used RTI to get information on several schemes that the panchayat had claimed it had implemented but had not done so.

Rahul Mangaonkar, an activist-journalist, passed away on May 5, 2009. He used RTI as a tool to expose irregularities in the local administration and provided a non-confrontational attitude to the RTI movement.

The award is not just a tribute to Mangaonkar but an encouragement to common citizens who use the tool to make a difference to the society at large.
As reported in ahmedabadmirror.com on 19 July 2009:
26-yr-old visually challenged man will receive first Rahul Mangaonkar RTI Award , News - City - Ahmedabad Mirror,Ahmedabad Mirror

[Bevin K. Thomas]

Hats off to RTI for this success story.
All along we have been cursing our fate for having been born in this country-so very corrupt.
Now I see there is RTI which can expose and bring relief.