Prakash Kardaley has been a crusader of people’s right to know since three years.

When he met Anna Hazare, he was inspired by the spirit and long-term implications of a legislation, which would help the downtrodden by infusing transparency in the public distribution system. He decided to spread awareness about Maharashtra Right to Information act (MRTI) in Pune, which had just been enacted. Since then, he has been conducting workshops for students and common people.

On the national circuit, Kardaley is a member of the Working Committee of National Council for People’s Information. He is a part of the teaching faculty in YASHDA- training officers about their role in making the information act effective. As the senior editor of the Indian Express in Pune, he has been using the media to inform readers about the act.

“The experience is very rewarding. Around 33,000 applications were filed under MRTI within 26 months when the act was in force,” he says on being asked about the effect of such workshops on people. The applications were filed right from people in Mumbai and Pune to people living in the countryside.

MRTI has now been repealed giving way to National Right to Information act (NRTI). Mr Kardaley is now conducting awareness programmes to empower citizens by informing them about their rights under the National act.

“NGOs should become confrontationist for it is not possible for individuals to take the act to its logical end. There should be an organisational and organised use of the act," he says.

The future of the act is bright, according to him. The officers are opening up to the importance of the act and are extending support to the citizens. “It is the senior bureaucrats and politicians who do not want the transparency law to be effective which remain impediments to its success.”

But Mr Kardaley is hopeful and believes that the act has caught the imagination of the people and in the end it is people’s will that will prevail over the bureaucracy.

He has started a yahoo group called Hum Janenge, which is a discussion forum for people interested in knowing about the act through experience sharing between members.

For those willing to use the act, he has only one advice to offer. “ Always remember the core purpose of the act which is to protect the downtrodden and ensure transparency in the distribution mechanism.”
So go ahead and use the act for it is your fundamental right to know.