RTI Helpline - 9250-400-100
Its been a almost a month since I wrote my previous post. For a while, I did not have anything to write about. And then when I did have something, I did not have time. I'm back :)
Manjunath Shanmugam was an IIML graduate who was killed last year on November 19th because he spoke up against the petrol adulteration mafia in Lakhimpur, UP. It did shock quite a few IIM graduates and the educated class in general, as this came when the memory of Satyendra Dubey the IIT alumnus who was killed in Bihar was still fresh. A few IIM Alumni got together and decided to setup Manjunath Shanmugam trust, with the objective of working for better governance in this country and ofcourse fighting Manju's case and seeking justice.
I am a volunteer in the trust. A small group of us had been working on an initiative for over 2-3 months now. The idea was to setup a national RTI helpline where the common man could call in and enquire on the Right to Information act and how to use RTI and not pay bribes while dealing with government departments/ agencies etc and still get his job done. The onus of solving the problem would still be on him; we would help him out by enabling him to get the right information. We have partnered with Parivartan, a Delhi based citizens group founded by Arvind Kejriwal, Magsaysay award winner 2006 to help us with the capability building for the helpline.
The launch of the helpline happened on Nov 19th 2006 in Gurgaon, NCR. The crack-team :) who had worked on bringing this to life travelled to Delhi for the weekend. The best part was that many of us had been communicating over phone for months, but were meeting each other only then. That weekend was a memorable one.
The launch cum press conference was to be held in the cafeteria of Sparsh - the call center which was supporting the Helpline. When we reached there on Saturday evening, it was,well, lets say a not so well maintained state for a launch conference. We got into action- contacted a tent-contracter, got the walls covered, floors carpeted etc. The entire placed was transformed overnight ( literally! - as we worked into the night :) ). The activities we were doing, along with a night out reminded me of campus days and VISTA :D
Sunday Nov 19th
Throwing modesty aside, I should say that everything went on perfectly. The trust as a pan IIM initiative was brought to the forefront and the activities of the trust were detailed to the large gathering comprising of media, IIM alumnus, corporates and other well wishers of the trust. The case proceedings were mentioned and the progress made in the case was also shared with the audience. We observed a minute silence in the memory of Manjunath. Post this, we set the stage for the launch of the Helpline. Kiran Bedi called in to give her support to the cause and wished the initiative luck. Mr. Narayan Murthy, Chief Mentor Infosys made the first call from South Africa, which was received by Arvind Kejriwal. NDTV and CNN IBN gave us live coverage of the event. The funniest part of the launch event was that we had started receiving calls even as we were launching the helpline. So we picked up two calls expecting Mr. Narayan Murthy at the other end, but they were from callers from across the country, calling in to use the helpline to know more about the RTI act :). We were popular, that too pretty soon I guess :)
We had a celebratory lunch after the entire event was over and came back home.I took the early monday morning flight and was back to work by 9.30 am.
Thinking of the weekend makes me happy. I feel that I have achieved something. It is a very small deed, but what gives me great satisfaction and a sense of fulfilment is that I feel that I have converted all my irritation with the system, all my talking and all the I-want-to-make-a-difference feelings to positive action. Its not the quantum of contribution I made, but the fact that I was part of something that is constructive and is definitely helping in changing things. How much of change, time will tell, but the start is for sure in the right direction.
The helpline number is 0-9250-400-100. Please do promote the helpline in any which way you can. If you would like to help us in our activities please do contact me.
Manjunath Shanmugam was an IIML graduate who was killed last year on November 19th because he spoke up against the petrol adulteration mafia in Lakhimpur, UP. It did shock quite a few IIM graduates and the educated class in general, as this came when the memory of Satyendra Dubey the IIT alumnus who was killed in Bihar was still fresh. A few IIM Alumni got together and decided to setup Manjunath Shanmugam trust, with the objective of working for better governance in this country and ofcourse fighting Manju's case and seeking justice.
I am a volunteer in the trust. A small group of us had been working on an initiative for over 2-3 months now. The idea was to setup a national RTI helpline where the common man could call in and enquire on the Right to Information act and how to use RTI and not pay bribes while dealing with government departments/ agencies etc and still get his job done. The onus of solving the problem would still be on him; we would help him out by enabling him to get the right information. We have partnered with Parivartan, a Delhi based citizens group founded by Arvind Kejriwal, Magsaysay award winner 2006 to help us with the capability building for the helpline.
The launch of the helpline happened on Nov 19th 2006 in Gurgaon, NCR. The crack-team :) who had worked on bringing this to life travelled to Delhi for the weekend. The best part was that many of us had been communicating over phone for months, but were meeting each other only then. That weekend was a memorable one.
The launch cum press conference was to be held in the cafeteria of Sparsh - the call center which was supporting the Helpline. When we reached there on Saturday evening, it was,well, lets say a not so well maintained state for a launch conference. We got into action- contacted a tent-contracter, got the walls covered, floors carpeted etc. The entire placed was transformed overnight ( literally! - as we worked into the night :) ). The activities we were doing, along with a night out reminded me of campus days and VISTA :D
Sunday Nov 19th
Throwing modesty aside, I should say that everything went on perfectly. The trust as a pan IIM initiative was brought to the forefront and the activities of the trust were detailed to the large gathering comprising of media, IIM alumnus, corporates and other well wishers of the trust. The case proceedings were mentioned and the progress made in the case was also shared with the audience. We observed a minute silence in the memory of Manjunath. Post this, we set the stage for the launch of the Helpline. Kiran Bedi called in to give her support to the cause and wished the initiative luck. Mr. Narayan Murthy, Chief Mentor Infosys made the first call from South Africa, which was received by Arvind Kejriwal. NDTV and CNN IBN gave us live coverage of the event. The funniest part of the launch event was that we had started receiving calls even as we were launching the helpline. So we picked up two calls expecting Mr. Narayan Murthy at the other end, but they were from callers from across the country, calling in to use the helpline to know more about the RTI act :). We were popular, that too pretty soon I guess :)
We had a celebratory lunch after the entire event was over and came back home.I took the early monday morning flight and was back to work by 9.30 am.
Thinking of the weekend makes me happy. I feel that I have achieved something. It is a very small deed, but what gives me great satisfaction and a sense of fulfilment is that I feel that I have converted all my irritation with the system, all my talking and all the I-want-to-make-a-difference feelings to positive action. Its not the quantum of contribution I made, but the fact that I was part of something that is constructive and is definitely helping in changing things. How much of change, time will tell, but the start is for sure in the right direction.
The helpline number is 0-9250-400-100. Please do promote the helpline in any which way you can. If you would like to help us in our activities please do contact me.
