Times of India: New Delhi: Sunday, February 02, 2014.
Activist
Subhash Chandra Agrawal, overwhelmed by filing over 6,000 RTI applications till
date, says he is done asking questions.
His
relentless pursuit of answers uncovered why the Planning Commission spent Rs 35
lakh on access controlled toilets, ministers continue to illegally 'squat' in
palatial Lutyens' bungalows and the conflict on interest between those who
recommend names of Padma awards and the nominees. But now, Right to Information
(RTI) activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal has lost the energy to question further.
The
64-year-old Delhi resident, who has petitioned nearly every government
department through over 6,000 applications seeking public accountability, says
it is time to sign off on his serial petitioning . From filing 30 RTI
applications a month for the last eight years, Agrawal has filed just 10
applications over the last three months, and is working on closing the files on
the pending ones.
As the thick
wads of envelopes some responses from government departments , others urgent
appeals for help land on his doorstep every morning, Agrawal says he just can't
cope. "I am a single man army. I cannot take up individual RTIs but the
requests don't stop," he says, revealing how he is inundated by e-mails ,
phone calls, personal requests to either file RTIs or respond to appeals.
His passion
for petitioning began back in 1967 writing Letters to the Editor . Scanning 10
newspapers a day, he and his wife Madhu earned a place in the Guinness Book of
Records for their dedicated correspondence. When the RTI Act was first
introduced in October 2005, Agrawal did not lose a day to start filing
applications. His first one was personal seeking information about a High Court
judge who had presided over a property dispute between him and his uncle. The
bitterly-fought court battle left Agrawal filled with the determination to
right a wrong when he saw one. Since then, he has has soldiered on with myriad
issues ranging from why silver alloy coins are not sold at face value, why Lok
Sabha TV invested in six documentaries on Babu Jagjivan Ram while his daughter
Meira Kumar held the Speaker's office or why the administration has turned a
blind eye to the huge losses run up by the Delhi Milk Scheme booths. "The
RTI has liberated India for the second time since Independence making a common
citizen more powerful than those who are in power," says Agrawal. "A
Parliamentarian gets one chance to get a response from the government while as
an ordinary citizen I have unlimited opportunity through this law," he
adds.
Eight years
down the line, when government departments see 'Subhash Chandra Agrawal, Kucha
Lattushah, Dariba, Chandni Chowk' written at the end of an RTI application,
they hasten to respond. The fact that 90% of Agrawal's queries are answered by
the public authority itself indicates the importance he is given within central
government departments . (He began petitioning at the behest of others to
maintain their confidentiality but ensure certain indelicate issues are
exposed.) At times, ministers have asked Agrawal to file queries about their
own departments and Parliamentarians and secretaries to the Government of India
have also sought his services, which are free of cost.
Today,
though, he is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paperwork, and is seeking help
from outside institutions for his cause. He's come up short, so far. "I
wrote to some philanthropic foundations and law firms hoping they will support
me but it's been two months and no one has responded," he says, revealing
he has contacted Infosys, Reliance and Azim Premji foundations, among others.
Without
assistance Agrawal, a cloth trader by profession who willed his stake in the
family business to his younger brother two years ago to pursue his righteous
passions, says he now intends to focus on advising people on the RTI law.
For the last
few years, he has been holding workshops for public authorities on how to
handle RTI queries. The sessions have been held at the Lal Bahadur Shastri
National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie as well as ministries of
defence, railways, power and mines. His lectures at colleges and universities
have been instructive for young students. "I tell them how drafting an RTI
can make the right to information the right to action," he says. The time
freed up by his recent decision may even be spent watching films or listening
to music, activities he never indulged in choosing the news over both, to scan
for more RTI possibilities.
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