Moneylife: Pune: 23 August 2025.
“Every RTI application is essentially a mini social audit,” declared Right to Information (RTI) activist Bhaskar Prabhu, setting the tone at a workshop organised by Moneylife Foundation. He reminded participants that the RTI Act is not a magic wand that instantly fixes civic problems, but rather it is a citizen’s instrument to conduct social audits of government functioning.
The Act, he stressed,
empowers ordinary people to scrutinise government claims, verify delivery of
services and hold officials accountable when promises are not matched by
reality.
Mr Prabhu explained that most citizens approach RTI with the wrong expectations. “People think, if I file an RTI, the road will be repaired tomorrow. That never happens. What you get is information data, files, approvals which then allows you to ask: if money was sanctioned, where did it go? If a project was approved, why does it not exist? That questioning is the real power of RTI,” he says.
Using everyday examples from Mumbai, Mr Prabhu illustrated how citizens can use RTI as a lens for social audits. He spoke of roads that are dug up year after year and dustbins that are budgeted for but never delivered. Citizens filing RTIs in such cases can obtain official work orders and completion reports, and then compare them with the reality on the ground.
“When you file an RTI and see that 500 dustbins were purchased but there are none in your ward, that’s a social audit. You can then confront the ward office with evidence,” he explained.
Another telling example was of ‘paper trees’ that exist only in official records. Municipal files may show hundreds of trees planted, but when citizens use RTI to get the list of locations, they often discover empty patches of land. “When you go there and check, you realise the tree only exists in government files. That is how scams get exposed,” he said.
By reframing these anecdotes as citizen-led audits, he highlighted that social audits need not always be large, state-mandated exercises. Even small, local interventions, when documented and followed up, serve as social audits of public work. “The government may not always initiate audits of its own spending. But citizens can, and RTI is the instrument that allows us to do it.”
Throughout the session, Mr Prabhu encouraged participants to not only file RTI requests but also to share responses within their communities. This, he explained, builds collective knowledge and prevents officials from ignoring inconvenient questions. He emphasised that social audits gain strength when information is pooled: “When ten people ask the same question, it’s not just RTI it’s society auditing its government.”
The workshop was interactive, with participants voicing concerns about approaching government offices. Mr Prabhu reassured them, “Don’t think of yourself as a beggar of information. You are exercising a fundamental right. The law is on your side. Walk in with confidence.”
At the same time, he warned against misuse, “Don’t file RTIs to harass or blackmail. It reduces the credibility of genuine users. If you want the law to survive, use it responsibly.”
The session closed with a discussion on collective action in the form of social audits. Mr Prabhu urged attendees to share their experiences and form networks. “If one person asks a question, they can be ignored. If ten people ask the same question from different wards, it creates pressure that authorities cannot ignore.” Even when outcomes are not immediate, Mr Prabhu reminded participants that “your application creates a record. It makes the system aware that citizens are watching. That itself is a victory.”
Mr Prabhu reminded participants that the RTI Act was never meant to be a magic wand. “It will not fix everything overnight,” he cautioned, “but it will allow you to question, to demand, to verify.”
Used wisely, it empowers ordinary people to monitor government action in ways that were unthinkable before 2005.
In essence, RTI is not just about filing applications; it is about performing social audits in real time checking whether promises match delivery, whether budgets translate into works and whether public officials remain answerable to the people they serve. When citizens use RTI collectively, the scattered efforts of individuals become a continuous audit of the state itself. That, Mr Prabhu concluded, is how democracy is strengthened from the ground up.
“Every RTI application is essentially a mini social audit,” declared Right to Information (RTI) activist Bhaskar Prabhu, setting the tone at a workshop organised by Moneylife Foundation. He reminded participants that the RTI Act is not a magic wand that instantly fixes civic problems, but rather it is a citizen’s instrument to conduct social audits of government functioning.
Mr Prabhu explained that most citizens approach RTI with the wrong expectations. “People think, if I file an RTI, the road will be repaired tomorrow. That never happens. What you get is information data, files, approvals which then allows you to ask: if money was sanctioned, where did it go? If a project was approved, why does it not exist? That questioning is the real power of RTI,” he says.
Using everyday examples from Mumbai, Mr Prabhu illustrated how citizens can use RTI as a lens for social audits. He spoke of roads that are dug up year after year and dustbins that are budgeted for but never delivered. Citizens filing RTIs in such cases can obtain official work orders and completion reports, and then compare them with the reality on the ground.
“When you file an RTI and see that 500 dustbins were purchased but there are none in your ward, that’s a social audit. You can then confront the ward office with evidence,” he explained.
Another telling example was of ‘paper trees’ that exist only in official records. Municipal files may show hundreds of trees planted, but when citizens use RTI to get the list of locations, they often discover empty patches of land. “When you go there and check, you realise the tree only exists in government files. That is how scams get exposed,” he said.
By reframing these anecdotes as citizen-led audits, he highlighted that social audits need not always be large, state-mandated exercises. Even small, local interventions, when documented and followed up, serve as social audits of public work. “The government may not always initiate audits of its own spending. But citizens can, and RTI is the instrument that allows us to do it.”
Throughout the session, Mr Prabhu encouraged participants to not only file RTI requests but also to share responses within their communities. This, he explained, builds collective knowledge and prevents officials from ignoring inconvenient questions. He emphasised that social audits gain strength when information is pooled: “When ten people ask the same question, it’s not just RTI it’s society auditing its government.”
The workshop was interactive, with participants voicing concerns about approaching government offices. Mr Prabhu reassured them, “Don’t think of yourself as a beggar of information. You are exercising a fundamental right. The law is on your side. Walk in with confidence.”
At the same time, he warned against misuse, “Don’t file RTIs to harass or blackmail. It reduces the credibility of genuine users. If you want the law to survive, use it responsibly.”
The session closed with a discussion on collective action in the form of social audits. Mr Prabhu urged attendees to share their experiences and form networks. “If one person asks a question, they can be ignored. If ten people ask the same question from different wards, it creates pressure that authorities cannot ignore.” Even when outcomes are not immediate, Mr Prabhu reminded participants that “your application creates a record. It makes the system aware that citizens are watching. That itself is a victory.”
Mr Prabhu reminded participants that the RTI Act was never meant to be a magic wand. “It will not fix everything overnight,” he cautioned, “but it will allow you to question, to demand, to verify.”
Used wisely, it empowers ordinary people to monitor government action in ways that were unthinkable before 2005.
In essence, RTI is not just about filing applications; it is about performing social audits in real time checking whether promises match delivery, whether budgets translate into works and whether public officials remain answerable to the people they serve. When citizens use RTI collectively, the scattered efforts of individuals become a continuous audit of the state itself. That, Mr Prabhu concluded, is how democracy is strengthened from the ground up.
.JPG)
.JPG)
