Project Name               RTI Campaign by Asha Parivar   

NGO                              Asha   

District                         Varanasi   

State                            Uttar Pradesh   

Budget Proposed         $ 17900    

Budget Approved         $ 13000  

Contact                        Somu Kumar ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Summary

Right to Information is the most progressive act which when used properly will be a vital tool in proper governance and eliminating corruption. Asha''''s work is on education and Right to Information. Asha also work on Right To Food - RTF – In public distribution shops (ration shops); effective tracking of how much comes in and how much is already distributed. In Hardoi, for the zilla panchayat and MLA funds, we have filed for RTI. We have also requested information on mid-day meal and other schemes. Hardoi is now included in NREG scheme implementation. BDO gave job cards to all villagers after proper awareness. Any mazdoor who wants to work will now be given a job. Work will involve combining the power of RTI with RTF & NREGA

Goals

·        Mobilization and Empowerment of people whose lives are affected.

·        Awareness campaign and training programs related to people’s right to information and NREG schemes.

·        A powerful tool of ‘Janata Jaanch’ introduced involving people, questioning authorities.

·        Systematic use of RTI, food for work scheme, etc.

·        Constant dialogue and demanding rights with District and State authorities.

·        Focus on dalits, women and poor.

Achievements

·        Right to information petition filed for 40 gram panchayats we have obtained information on income-expenditure for 30 of them because of pressure from Asha Parivar. It took more than a year to obtain the information and now we are doing a social audit to check the government records against actual expenses.

·        Zilla panchayat information and MLA funds data was also requested but not received

·        32 CRORES of money came into Hardoi and we have asked for details of the same

·        Job guarantee scheme – we are trying to make sure in sandhila and hardoi - BDO promised that job cards will be done, and this has been done in about 51 panchayats. So, now if anyone needs to work, they will be given the job. 1 thousand job cards have been made so, 1000 people have worked and paid for this month. We gheraoed and publicly pressured the BDO and we slept in front of a train and refused to let go and as a result we got job cards done.