Magsaysay winner Kejriwal to speak at International Centre
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, OCT 10
Magsaysay Award winner, social activist and crusader for transparency in government Arvind Kejriwal will deliver the keynote address at a seminar on ‘Right to Information: Strengthening Participatory Democracy’ on October 12 and 13 at the International Centre, Goa (ICG), at Dona Paula. Kerjriwal was instrumental in activating India’s Right to Information (RTI) movement at the grassroots to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable. Kejriwal’s talk will be at 10 am on October 12.
He will also inaugurate the Goa RTI Forum and participate in a ‘Jan Sunwayi’, the very first public hearing on the Goa State Information Commission on October 12 at the Goa State Museum at Patto, Panjim, at 4 pm. Goa’s Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Motilal Sanvlo Keny will interact with the public and answer questions at the public hearing. Both programmes are open to the public.
The seminar at ICG will be inaugurated by the Chairman of the Goa Law Commission Ramakant Khalap. ICG Director Nandini Sahai and Honorary Director of Friedrich Ebert Shiftung (FES), India, Rajeshway Dyal, and Goa CIC Keny will also be present.
The seminar is organised by ICG, FES-India and the Media Information and Communication Centre of India (MICCI), in association with Goa People’s Forum (GPF), People’s Movement for Civic Action (PMCA), Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ), Rudreshwar Friendship Centre, Goa Federation of Women Lawyers, VM Salgaocar College of Law, Goa University Dept of Political Science, All India Women’s Conference (AIWC-Goa), Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI-Goa), Goa Jaycees, and Goa Rotary Movement.
Other sessions at the seminar on October 12 will be ‘RTI and Accountability in Local Self-Governance’ at 11am and ‘Major Challenges facing RTI’ at 1.45pm. On October 13, ‘Role of Media and NGOs in Promoting RTI’ will be at 2.30 pm.
In theory, the people are the masters in a democracy. But in practice, the role of an Indian citizen is limited to casting his or her vote once in every five years. In the intervening five years, (s)he is left to plead before politicians and bureaucrats, who don’t care to listen. In the last 60 years, the people have voted for various political parties and politicians. But things have gone from bad to worse. Merely changing parties and politicians doesn’t help.
Swaraj is about giving direct control of funds, functions and functionaries to people’s assemblies – Mohalla Sabhas in urban areas and Gram Sabhas in rural areas. These assemblies should meet every month and take decisions regarding all issues in their area. Decisions taken by these assemblies should be implemented by their elected representatives. If the elected representatives act against the will of the people, the people’s assemblies should have the power to recall them.
Only issues that cannot be managed at the level of these assemblies should go to higher levels of government. If the majority of Gram Sabhas and Mohalla Sabhas in a state vote for a particular issue, the state government should implement it, enact the necessary law or amend the existing law. That would be true democracy – government by the people.
