Aruna Roy and the Birth of the People's Movement in India

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Aruna Roy and the Birth of the People’s Movement in India
INTRODUCTION
Corruption has been a major problem driving underdevelopment and poverty in many countries. Embezzlement or underutilization of resources by the corrupt government officials, occur in several sectors of the society. This is a case study about an activist, Aruna Roy, who encountered massive corruption in her long service in the Indian government and formed an organization to fight corruption. The organization managed to mobilize people to convince the government to allow them the right to information, which would help uncover corrupt dealings in the government projects (Roy & Nikhil). The campaign was positive in its approach though the sluggish judiciary and legislature hampered implementing methods of curbing the corrupt practices. However, other approaches to this problem that would have led to a positive outcome exist.
I has been divided this paper into three sections: in the first section, I will give the history of the movement started by Aruna Roy and why she chose the civil-mobilization strategy in fighting corruption. The second section will give the benefits, challenges, drawbacks of her approach and analyses of her approach. The third part will consist of the alternative approach to fighting corruption and strategies to implement in future similar projects.
HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT
Aruna Roy is a longtime Indian social activist, together with Nikhil Dey and Shanker Singh, famously founded a social and grassroots organization known as Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana (MKSS), which aimed to address problems faced by peasants and workers. The MKSS led a revolutionary campaign in 1995, which led to the enactment of the Right To Information (RTI) act in 2005 (Sahoo 58). Before joining the social service, Aruna Roy was a civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service, where she became aware of the massive bureaucratic corruption and the many problems facing the peasants and workers in the countryside. She saw how the actions of corrupt officials hampered the government’s desire to help the poor (“Aruna Roy.” 2016). Driven by her unsettled conscience, she did quit her job and joined her husband who was already in the social service. This exposed her more to the challenges poor people were facing, as her husband’s organization was working directly with rural population.
Her long time service in the government brought to light several corrupt practices that she realized undermined the fight of poverty. The public officials assigned to supervise government construction projects used to underpay construction workers (BPB). The laborers would get wages way below the fixed minimum wage set by the government. The officials would then pocket the rest of the money. In addition to underpayment, the laborers did not get consistent work through the year. The project would remain on paper while the money embezzled by the officials (Savyasaachi, Ravi 133-134). According to BPB, there was also increased unemployment, government retrenchment, and withdrawal of the state from social responsibility.
Similarly, the poor people received lip services. Construction projects such as dams completed below standard, hindering perpetual sustenance, and embezzlement of public development funds was massive. This made it difficult for the people in the rural areas to break out of poverty (Savyasaachi, Ravi 133).
THE IMPACT OF THE MOVEMENT
The MKSS movement tried severally to approach government institutions to complain about corruption. However, when the government functionaries became unwilling to listen to the people’s demands, civil protest became the only solution (Mahaan). Aruna Roy and the MKSS chose this strategy as the government officials were untrustworthy, unwilling to cooperate and their coercive demands was being resisted (Rot & Nikhil). They chose to approach the people since they were concerned and supportive towards the cause.
The massive campaigns led to adoption of RTI as law in 2005. The RTI movement helped to engage the people, the state, and the government. Through RTI, the state became compelled to reveal to people what it does, why it was doing it and how it was doing it (Philipose). The RTI made people to realize that the government’s functionality is dependent on their input. Every policy, decision, and programs require their input and scrutiny (Philipose). The openness, transparency, accountability, and civil involvement brought by RTI helped to reduce instances of corruption (Mahaan). According to Philipose, Aruna Roy through RTI movement helped to remove her people out of poverty, as there was reduction in job cuts, the workers in government projects received regular payments, and government officials feared engaging in corruption for fear of being exposed and humiliated.
Furthermore, those who swindled money from the public returned the siphoned funds after being exposed (Philipose). The government projects that stalled or uncompleted had to be revamped to quell the noise of the public (Mahaan). The campaign sought to engage the government in raising minimum wage for workers in order to reduce poverty levels. The right to know information enabled people to coerce the government to start and finish projects that were important for the society, especially ...