Part 3 of my conversation with Mr. Venkatesh Nayak about his journey as an RTI activist and the challenges he faces along the way…

That is when I realised what kind of potential RTI has for bringing about change by empowering citizens to demand such change. That is when my passion for RTI kicked in. Slowly I started making test RTI applications with the objective of expanding the boundaries of the transparency regime ushered in by the RTI Act. I met with success on multiple occasions. This is what made me realise, that if I could do it, so could any fellow citizen by applying oneself to the task of bringing about greater levels of transparency and consequently accountability through strategic use of RTI. Then on one occasion I woke up in the middle of the night from a dream in which I was explaining the minutiae of RTI provisions to a class full of trainees. That is when I realised, I had found the passion of my life- to work for greater transparency at all levels of the administration.

Q - What are the challenges you faced in your work?
There were multiple challenges that I faced. First, mere knowledge of the RTI Act was not adequate to conduct trainings especially for government representatives. So I had to read up on the laws, manuals and procedures which they use ordinarily in their work in order to make the connections with RTI. Then I realised that many basic concepts with regard to the public administration require in depth reading of key judgements of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. So coming from a social science background, academically, I realised that not having a formal training in law was a drawback.

To be continued…