Shailesh Gandhi, one of the country's foremost voices for RTI, likes to call himself a citizen empowered by RTI. In fact, he is the only RTI activist to be chosen as a Central Information Commissioner (CIC). As a CIC, he closed the highest number of RTI appeals - 20,000 cases in 3 years 9 months - a record unlikely to be broken, and ensured that most cases were decided in less than 90 days. He was also conferred by the most prestigious Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award for his exemplary dedication in spreading communal harmony and leading the right to information campaign by IIT Kanpur in 2010,

I spoke to him about his life before and after RTI. This is the first part of the interview.

Q: Can you please tell us about your journey as an RTI activist and what got you in the field?

A: I am an IIT engineer who started a business as a first-generation entrepreneur and I was fairly successful as one too. During my days in IIT, I was active in co-curricular activities like debating and in my role as the General Secretary.

18 years back, during an alumni function,one staff member said to me “Shailesh, when you were in IIT you used to say that there are a lot of things wrong with society. What do you think about it now?” My first reaction was to say that things are not okay but another thought crossed my mind.

At 20, when I said things are not okay, it was kind of implied that we will do better. At 50, when I was answering this question again, I was “society” and therefore responsible for the state of affairs. I reiterated how things are not good and how in terms of values, we are on a downward slide.

I was actively involved in discussions surrounding communalism and secularism. But now, I was planning to devote all of myself to this.

To be continued…