Loksatta & Right to Information (RTI) Act

Thousands of people fought for getting the Right To Information (RTI 2005) act that we have today. Sri Anna Hazare, Aruna Roy, Aravind Kejriwal, & Jayaprakash Narayan are few among those people. But one thing that makes JP stand out in the list is that in addition to fighting for a strong RTI act, he also played a key role in drafting the bill carefully with commitment and vision so that it is flawless and is on people's side. 

Below is some information supporting this undeniable fact -

1. Member of the advisory panel in writing Consultation Paper on PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE
Dated: aug 21, 2001 -

This paper extensively talks about the need of RTI, which was then called as 'Freedom of Information Act'.

Source: http://lawmin.nic.in/ncrwc/finalreport/v2b1-12.htm

2. Quoted from a page in Loksatta movement website (published in 2001) - "Creating awareness on Right to Information resulting in government's commitment to enact a law. Prepared a draft law and widely publicized it across the state to mobilize public opinion and create awareness. In light of the recently passed union law on right to information, LOK SATTA will work with the government of AP to form appropriate rules and procedures for its effective implementation."

Source: http://www.loksattamovement.com/coop%20law.htm#rti

3. Loksatta organization's news letter mentioning about its efforts in drafting a better bill following the initial version of RTI bill, and mobilizing 1.5 lakh people to send post cards demanding the Prime Minister to include the amendments.
Dated - 2004-10-12

4. Second administrative reforms commission's first report that contains the draft of 'Right To Information Act' mentions Dr. JP as the member of the panel -

Source: http://www.arc.gov.in/rtifinalreport.pdf

5. Other resources:
http://www.loksattamovement.com/nl_jun06.pdf
http://www.pucl.org/reports/National/information.htm

Later, JP also worked a great deal in getting political parties under RTI. Loksatta party is one of the first to provide the party fund details publicly available on a website. Currently, the 2014 fund details are available on https://win.loksatta.org/