Folk art to spread awareness on RTI in Tamil Nadu

Apparently unnerved by the “Kejriwal syndrome” in recent months, the Centre is mounting a big initiative to get people to “read aright” the objectives of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005, more so in rural areas.

Awareness on the RTI Act at the grassroots level will be the focus of a huge campaign being rolled out by the Song and Drama Division of the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry in all the 30 districts of Tamil Nadu, beginning on November 19, birthday of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Around 120 artistes will use folk art and street theatre to sensitize rural people on RTI.
“This is one of the biggest campaigns we are organising in Tamil Nadu, 300 programmes by our folk artistes on RTI alone this year,” said Vijayaraghavan, Deputy Director of the Song and Dance Division’s regional centre in Chennai on Thursday. In fact, this will be the second campaign in the state since the Act came into force in 2005. The first one was organised in 2006.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day workshop here for the artistes to help them take the “message of the RTI correctly to the masses.”

The state Chief Information Commissioner, K S Sripathy, said people should be able to distinguish between “right information” and “right to information.” “Western societies are predominantly rights-based, but ours is a duty-based society,” said the CIC.