good governance practices for the protection of human rights

Implementation
Social activists have relied on mobilization tactics and public action in their
fight against corruption in public expenditures. Through the slogan “our
money – our accounts,” social activists and villagers have demanded that
local administrators provide them with an account of expenditures in development
projects in their region. The activists have demanded access to bills,
vouchers, receipts, approvals, evaluations and audited accounts from local governments
to see how public money has been spent. The public hearings have
attempted to turn “subjects into citizens and recipients into actors.” Although
many villagers are illiterate, through face-to-face public hearings, they are
able to question their representatives and make them answerable on the basis of
evidence.
The practice of social auditing met with resistance from local governments. Social
activists were often denied access to documents, such as bills and vouchers,
by the local administration, but they held public hearings regardless. At one such
public hearing, a few people testified that local village officials had extracted
money as commission for a government housing grant to local families. Within
48 hours of this revelation, the money was returned to the families.
Recognizing the importance of legislation to secure the right to information, social
activists also initiated a campaign pushing for right-to-information legislation.
In April 1995, the Government of Rajasthan announced to the Legislative
Assembly that it would provide access to information to citizens on all local
developmental works, but took no action. A year later, in April 1996, an indefinite
sit-in or dharna was organized to demand that the State Government pass
executive orders to provide a limited right to information on local development
expenditure. The Government’s issuance of an order to inspect relevant documents
on the payment of fees was rejected by the activists as it did not permit
photocopies to be made of these documents. In 1996, the National Campaign for
the People’s Right to Information was formed and another series of dharnas took
place, expanded to the State capital, and continued for 52 days. At the end of
this period, the State Government confirmed the right to photocopy the relevant
State documents.
Following extensive consultation between MKSS and other civil society actors
and the Government, the Rajasthan Right to Information Act was passed in 2000
and came into force in January 2001.
Impact on human rights and challenges
Social audits exposed the misdeeds of local politicians, private engineers and
government contractors, leading in a number of cases to voluntary restitution.
These efforts yielded concrete results and benefited the poor: embezzled money
was returned, projects were completed, the delivery of services improved and
administrative or legal sanctions were imposed on corrupt officials.
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