Meet nine warriors who used the Right to Information Act as a potent weapon By Dnyanesh Jathar, Kallol Bhattacherjee, N. Bhanutej and Deepak Tiwari SHAILESH GANDHI His visiting card has a short and amusing one-liner. It says 'Mera Bharat mahan nahi hain, par yeh mera dosh hain' (India is not great, but it is my fault). This soft-spoken gentleman in his 60s is the leading light of RTI movement in Mumbai. Recently he sought details on how money from Prime Minister's and Chief Minister's relief funds are utilised. Said Gandhi: "PM's relief fund got Rs 900 crore after the tsunami that hit the southern coast of India. That fund has not been utilised." PM's office replied that the fund was being kept for future disbursals. "But strangely I am yet to get a reply on CM's relief fund," he said. Another politician he took on was former Maharashtra minister Surupsinh Naik, who was sentenced to one month in jail for contempt of court. But Naik immediately got himself admitted in the state-run J.J. Hospital citing ill health. Said Gandhi: "Since Naik is a convict and not a private person, there was a public doubt whether he was really ill. So I filed an RTI application to know from the hospital authorities the reasons for which Naik has been admitted." The officials kept dilly-dallying. But when the full bench of the state information commission ruled that the information should be given, the authorities had to oblige. By using RTI, Gandhi stopped the reinstatement of a suspended sub-inspector, Prakash Avare, who was accused of raping a minor in 2004. In March 2005, a newspaper reported that Avare wasbeingreinstated, as the witness had turned hostile duringthe trial. Gandhi filed an application for a copy of the reinstatement order. From that he would also know the name of the officer who reinstated Avare. But instead of being given a copy of the order, Gandhi was informed in July 2005 that Avare was being dismissed from service. When not fighting RTI battles, Gandhi spends time educating people on RTI for which he also runs a website. ANUP CHOUDHRY For the people of Sehore in Madhya Pradesh, this 33-year-old graduate is a maverick. He sells milk to earn his living and does not have a phone. Yet almost all the people of the town know his whereabouts. Anup first used the RTI Act in 2001 when almost 35 drinking-water tanks in his locality became defunct just two months after their installation. He sought details from the municipality regarding the price of each tank, its manufacturers and people who supplied it. But he could not get any information, as the RTI rules framed by the then state government were not strong enough. After the new RTI Act was passed in 2005, Anup is buoyant. Recently he used the Act to win back the rights of contract workers of the Central Silver Plant owned by the Khadi Village Industries Commission. The workers started gettingtheir due pay, leave and other benefits after Anup asked for documents relating to their service terms. Recently he unearthed a corruption scandal in his municipality. Every year Sehore faces acute drinking water shortage in summer. During this period, drinking water is supplied through tanker lorries. This became a source of corruption for a few corporators. The method was simple