Rights and accountability movements: Dalit Panthers, RTI, India Against Corruption and the farmers' protests

Detail

Key terms

• Civil society: groups of citizens that stand between the family and the state. Examples are movements, NGOs, unions and associations. They are not part of the government and do not try to win elections.
• Pressure group: an organisation that tries to influence government policy without trying to control or share state power itself.
• Movement: a looser, wider kind of collective action. It is usually built around one issue (like information or a Lokpal) or one identity (like Dalit or women). It often has no formal membership.
• Accountability: the duty of people in power to explain and justify what they do to citizens.

1. Identity and rights movements

Dalit Panthers (Maharashtra, 1972)

• Founders: Namdeo Dhasal, Raja Dhale and J.V. Pawar.
• Inspiration: the Black Panthers of the USA, a radical movement of African-Americans.
• Aim: to assert Dalit identity. Dalit means "broken" or "oppressed" and is the name that former "untouchable" castes chose for themselves.
• Methods:
• direct protest against caste atrocities (violence and humiliation aimed at people because of their caste)

• Dalit literature: poetry and autobiography in Marathi that described caste oppression in the victims' own voice

• Legacy:

• Legal: the movement fed into the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (PoA Act). This law created special offences and special courts for crimes against SCs and STs.

• Political: it shaped later Dalit politics, such as BAMCEF (an organisation of SC, ST, OBC and minority government employees) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

• Lesson: an identity movement can turn into a law and then into a political party.

Women's movements

• Anti-dowry campaigns pushed for stronger laws against dowry and dowry deaths.
• Anti-arrack agitation in Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), 1992. Arrack is a cheap country liquor.
• Rural women, many of them newly literate through adult-literacy classes, stopped arrack sales in their villages.
• The agitation spread across the state.

• Andhra Pradesh brought in prohibition (a ban on liquor) in 1995.

• This shows how a local, women-led movement can change state policy.

2. The RTI movement

MKSS: the grassroots start

• Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) means "Workers and Peasants Strength Union".
• It was founded in 1990 at Devdungri, Rajasthan by Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh.
• Workers on government relief works were often not paid in full, and records were kept hidden.
• Jan sunwai (public hearing):
• MKSS collected muster rolls (attendance and wage records) and bills for public works.
• It read them aloud in village meetings.

• Villagers then pointed out fake names, ghost works and money that had been taken.

• Beawar dharna (1996): a long sit-in at Beawar, Rajasthan, demanding a right to see official records.

From movement to law

Step	Year	What happened
NCPRI formed	1996	National Campaign for People's Right to Information, a national network that took the demand beyond Rajasthan
State RTI laws	1997–2000	Tamil Nadu and Goa (1997), Rajasthan (2000), and others
Freedom of Information Act	2002	Passed by Parliament but never notified (never brought into force)
Right to Information Act	2005	Act No. 22 of 2005, dated 15 June 2005 [10]

• The RTI Act 2005 formally repealed the Freedom of Information Act 2002 (Section 31) [10].
• The Class 9 NCERT chapter on Democracy notes that elected representatives shaped the final law. They added safeguards for national security and administrative efficiency. This shows that a movement starts a law, but Parliament writes it.

Key provisions of the RTI Act 2005

• Purpose: to set out a "practical regime" for citizens to get information held by public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability [10].
• Time limits (Section 7):
• the reply is due within 30 days of the request [10]

• it is due within 48 hours if the information concerns a person's life or liberty [10]

• Exemptions (Section 8(1)(a)): there is no duty to give information that would harm India's sovereignty and integrity, its security, strategic, scientific or economic interests, or its relations with foreign states, or that would lead to an offence [10]. These are the security safeguards added by elected representatives.

• Section 24 and the Second Schedule:
• the Act does not apply to the intelligence and security organisations listed in the Second Schedule [10]

• exception: information about corruption and human rights violations must still be given [10]

• Penalty (Section 20):

• ₹250 for each day of delay or wrongful refusal by an information officer [10]
• the total penalty can be at most ₹25,000 [10]

Later change: the RTI (Amendment) Act 2019

• The RTI (Amendment) Act 2019 (Act No. 24 of 2019) took the tenure and salaries of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioners (ICs) out of the Act. The Central Government now fixes them by rules [11][12].
• The RTI Rules 2019 were notified on 24 October 2019 [11]:
• Tenure: cut from 5 years (original 2005 Act) to 3 years [11]

• Pay: ₹2,50,000 a month for the CIC and ₹2,25,000 a month for an IC [11]

• Debate: critics say that if the executive controls the commissioners' term and pay, the commissions become less independent.

3. India Against Corruption (2011)

The movement

• Anna Hazare, a Gandhian social activist, led two fasts for a Jan Lokpal:
• Jantar Mantar, April 2011

• Ramlila Maidan, August 2011

• Jan Lokpal ("citizens' ombudsman") was the civil society draft of an anti-corruption body. An ombudsman is an independent official who looks into complaints against public officials.

From street to statute

• 27 August 2011: Parliament passed a "sense of the House" resolution. This is a statement of Parliament's collective view. It is not a law and does not bind anyone, but it carries moral and political weight. Anna Hazare ended his fast after it.
• 17 December 2013: Parliament passed the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill [8].
• 1 January 2014: the President gave assent. It was notified the same day as the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013 (Act No. 1 of 2014) [7][8].

Key features of the Act

• It sets up a Lokpal for the Union and a Lokayukta for each State to look into corruption charges against certain public officials [7].
• Composition: a Chairperson and up to 8 members [8].
• Half the members must have judicial experience [8].

• The other half must have expertise in public administration, finance, insurance and banking law, anti-corruption or vigilance [8].

• Every State had to set up a Lokayukta within one year of the Act starting [7].

• Working on the ground: the first Lokpal was named only in 2019, more than five years after the Act.
• On 19 March 2019, the President appointed Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as the first Chairperson, along with 8 members (4 of them judicial) [9].
• He took the oath on 23 March 2019 [9].

From movement to party

• The movement gave rise to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on 26 November 2012 (Class 10 NCERT, Political Parties).
• Compare: the Class 10 NCERT chapter also describes Muhammad Yunus's Nagarik Shakti exercise in Bangladesh, an attempt to turn civil society support into a political party. Some movements cross into party politics. Others stay as pressure groups.

4. Farmers' protests (2020–21)

The three farm laws (September 2020)

Act	What it did [2]
Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020	Allowed barrier-free trade in farm produce outside the markets notified under State APMC laws. APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) laws are State laws that regulate wholesale mandis.
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020	Created a framework for contract farming, meaning a written agreement with a buyer made before sowing
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020	Allowed controls on the supply of items such as cereals, pulses and onions only in extraordinary circumstances such as war, famine or a sharp rise in prices

• The first two Bills were passed by the Lok Sabha in September 2020 [6].
• They first came as ordinances (temporary laws made by the President when Parliament is not sitting, under Article 123). They were then passed without being sent to a parliamentary committee.

The protest

• It was led by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of about 40 farmer unions.
• Sit-ins began at Delhi's borders on 26 November 2020 and lasted about a year.
• Demands:
• repeal of the three laws
• a legal guarantee of MSP. Minimum Support Price is the price at which the government promises to buy certain crops.

Supreme Court intervention

• 12 January 2021: in Rakesh Vaishnav v. Union of India (W.P.(C) 1118/2020), the Supreme Court stayed the three laws, which means it stopped them from being implemented until further orders [5].
• On the same date it set up an expert committee to talk to stakeholders [4]. Its members were:
• Dr Ashok Gulati, former Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices [4]
• Shri Anil Ghanwat, President of Shetkari Sanghatana [4]
• Dr Pramod Joshi, former South Asia Director of the International Food Policy Research Institute [4]

Repeal

• The Prime Minister announced in November 2021 that all three laws would be withdrawn [2].
• 29 November 2021: Parliament passed the Farm Laws Repeal Act 2021.
• 30 November 2021: the Act was enacted (Act No. 40 of 2021) [3].
• It repealed all three 2020 laws [2][3].

• It also amended the Essential Commodities Act 1955 [2][3].

• Unfinished agenda: the demand for a legal MSP guarantee continues. Protests were renewed on the Punjab–Haryana border in 2024.

Lessons

• Consultation gap: the government used the ordinance route first and skipped committee scrutiny. This weakened the laws' legitimacy.
• Federalism: agriculture is a State subject. Critics said the Centre was making law in a State field, and some States, such as Maharashtra, drafted their own amendment Bills in response [5].
• Power of organised interests: a well-organised coalition of farmers forced a full repeal, which is rare.
• Core debate: street pressure vs parliamentary sovereignty. Can a sustained protest legitimately override laws passed by an elected Parliament?

Comparing the four movements

Movement	Type	Main method	Outcome
Dalit Panthers (1972)	Identity / rights	Protest, literature	PoA Act 1989; Dalit parties
RTI / MKSS (1990)	Accountability	Jan sunwai, dharna, national network	RTI Act 2005
India Against Corruption (2011)	Accountability	Hunger fasts, mass rallies	Lokpal Act 2013; AAP (2012)
Farmers' protests (2020–21)	Interest group / economic	Long border sit-ins	Repeal Act 2021; MSP demand still open

Prelims Hooks

• Dalit Panthers: Maharashtra, 1972; founders Namdeo Dhasal, Raja Dhale and J.V. Pawar; modelled on the US Black Panthers.
• MKSS: founded 1990 at Devdungri, Rajasthan. Its tool was the jan sunwai. Beawar dharna: 1996. NCPRI: 1996.
• Freedom of Information Act 2002: passed but never notified. It was repealed by Section 31 of the RTI Act 2005 [10].
• RTI Act 2005: reply in 30 days, or 48 hours for life or liberty. Penalty is ₹250 a day, up to a maximum of ₹25,000 [10].
• Second Schedule of the RTI Act lists the exempt security and intelligence bodies. Trap: they must still disclose information on corruption and human rights violations [10].
• RTI Rules 2019: the tenure of the CIC and ICs was cut from 5 years to 3 years [11].
• Lokpal: a Chairperson plus up to 8 members, half of them judicial [8]. Assent on 1 January 2014 [8]. First Chairperson: Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, 2019 [9].
• The "sense of the House" resolution (27 August 2011) is not legally binding.
• AAP was formed on 26 November 2012 out of the India Against Corruption movement.
• Farm laws: stayed by the SC in Rakesh Vaishnav v. Union of India (12 January 2021) [5]. Repeal Act passed on 29 November 2021 and enacted as Act 40 of 2021 [3].

Mains Points

• Movements as a deepening of democracy (GS-II):
• MKSS showed how a local jan sunwai can grow into a national law (RTI Act 2005).
• India Against Corruption showed the same for the Lokpal.

• But only the elected legislature wrote the final law, with safeguards for security and efficiency. Civil society sets the agenda; Parliament legislates.

• Street pressure vs parliamentary sovereignty:

• For: fasts and long sit-ins give voice to people who are otherwise unheard. The farm laws repeal shows they can correct a law that was made without consultation.
• Against: such methods can amount to coercion, and a small, organised group can override a majority decision of Parliament.

• Middle path: compulsory pre-legislative consultation and committee scrutiny before a law is passed.

• Laws are not enough without institutions:

• The first Lokpal was appointed only in 2019, five years after the Act [9].
• The RTI (Amendment) Act 2019 gave the executive control over commissioners' tenure and pay [11][12].

• Both show how a movement's gains can be watered down at the stage of implementation.

• Post-1947 political history (GS-I): these movements trace a shift:

• from identity assertion (Dalit Panthers, anti-arrack)
• to governance and accountability (RTI, Lokpal)
• to economic interest mobilisation (farmers)

Some became political parties (BSP, AAP). Others remained pressure groups.