The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) was founded in 1996. Its founding members included social activists, journalists, lawyers, professionals, retired civil servants and academics. One of its primary objectives was to campaign for a national law facilitating the exercise of the fundamental right to information. Since the passage of the law, the campaign has been working towards effective implementation of the Act and realisation of peoples’ right to information.
The campaign seeks to empower people and to deepen democracy, through promoting people’s right to information. Through the use of this right, it seeks to fight corruption and social apathy, to make governments, and other institutions and agencies having an impact on public welfare, more humane and accountable to the people, and to promote efficiency and frugality. The NCPRI’s endeavour is to deepen democracy and achieve Constitutional principles through the use of transparency, enforcing accountability, and facilitating participation in Indian democracy.
The NCPRI aims to constantly engage and interact with the state and with other institutions and agencies. It campaigns for the use of a right to information law that is effective and accessible to all, and supports people’s efforts at developing the ability and motivation to use the right to information for addressing individual and social problems. It works at disseminating the RTI law and encourages and supports the development of materials related to transparency and governance, the raising of awareness about the fundamental value of information, the conduct of research, and the setting up of information clearing houses. It seeks to further the cause of transparency by adopting other direct and indirect methods, including the filing of information requests, the fighting of legal cases, and the holding of public hearings. The NCPRI seeks to actively work with other progressive campaigns and movements and
in solidarity with other progressive elements of society.
As decided at the last Convention, there are seven co-conveners of the NCPRI: Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey, Pankti Jog, Pradip Pradhan, Rakesh Dubbudu, Dr. Sheikh Gulam, Venkatesh Nayak
The working committee comprises of people actively working on the RTI Act in different states of the country.