These soochna praharis are part of an RTI-awareness movement started in June 2006 by the Society for Awareness and Development (SAAD), a network partner of PACS Programme CSO Bihar Sewa Samiti, with the assistance of another programme CSO, Ghogardiha Prakhand Swarajaya Vikas Sangh (GPSVS).

The volunteers are mostly retired panchayat/block-level government officials who are aware of the government’s way of functioning.

According to Communicators for Development, the PACS Programme’s communications agency in Bihar, some soochna praharis are young people with political ambitions. Their work with RTI gives them an opportunity to gain visibility and earn goodwill.

Working without any remuneration, they have, since June 2006, facilitated the filing of as many as 600 RTI applications from the backward Jhajharpur, Lakhnaur, Madhepur, Angrathari and Phulpras blocks of Mabdhubani.

Forty of these applications elicited positive responses till March 2007. Appeals are being filed in cases where no response has been received.

The soochna praharis’ work has to be seen against the background of the slow pace of implementation of the RTI Act in Bihar, where the identification of Public Information Officers (PIOs) in all state government departments really started only after November 2006. Awareness about RTI even among government functionaries across different levels remains poor.

There has, however, been some positive outcome to the work being done by the soochna praharis. In many cases, just filing an application has yielded results.

For instance, Arun Kumar Singh of Gangapur panchayat (Madhubani) filed an application in December 2006 enquiring about the non-availability of old-age pension accounts in Diakharwar village. In January 2007, the accounts in this village were made operational.

Likewise, 40-year-old Lakshman Mahto, a disabled man from the same panchayat, enquired about Indira Awas Yojana (housing scheme) allotments for people with disabilities, in December 2006. In January 2007 he received an allotment under this scheme.

In Madanpur and Behat-Uttari panchayats, a soochna prahari filed an application on behalf of self-help groups asking for details of job card allotments under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the two panchayats. This was in November 2006. In December 2006, around 400 job cards were distributed in these panchayats.

The soochna praharis make people aware of RTI and help them file applications. They are given orientation in these responsibilities at monthly meetings at the district level and more frequent meetings at the block level.

Every month, a meeting of all soochna praharis is held at the SAAD district office. At the meeting the volunteers are informed about the latest developments in the right to information field.

One such development is an RTI call centre for Bihar, inaugurated on January 29, 2007, by the state's chief minister. The call centre has two numbers: dial 155310 and you get the RTI guidelines; dial 155311 and you can file an RTI application telephonically. Apart from normal call charges, a fee of Rs 10 is automatically levied per telephone call for filing an application.

The call centre directs applications to PIOs of the concerned departments at the state level, which, in turn, directs them to local-level PIOs. The staff at the call centre and all state-level PIOs meet once a month. The minutes of the meeting are sent to the chief minister.

Till March 2007, over 1,000 applications have been filed through the call centre.

But there are some drawbacks. You cannot dial the call centre numbers from many regional exchanges; nor can you dial the numbers from a public telephone booth.

Although the soochna praharis are popularising the RTI call centre, they believe their role is not diminished by this facility. Says one volunteer: “Even if the call centre becomes fully operational it would not be able to cater to the whole of Bihar. Moreover, it is better to file an application directly at the local level.”