An initiative to promote transparency and accountability in government functioning

Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) is a citizens’ group with a mandate to promote transparency and accountability in government functioning and to encourage active participation of citizens in governance. SNS is an independent non-governmental organization and is not affiliated to, or supported by, any political party. It is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 as Society for Citizens’ Vigilance Initiative.

SNS’s key strategy has been to assist people exercise their right to information. Under the National Right to Information Act, citizens can access information from all three arms of the government- legislature, executive and judiciary. Our endeavour is to empower individuals to use the RTI Act to participate effectively in policy formulation and utilization of public funds.

We train citizens to use the RTI Act to obtain information on the performance of elected representatives and on the functioning of the Government in areas such as ration, civic works, education and social welfare schemes.

SNS has been assisting citizens use the RTI Act to demand accountability and monitor the functioning of their elected representatives (Municipal Councillors, MLAs and MPs). Our interactions with people showed that they do not have information on the stated roles of elected representatives. They also have no information on how their representatives perform once elected. Therefore, SNS has been using the RTI Act to access information on the roles and performance of elected representatives.

Report Cards on the performance of Elected Representatives

In India, citizens vote to elect their representatives at various levels – Parliament, State Legislative Assemblies and local bodies. Yet most citizens are unaware of even the roles and responsibilities of these representatives. People have no idea of what their elected representatives do and how they perform once voted into power.

In this scenario, participatory democracy remains mere rhetoric. People are not able to meaningfully engage with their elected representative and therefore development needs have remained largely unaddressed even after 60 years of independence. Misuse of power, ineffective governance and corruption have come to characterise politics in India. In the absence of objective information, public perception is that all politicians are corrupt.

In order to address this asymmetry of information, Satark Nagrik Sangathan has been using the RTI Act to develop Report Cards on the performance of individual elected representatives. Each Report Card assesses the performance of the elected representatives on the basis of the objective parameters developed in relation to their primary roles and responsibilities.

Prior to the Delhi Assembly Elections in 2008, SNS developed Report Cards to disseminate information on the performance of all 70 MLAs in Delhi. The parameters of the Report Cards were evolved on the basis of the stated roles and responsibilities of MLAs. Information on each parameter was obtained using the RTI Act. Report Cards were disseminated widely in Delhi through tie-ups with the media. At many places, people used these Report Cards to meaningfully engage with their MLA to address the development needs of the constituency. Click here to read more and view MLA Report Cards.

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set up a project to research the impact of Report Cards on voting patterns in Delhi. They found that in the areas where the MLA Report Cards were disseminated, voting turn-out increased by over 4%. Click here to read a summary of the findings of the research.

In 2009, prior to the general elections, SNS developed Report Cards on the performance of sitting MPs of the Lok Sabha. The Report Cards focussed on 3 broad parameters- the performance of MPs in the Lok Sabha, how they spent the MPLADs at their disposal and their performance in Parliamentary Committees responsible for monitoring the functioning of the executive. SNS collaborated with the media to widely disseminate these Report Cards. Click here to read more and view MP Report Cards.