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Aruna Roy (born 26 June 1946) is an Indian political and social activist who founded and heads the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana ("Workers and Peasants Strength Union"). She is best known as a prominent leader of the Right to Information movement through National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, which led to the enactment of the Right to Information Act in 2005. She has also remained a member of the National Advisory Council.

In 2000, she received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. In 2010 she received the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academia and Management.

Higher Education

At 16, Aruna joined Indraprastha College in Delhi, registering herself in the English literature course. There she was exposed to Renaissance, Tolstoy, Sappho and Shakespeare. Completing this course in 1965, she registered for post graduate work in University of Delhi, where she met her future husband, Bunker Roy. Post post graduation, she took up teaching Nineteenth Century English Literature in Indraprastha College. Teaching was not her calling though, and later in 1967, she took the Indian Administrative Services examination, which she cleared in one attempt. She was one among the 10 women who were in the 100 that were selected.

Career

Aruna served as a civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service between 1968 and 1974. She then resigned to devote her time to social and political campaigns. She joined the Social Work and Research Center (SWRC) in Tilonia, Rajasthan. In 1983 Aruna dissociated herself from the SWRC. Personal Life: In 1970 she married her St. Stephen College classmate Bunker Roy (Social Activist of Barefoot Movement).

Right to Information

In 2004, under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party won the national elections and formed the central government. Aruna was inducted into the National Advisory Committee (NAC), an extremely powerful but extra-constitutional quasi-governmental body headed by Sonia Gandhi which effectively supervises the working of the common minimum program of UPA II which was passed by the Indian parliament in 2005. She served as a member of the National Advisory Council of India until 2006 and is part of NAC II.

References

1. Blacked out: government secrecy in the information age, by Alasdair Scott Roberts. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
2. "NAC reconstituted". The Hindu. Jun 04, 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. Ramon Magsaysay Award Citation
4. Thehindu.com
5. Cite error: The named reference MagBio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. Women who dared, by Ritu Menon. Published by National Book Trust, India, 2002. ISBN 81-237-3856-0. Page 169-170.
7. Aruna Roy BusinessWeek, July 8, 2002.
8. Aruna Roy National Resource Center for Women, Govt. of India.
9. Visionaries: The 20th Century's 100 Most Important Inspirational Leaders, by Satish Kumar, Freddie Whitefield. Published by Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1-933392-53-3. Page 139.

External links

• Official Website of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, headed by Aruna Roy
• NDTV interview
• The idea of India by Aruna Roy Mint
• The Rediff Interview/ Aruna Roy Rediff.com

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• Indian women activists
• Indian social activists
• Freedom of information activists
• Indraprastha College for Women alumni
• University of Delhi alumni
• Ramon Magsaysay Award winners
• 1946 births
• Indian politicians
• Living people
• People from Chennai
• Members of National Advisory Council, India
• Indian civil servants