Folk arts to spread awareness on RTI in villages

To create awareness on the Right to Information (RTI) Act at the grassroots level, about 250 artistes belonging to 23 troops will tour different villages in the state for over 10 days from November 26, and spread awareness about the Act among the rural folks through various art forms.

 The implementation of the RTI Act in the country has been one of the best in the world, but there is still a lot to be done to create awareness on the Act in the villages, said Jannat Hussain, chief information commissioner of Andhra Pradesh Information Commission on Thursday.

 Speaking at an inauguration of a two-day orientation-cumworkshop on the Right to Information Act 2005, organised by the Song and Drama Division (S&DD), ministry of information and broadcasting here in the city, Hussain said that people in villages can directly approach the Hyderabad information commission if officials at the village-level are not co-operative.

 “During the workshop, the resource persons from the information commission would educate our troops on conveying rural people about the importance, relevance and benefits of the RTI,” said M Rajamannar, national director, Song and Dance Division (S&DD).

 Regional deputy director of S&DD Dr Vijayaraghavan said, “The artistes will use the medium of drama, music and folk arts to spread the message to rural folks and also collect feed back from them.

” Haritha Vijaykumar of Vijay Arts Theatre, one of the team leaders of a drama troop said, “We will prepare performances like Yakshaganam, Oggu Katha, mime, street plays, drama, dance and duff performances, based on what we learn during the workshop.

” Kuldeep Kumar Sagre, manager, S&SD, Hyderabad, D Srinivas, joint director, information and public relation, Hyderabad, were present