CHENNAI: All of us are familiar with websites that allow us to download movies and TV shows online but ever heard of a website dedicated only for RTI’s? Little did Vishwam Sankaran, a 24-year-old student at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) know that after completing a BTech degree, he would go on to create RTIcle19.com, a ‘goldmine for fact diggers’.
“I wanted a torrent-like site for RTIs,” says Vishwam. “The idea came to me during one of the class lectures on sourcing news stories. I got inspired by the idea of crowd sourcing and realised that this form of obtaining data can be used to create a website for RTIs. My professors said that such a platform did not exist till then.”
So how does the site work? People who have RTIs can upload it on the site and others can access it. “I discussed this idea with my friend Parkavi and she helped in the funding and development of the site,” he shares.
Vishwam adds that NGOs like For Your Child, ArapporIyakkam and Satta Panchayat Iyakkam have contributed RTIs for the website. “We also keep a tab on all the RTIs filed in the various ministry websites,” he says.
Vishwam says that one of the aims of RTIcle19 is to encourage people to participate in discussions on the website. “We would like to engage the public in various discussions regarding the RTI that is uploaded on our site. For that, we must upload RTIs on relevant issues,” he said. “And to do that, we realised that there is no point just merely referring to ministry websites. We had to directly contact people who have been working on the field and filing RTIs.”
Vishwam cannot stop gushing about his faculty and fellow-students at ACJ for their encouragement and help in developing the site. “I had sent a mail to my professors and friends at ACJ explaining my idea. Immediately after that, support started pouring in from our college chairman, Sasi Kumar, to my college professors. Everyone was chipping in with their own ideas and suggestions. It was an amazing experience,” he elaborates.
His goal is to create a data repository plus a discussion forum, and for that, he has created an FB page. “For now, there isn’t much happening with the discussions as there aren’t many people in the group yet. We plan to expand our reach,” he points out. “One of the advantages of a site like this is that it acts as a platform to make you aware about the various issues around us, especially if you’re a journalist or an academician.”
People who wish to participate and download RTI’s can sign up on the website free of cost. “You will start receiving notifications when we upload an article,” he smiles, as he types a mail to journalist P Sainath explaining the website.