IDR Interviews | Shankar Singh (Part I)
Hailing from Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district, Shankar Singh is a social and political activist, musician, lyricist, theatre artist, and storyteller. He co-founded the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) alongside prominent activists Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey. MKSS is known for its role in advocating for and implementing the Right to Information Act (RTI) in the country.
Shankar Singh has employed a variety of creative strategies to champion the rights of marginalised labourers and farmers, focusing on issues such as wages, employment, and other government social entitlements. His approach is marked by a unique blend of entertainment, music, and sharp wit and satire. He has led many successful movements and campaigns, both at the grassroots and national level. Notably, he has contributed to the implementation of landmark schemes like MGNREGA and government processes such as social audits.
In this conversation with IDR, which is the first of two episodes, Shankar Singh delves into the complexities of building a movement, shedding light on how the journey of a movement is charted and the concerted efforts required for it to
Published: May. 01, Updated: Dec. 07, People’s movements represent multiple hopes and efforts. As they stretch over time, who did what and when or how something happened or didn’t gets forgotten. Chroniclers are needed, but hard to find. If they come from within it is most likely they won’t be objective and if they are on the outside chances are that empathy and understanding will be missing. The right to information movement has happily overcome this challenge. Aruna Roy and the MKSS Collective have produced a balanced and well-documented book on the movement, which, after long years of struggle and many ups and downs, finally gave India a robust right to information law. It hasn’t been an easy story to tell because the movement drew its strength from multiple efforts. But the book brings them together fluently and nicely, without the hiccups that could have come from hubris and self-praise. Roy gives us an honest and professionally put together document. It is objective and dispassionately structured and allows us to access the movement in its many p
TRANSCRIPT: HOST Welcome to Grassroots Nation, a podcast from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, a show in which we dive deep into the life, work, and guiding philosophies of some of our country’s greatest leaders of social change. This is the second part of Aruna Roy’s story. If you haven&#;t listened to the first part, we recommend you do so. In the first episode, we heard Aruna speak about her early life and her upbringing, and then her career with the Indian Administrative Service, and how she left the IAS age 28 to move to Tilonia Village in Rajasthan to work at the Social Work Research Centre. She developed deep friendships with the women of Tilonia, and equally learnt from them. In this episode, Aruna speaks about her move to Devdungri in , to live by the values of sangharsh, or struggle, in the search for a way to work for the betterment of society through collective action and citizen participation. The first few years were spent learning how to live with the hardships of rural life. It was here that Aruna grappled with earning the trust of t
Nikhil Dey is a social activist. He works for the MKSS (Mazdoor Kishan Shakti Sangthan), Suchna Evum Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan and NCPRI (National Campaign for People&#;s Right to Information). He has been actively working for Right to Information, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Lokpal bill and Right to Food and other Human Rights organisations. After working briefly with the Kheduth Mazdoor Chetna Sangathana in Madhya Pradesh, he joined Aruna Roy and Shankar Singh in to go to Devdungri, in Rajsamand District in Rajasthan where along with many others they helped form and establish the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Since , he has been a full-time worker of the MKSS, and a part of the organisation&#;s decision making collective. In this capacity, he has been involved in struggles of the poor for justice, including grass-root struggles for land and the payment of minimum wages. He has also been a part of the organisation&#;s involvement in larger campaigns- most notably for the Peoples Right to Information, and the Right to Work, the Right to Food, and the protection of other human rights guaranteed un
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