Aishwarya Sharma
Lucknow-based Aishwarya Sharma (9) has created sensational history by
becoming the youngest citizen ever to file an application under the
Central government's Right to Information Act, 2005. A class IV
student of the Rajajipuram branch of Lucknow's renowned City
Montessori School, Aishwarya's application, filed on November 30 last
year, demanded an explanation as to why she and her school mates had
to wade through an overflowing garbage disposal dump to reach their
school. The application filed under s.6 of the Act highlighted the
danger it posed to school children and demanded action by the
municipality to shift the garbage site from Lucknow's Talkatora Road.
Guided by her mother Urvashi, an RTI activist, young Aishwarya
describes the application process as a valuable learning experience.
"Now my entire class and even the whole school knows about the RTI
Act, 2005, and is aware that the Act can force people in government to
do their work," says Aishwarya.
Prior to filing, Aishwarya wrote to chief minister Mayawati's office
last October, with a plea for removal of the germs infested heap. When
she didn't receive a reply, her mother egged her on to file her now
celebrated application under the RTI Act, dipping into her own piggy
bank to pay the Rs.10 fee that is mandatory under provisions of this
historic legislation. In her handwritten application, Aishwarya asked
two questions of the chief minister's public information officer:
whether it was legally permissible to locate a garbage disposal site
near a school, and who would be held responsible if it became a source
of infection for children in her school.
In February this year, Aishwarya received a response from the Lucknow
Nagar Nigam (municipal corporation), informing her that the city's
health officer and mayor had directed that the site and stench be
cleared. "Although the letter from LNN doesn't answer my questions, my
entire school is delighted that the rubbish dump is gone. Instead
there is a public library with books, newspapers and magazines," says
Aishwarya whose initiative has attracted a steady stream of
photographers and media persons to her home and school in the city's
suburban Rajajipuram area.
Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)
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