Aruna Roy (born 26 May 1946) is an Indian social activist who left the Indian Administrative Service to work with the rural poor in Rajasthan. In 1990 she co-founded the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), whose village campaign for access to government records grew into the national movement that produced the Right to Information Act of 2005. She also helped shape the rural employment guarantee law. She received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2000.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Aruna Roy (née Jayaram) |
| Born | 26 May 1946, Madras (now Chennai), India |
| Age | 80 |
| Occupation | Social activist; former IAS officer |
| Education | Indraprastha College, University of Delhi (M.A. English) |
| Organisation | Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) |
| Spouse | Sanjit “Bunker” Roy (m. 1970) |
| Honours | Ramon Magsaysay Award (2000), Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award (2010) |
| Known for | Right to Information movement |
Early Life
Aruna was born in Madras into a Tamil family and grew up mostly in Delhi, where her father was a government lawyer. She studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary and at Kalakshetra in Chennai, among other schools, and took a master’s degree in English literature from Indraprastha College. She taught for a year and then passed the civil service examination, joining the Indian Administrative Service in 1968.
Career
Roy served as an IAS officer for seven years, in Tamil Nadu and Delhi. She came to feel that the bureaucracy was too distant from the people it served and resigned in 1975. She joined the Social Work and Research Centre at Tilonia in Rajasthan, the “Barefoot College” set up by her husband, Bunker Roy, and worked there with rural women and craftspeople until 1983.
In 1987 Roy moved with Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh to Devdungri, a village in central Rajasthan, where they lived on the minimum wage. On 1 May 1990 they founded the MKSS, an organisation of workers and peasants. While fighting for fair wages on public works, they found that officials would not show the records of who had been paid. The MKSS began holding jan sunwais, public hearings at which copies of official accounts were read aloud and villagers exposed false entries and stolen money. Their slogan was “Hamara paisa, hamara hisaab” (“Our money, our accounts”). A 40-day sit-in at Beawar in 1996 led to Rajasthan’s own information law, and the campaign went national. Parliament passed the Right to Information Act in 2005.
Roy served on the National Advisory Council, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, from 2004 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2013. She helped draft the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and campaigned for laws on food security and social audits. She is also president of the National Federation of Indian Women.
Books
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Aruna Roy born?
Aruna Roy was born on 26 May 1946 in Madras (now Chennai), India and is 80 years old.
What is Aruna Roy known for?
Known for: Right to Information movement.
What honours has Aruna Roy received?
Ramon Magsaysay Award (2000), Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award (2010).
Featured image: Aruna Roy speaks at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Photo by Sriya Sarkar, licensed under CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
