Study On The Right To Information Act Of India From The Perspective Of New Social Movement Theory

The world has witnessed the trend of information disclosure since the 1950 s.Almost all democratic nations have gradually incorporated the right to information into their constitutional systems.Enacted in 2005,The Right to Information Act is an important milestone in the deepening of democracy in India,which promotes the development of participatory democracy.It is the concerted effort of civil society,the Supreme Court and media that contributes to the enactment of the law.In the right to information movement,the social elites became the leader of the movement with their social resources and the masses were dominating force.In order to fight for the freedom of the press,the media quickly joined the movement and became a powerful helper.In particular,Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangthan(MKSS),a grassroots social organization,plays a major role in the right to information movement.It has been committed to connecting the right to information with daily corruption and to recruiting people from the bottom of society.In this movement,led by the social elites,the MKSS not only chose the non-violent fighting strategies following the trend of the times,but also created many fighting methods based on national conditions.The thesis will sort out the historical period of the enactment of The Right to Information Act to explain the development of movement.Appearing at the end of the1960 s,the new social movement is a new type of mass movement which doesn't aim at seizing political power but at inspiring certain social values.New social movements mainly adopt methods of direct participation such as parade and sit-in.Given the similarities between the right to information movement and the new social movement in themes and strategies,the research regards the right to information movement as a new form of the new social movement in developing countries in this new era,thus analyzing the movement goals,participators and strategies and influencing factors in detail form the perspective of the new social movement theory.It is helpful to apply the theoretical framework to explain the right to information movement for having adeeper understanding of the localization of The Right to Information Act,which will provide reference for the legislation of right to information in other countries.