Aruna Roy is an Indian social and political activist best known for her work on the right to information and rural workers' rights in India. She has been associated with grassroots mobilisation in Rajasthan and with national-level advocacy for transparency, accountability, and social welfare legislation.
| Name | Aruna Roy |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Indian |
| Known for | Activism on right to information and rural rights |
| Associated organisation | Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) |
| Primary area of work | Rajasthan, India |
Aruna Roy began her public service career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), which she later left to pursue full-time grassroots work. She moved to rural Rajasthan, where she became involved with organising agricultural labourers and small farmers around issues of wages, land, and access to public records.
Roy is a co-founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a workers' and peasants' collective based in central Rajasthan. The organisation became widely known for using jan sunwais (public hearings) to expose discrepancies in local government records relating to wages and development works. These public hearings became a model for subsequent transparency campaigns in India.
The MKSS-led campaign for access to official records contributed to the broader national movement for a right to information law in India. Roy was among the prominent figures associated with this movement, which culminated in the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Roy served as a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), a body that advised the Government of India on social policy during the United Progressive Alliance period. In that role she was associated with discussions on rights-based social legislation.
Aruna Roy is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in India's post-Independence civil society, particularly for linking local-level worker mobilisation in Rajasthan with national-level legal reform. Her work helped popularise the use of public hearings as an accountability tool and contributed to broader debates on transparency in governance, employment guarantees, and welfare delivery.