This Article is From Feb 25, 2014

RTI 'most historical tool' to fight corruption: Rahul Gandhi in Assam

RTI 'most historical tool' to fight corruption: Rahul Gandhi in Assam

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is holding brainstorming sessions with various interest groups to gather inputs for his party's manifesto for the national elections.

Assam: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today put out a strong defence of the rights-based approach pursued by the Centre, and hinted that it will continue to remain the cornerstone of his party's policy.

"In the last 10 years of UPA rule, we gave you National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or the NREGA, which gives you the right to work. We also enacted the Right to Information. And last year, we passed the food security act, which assigns a right to food to the people,'' Mr Gandhi , 43, told a gathering of tribal leaders in Assam's Karbi Anglong district.

The Congress vice-president reached Karbi Anglong, located on the Assam-Nagaland border, as part of the plan to hold brainstorming sessions with various interest groups to gather inputs for his party's  manifesto for the national elections, due by May. He had yesterday held a similar interaction with some 400 farmers in Haryana's Sonepat district.

"As part of the rights-based approach, we have granted certain minimum rights to people in the realm of food, informational and work. The people have now been given minimum guarantees, in health, in education, and in security,'' Mr Gandhi explained.

He also touched the issue of corruption, which has emerged as an important theme in the coming electoral battle. "Corruption takes place because of too much concentration of power,'' the Congress vice-president argued, and described the RTI as 'the most historical tool'' to fight corruption.

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