Most of us have never had to fight for the rights we take for granted every day.
If a government office refuses to answer a question, we know we can file an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. If corruption makes headlines, we expect there to be institutions created under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act to investigate those in power. If you live in a state where your language is spoken in government offices, schools, and courts, it probably feels like the most natural thing in the world.
But none of these became part of everyday life overnight.
Behind these rights are ordinary Indians who refused to stay silent. They spent years sitting outside government offices, organised rallies that grew from small village gatherings into nationwide movements and, in some cases, risked their own lives through hunger strikes that changed the course of the country’s history.
Long before these rights were written into law, they were demands raised by people who believed India could be fairer than it was.
1. The right to know
In the 1990s, labourers in Rajasthan began asking a simple question. If they had worked on government projects, why had they not been paid the wages they were promised?
Behind these rights are ordinary Indians who refused to stay silent. Photograph: (Image generated by AI)
The answers lay in government records that officials refused to share. That refusal led to one of independent India’s most influential grassroots movements.
The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, known as MKSS, led by Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, and Shankar Singh, believed that if public money belonged to the people, then the people had the right to know how it was being spent.
The group began organising jan sunwais, or public hearings, where official records were read aloud before entire villages. As names, bills, and payment records were announced, villagers exposed shocking irregularities. Roads that had never been built had already been paid for. Wages had been issued to workers who did not exist. Public money had disappeared, while those meant to benefit remained empty-handed.
What began as a local campaign soon spread across the country. For nearly a decade, MKSS organised dharnas, demonstrations, and public meetings demanding transparency from the government.
Their persistence paid off.
In 2005, Parliament passed the Right to Information (RTI) Act, giving every Indian citizen the legal right to seek information from public authorities. The landmark law changed the relationship between citizens and the government by making transparency a legal right rather than a privilege.
Today, filing an RTI application is a routine step for journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens alike. Few stop to think about the years of protest that made that right possible.
2. The right to a linguistic state
When India became independent in 1947, its states did not look the way they do today.
Many communities believed that states should be organised according to the languages spoken by their people. Among the strongest voices was freedom fighter Potti Sriramulu, who demanded a separate state for Telugu-speaking people.
Long before these rights were written into law, they were demands raised by people who believed India could be fairer than it was. Photograph: (Image generated by AI)
In October 1952, he began a hunger strike.
As the days passed, repeated appeals asking him to end his fast failed. He continued without food for 58 days.
When he died on 15 December 1952, grief soon turned into anger. Thousands took to the streets. Businesses shut down, transport came to a halt, and protests spread rapidly across the region.
The scale of public outrage left the government with little choice but to act.
Within days, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced that Andhra State would be created. It came into existence in October 1953.
The movement became the turning point that led to the appointment of the States Reorganisation Commission. Three years later, Parliament passed the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, reorganising India’s state boundaries largely on linguistic lines.
Today, the right of millions of Indians to live in states organised around their dominant language feels completely natural. It was secured through one of the most notable hunger strikes in independent India’s history.
3. The right to forest land
For generations, Adivasi and other forest-dwelling communities depended on forests for their homes, livelihoods, and way of life. But many had no legal recognition of their rights over the land they had lived on for decades.
As evictions increased, communities across India began organising.
The Campaign for Survival and Dignity brought together hundreds of tribal organisations, forest workers and activists who demanded that the government acknowledge what they saw as a historic injustice.
Thousands marched, held demonstrations, and travelled to Delhi to press Parliament for change.
The rights we use today can feel so ordinary that it is easy to assume they have always existed. Photograph: (Image generated by AI)
Years of sustained protests finally led to the passage of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, widely known as the Forest Rights Act.
For the first time, the law recognised the rights of scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers over forest land and community forest resources. It also acknowledged the historical injustice faced by communities that had protected these forests for generations.
For millions of families, the Forest Rights Act was more than legislation. It was long overdue recognition of their identity, livelihood, and relationship with the forests they called home.
4. The right to demand accountability
In April 2011, a 73-year-old social activist sat on a hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
His name was Anna Hazare.
He demanded a stronger law to tackle corruption and an independent institution that could investigate public officials without political interference.
What followed became one of the largest public movements India had witnessed in decades.
Thousands gathered in Delhi. Soon, similar demonstrations appeared across cities and towns. Students, office workers, retired citizens, and families joined marches and candlelight gatherings, demanding greater accountability from those in power.
The movement kept pressure on the government for months.
In 2013, Parliament passed the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, establishing a statutory anti-corruption ombudsman at the national level to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain categories of public servants.
While the final law differed from the original Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by the movement, the protests fundamentally changed the national conversation around corruption and accountability. They also proved how peaceful public mobilisation could influence legislation.
In April 2011, a 73-year-old social activist sat on a hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The rights we use today can feel so ordinary that it is easy to assume they have always existed.
History tells a different story.
Behind every application filed under the Right to Information Act, every community recognised under the Forest Rights Act, every institution established through the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, and every linguistic state that millions of Indians call home are people who refused to accept that change was impossible.
They protested. They organised. Some gave their lives.
Their struggles became our everyday rights.
