A 25-year-old activist from Kerala submits more than 3,000 RTIs and highlights shortcomings in public safety

M V Shilparaj wants to put everything “right”! The citizen of Cheemeni is committed to advancing society’s quest for growth and development by making the right to information (RTI) functional. He has submitted over 3,000 RTI petitions so far, and the local postman now often stops by his house as a result of the replies he has received.

 

In 2017, the 25-year-old submitted his first RTI application, requesting information on the safety protocols that instructors had implemented during student visits. He submitted a significant application to the Kasaragod fire station in 2024 seeking details on the fire and safety provisions at Keralan public buildings as well as schools in his hometown of Kasaragod.

The response highlighted how severely deficient these facilities are. 983 of the state’s 2,277 public buildings were found to lack proper fire and safety provisions. Only 247 of the 614 school buildings that made up the total passed muster. He wrote a report based on the response and sent it to higher-ranking authorities, such as the chief minister, the extra chief secretary of the department of home affairs, and the director general of the department of fire and rescue.

“Many people think that submitting an RTI requires a lot of work. Actually, it’s rather easy. Avoid submitting an RTI in order to get missing data. It is beneficial to make the specifics of completed initiatives and the status of ongoing ones transparent. The practice of filing an RTI should be taught to kids in schools, according to Shilparaj, a final-year MSW student at the Payyanur regional center of Sree Shankaracharya University of Sanskrit.

Motivated by misfortune

A husband and woman in Thiruvananthapuram committed self-immolation in December 2020. As Rajan and Ambili, who were about to be evicted from their house, doused themselves in gasoline, a deadly tragedy occurred. Authorities tried to interfere in the confusion of the moment, but as they reached for their lighter, things got out of control and the fire was started.

Shilparaj filed an RTI with the state police and fire and rescue services headquarters, demanding the playbook on how officers handle such incidents, after realizing that the intervention had been botched. In a report he sent to the director general of fire and rescue services, he asked that civil defense personnel get suicide attempt response training. “My recommendations were carried out,” notes Shilparaj, who is also a member of the Thrikaripur fire station’s civil defense corps.

To find out the district police chief’s reaction time, Shilparaj sent an RTI to the Kasaragod district police chief’s office in 2022. He submitted a petition to the home ministry with information gathered between 2019 and 2024, including information on the response times of law enforcement in Finland and the United States, based on the replay. The home ministry responded that 100 additional cars had been approved for the department based on the petition.

He submitted an application in 2024 to the directorate of the local self-government department (LSGD) asking for lamps to be made available in each panchayat across the state. He sent his report, which was based on the reply, to the minister and the additional chief secretary in addition to department officials.

In a recent move, Shilparaj asked that special software be made accessible to prevent vote anomalies via a petition to the state and federal election authorities. “I anticipate a favorable reaction,” he said.

Accolades

He was recognized for his contributions to the fight against crime in society with a letter of appreciation from the DySP of Kasaragod’s crime branch in 2021. He was voted the top social work student by the Kerala Association of Professional Social Workers (KAPS) Palakkad chapter earlier this year.