Harikumar Pallathadka (Harikumar P in short) is a prominent Indian

Right to Information The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, an ...

(RTI) (known as FOI in the west) and

Social Activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

History

He holds an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

. He is a National General Secretary of India Against Corruption from September 2013.

Activism

His series of RTI applications on Indian Income Tax system have highlighted the fact that barely 3% of Indians pay income taxes as of 2006. This issue has widely been discussed in the media and forums. His RTI applications on security of

Electronic Voting Machines An electronic voting machine is a voting machine based on electronics. Two main technologies exist: '' optical scanning'' and '' direct recording'' (DRE). Optical scanning In an optical scan voting system, or marksense, each voter's choices ...

led to the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...

to divulge details regarding the EVM's and to publicly release the copy of the expert Committee report on security of EVM's headed by Prof. PV Indiresan. In January 2008, the Government of India was forced to update and properly maintain the official website of the RTI following the order of the

CIC CIC may refer to: Organizations Canada * Cadet Instructors Cadre, a part of the Canadian Armed Forces * Canadian Infantry Corps, renamed in 1947 to Royal Canadian Infantry Corps * Canadian International Council * Canadian Islamic Congress * Chemi ...

acting upon the complaint of Harikumar. The CIC has also commended the efforts of Harikumar in its order and asked the department to implement and to introduce various public friendly initiatives for the effective implementations of the RTI Act, 2005. He raised the matter of frequent accidents of

Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered servic ...

fighter jets with the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

through media. After that even the media has continued raising the questions of safety of security of older Sea Harrier fighter jets with the Indian Navy. Finally in August 2009, after another crash, The Indian Navy has grounded the entire Sea Harrier fighter jet fleet for probe. His RTI applications on internal border disputes within India led to the Government of India revealing in 2006 that there were nearly a dozen of unsolved and pending disputes of that type. His series of RTI applications on Indian

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

has shed light on inconsistencies of official figures between various departments of Government of India, and this has led to various measures being taken by the Government of India in the matter of Indian

Prisoners of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

. After an RTI concerning pesticides, 25 pesticides were banned for manufacture, import and use in India which involved a health hazard to human beings, animals and damage to the environment, and others faced partial curbs by the Government of India. He has also attempted to highlight the problem faced by students due to the existence of more than "200 fake educational institutions" that prey on students in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He has tried to shed light on various socially relevant subjects including Indians believed to be detained in Pakistani jails. He has fought many cases against several private universities across various Indian States for the implementation of RTI and public disclosure in the private universities, including the states of Punjab, Nagaland, Meghalaya.http://megsic.gov.in/2008/Complaint-19-2008.pdf

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallathadka, Harikumar Living people Indian civil rights activists Indian human rights activists 1984 births Activists from Kerala People from Kasaragod district Right to Information activists