About Us
Parivartan is a Delhi based citizens’ movement trying to ensure a just, transparent and accountable governance.
Parivartan
- Is not an NGO
- Is a people’s movement for reinforcement of democratic values.
- Stands and strives for strengthening of practices and systems which encourage participatory democracy including transparency and accountability
Parivartan
- runs on time, money and ideas contributed by the people.
- does not accept any project based funds from any donor organizations, whether foreign or domestic
- meets its financial liabilities through contributions made primarily by individuals.
The Team
The following work full-time for Parivartan:
Abid: He worked as a volunteer for three years before joining Parivartan. Lives in Sundernagari, which is a resettlement colony in East Delhi. Abid is getting fellowship from Asha.
Arif: Arif also lives in Seemapuri and gave up his business to join Parivartan. He also worked for Parivartan before deciding to join fulltime. Arif is partially supported by Asha and partially supported by Parivartan.
Arvind Kejriwal: A mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur, Arvind joined civil services as a member of Indian Revenue Service in 1992. He set up Parivartan in 2000 by taking long leave from the Government. Finally, he resigned from the Government in February 2006. Arvind's sustenance is supported by Ashoka's fellowship.
Chander: Chander is associated with Parivartan right from its inception. Chander is a graduate. Chander is financially supported by Ravi Shrivastava.
Rajiv Sharma: Rajiv lives in Seemapuri, a resettlement colony in East Delhi. He has a very keen knowledge of how law can be used in the daily life of a poor man. Rajiv used to have a small business before he joined Parivartan. He worked with Parivartan for sometime as a volunteer, before deciding to give up his business to work as a full time worker. Rajiv is financially supported by Ravi Shrivastava.
Ramashray: He lives in Seemapuri, a resettlement colony in East Delhi. A very active worker in his own community. Ramashray is financially supported by Ravi Shrivastava.
Rekha Koli: Rekha is presently doing her graduation in Political Science from Delhi University. Rekha draws her sustenance from Parivartan.
Ritu: A post graduate, she worked as a teacher before joining Parivartan. She worked as a volunteer for almost a year before deciding to join in fulltime. Ritu is partially supported by Asha and partially supported by Parivartan.
Santosh: Santosh worked for another NGO called Action India before joining Parivartan. Living in the same community where Parivartan works, Santosh has a strong feel of the pulse of the people. Santosh gets fellowship from I C Trust.
Part-Time Volunteers: A number of volunteers have taken up specific responsibilities and make contributions to Parivartan on a part-time basis.
Brief History of Parivartan
Parivartan was started in January 2000. The first activity was to provide relief to the taxpayers from extortionist corruption in Income Tax Department. The taxpayers in Delhi were exhorted not to pay bribes but to approach Parivartan with their grievances. About 700 grievances received till now have been resolved. Parivartan also filed a Public Interest Litigation in Delhi High Court to get certain systemic changes introduced in the Department so that such grievances do not recur. Since then, the Department has issued instructions to all its officers to implement the measures suggested by Parivartan.
Starting August 2000, Parivartan started exhorting consumers in Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) not to pay bribes but to approach Parivartan with their grievances. Parivartan has helped around 2500 consumers in DVB till now. In a unique experiment, Parivartan workers used to sit at the entrance of 3 DVB offices everyday during public dealing hours and would exhort every consumer going in not to pay bribes inside. This had a salutary effect on the working of these offices. With the privatisation of DVB in June 2002, DVB is no more a focus area.
But soon, Parivartan realized that these activities provide immediate relief to the public suffering on account of corruption but they neither empower citizens to get their grievances resolved directly in future without Parivartan’s assistance, nor do they bring any permanent systemic changes. Parivartan then used the Delhi Right to Information Act extensively to get public grievances resolved. The Act proved very effective. Now, Parivartan started educating the public on how to use this Act to get their respective grievances resolved rather than directly intervening on behalf of citizens.
The entire focus of Parivartan now is on how to use the Right to Information to ensure transparency and accountability in governance. A number of experiments have been conducted in this area. For details, see the section on Right to Information.
Legal Status and structures at Parivartan:
Parivartan is not registered under any Act as a society or a trust or a Company. It is a people’s movement. For Income Tax purposes, it is an Association of Persons.