Capturing Institutional Change: The Case of the Right to Information Act in India

The Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET) invites you to an online book discussion with Dr. Himanshu Jha, University of Heidelberg, about his latest book "Capturing Institutional Change: The Case of the Right to Information Act in India". He is joined by Dr. Jeannine Relly, University of Arizona.

In his book, Himanshu Jha examines the what, why, and how of institutional change through the lens of transformation in the 'information regime' in India by tracing the passage of the Right to Information Act (RTIA), 2005. Using archival material, internal government documents, and interviews, Dr. Jha demonstrates that the institutional change resulted from 'ideas' emerging gradually and incrementally, leading to a 'tipping' point. The first book in the Institutions and Development in South Asia Series (OUP Delhi), the book explores the information regime in India from an alternative historical institutional perspective.

After presenting his key arguments, Dr. Jha will be in conversation with Dr. Jeannine Relly, Professor at the School of Journalism, University of Arizona. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Please register here to join the event on Zoom (Webinar). It will also be streamed live on the SASNET Facebook page.

About the speakers:

Himanshu Jha teaches in the Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany. He holds a PhD from the National University of Singapore; M.Phil in Public Policy from the Australian National University; Masters in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and a Bachelors degree in History (Hons.) from the University of Delhi. His research focuses on institutional change, governance and development, politics of accountability, state capacity and bureaucratic rationality. Himanshu’s most recent book titled Capturing Institutional Change: the Case of the Right to Information Act in India (Oxford University Press) explores the why, how and what of institutional change using a historical institutional lens. Building on the current body of work he has further probed institutional progression and its deepening at the sub-national level. His field-work in the eastern Indian state of Bihar examines the emerging politics of accountability and shows that the Right To Information has opened a new space of accountability giving rise to a new form of citizen agency, whose practitioners he calls ‘agents of accountability’.  Himanshu has published widely in academic journals, edited books and contributed his views in the popular media. Prior to his academic engagement, he worked in the developmental sector in India where , he focussed on blending academic, socially relevant and action based research with active advocacy at various policy levels.

Jeannine Relly is a professor in the School of Journalism at The University of Arizona. She holds a courtesy appointment with the School of Government and Public Policy. Her work includes a book, a monograph and more than a half dozen cross-national studies and dozen single-nation projects focused on factors influencing democratic governance, including information-access rights. She has authored and co-authored five published papers on India’s Right to Information Act and the collective action around it. Her most recent work in this area was published in 2020 in the journals, World Development and the International Journal of Communication. Dr. Relly also serves as director of global initiatives for the Center for Border and Global Journalism and is on the advisory board of the Center for Digital Society & Data Studies at the university. She was a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in India in 2016-2017.