Right to Information campaign is an example of _________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Reformist movement
Option (1) Revolutionary movement — Incorrect. A revolutionary movement tries to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power, as the Bolshevik revolution in Russia did. The Right to Information campaign did not seek to overthrow the state; it asked the state for a law.
Option (2) Redemptive movement — Incorrect. A redemptive movement aims at a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its own members, as the Ezhavas of Kerala changed their social practices under Narayana Guru. The RTI campaign sought a change in the law, not in its members’ personal lives.
Option (3) Reformist movement — Correct. Reformist movements try to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps. The campaign won people the right to see government records through a law passed by Parliament, the Right to Information Act 2005, a step-by-step change within the system.
Option (4) Transformatory movement — Incorrect. ‘Transformatory’ is another name for a redemptive movement, one that works on the consciousness of its own members, so it does not fit the RTI campaign either.
NCERT (2025-26): “8.3 Types of Social Movements … There are different kinds of social movements. They can be classified as: (i) redemptive or transformatory; (ii) reformist; and (iii) revolutionary. A redemptive social movement aims to bring about a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members. For instance, people in the Ezhava community in Kerala were led by Narayana Guru to change their social practices. Reformist social movements strive to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps. The 1960s movement for the reorganisation of Indian states on the basis of language and the recent Right to Information campaign are examples of reformist movements. Revolutionary social movements attempt to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia that deposed the Tsar to create a communist state and the Naxalite movement in India that seeks to remove oppressive landlords and state officials can be described as revolutionary movements.…” |