Born in Chennai, Aruna was an IAS officer at Delhi until 1974. She resigned from the IAS to join the Social Work and Research Center in Rajasthan, set up by her husband Sanjit Bunker Roy.

Aruna Roy is a leader in the movement for "Right to Information". Aruna showed the poor rural people of drought-ridden Rajasthan how information could give them power to stop corrupt officials from siphoning off funds allocated to dig wells and how to demand the wages that were due to them.

In 1990, Ms. Roy set up the "Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana". The MKSS built a grassroots movement that triggered a nationwide demand for the public's right to scrutinize official records. The "Right to Information Bill", was adopted by nine states including Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, and the "Freedom of Information Act 2002" was adopted by the Parliament.

In 2000 Aruna Roy was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership and International Understanding. She put the award money into a trust to support the process of democratic struggles.

Ms. Roy's talk is co-sponsored with the Association for India's Development, PrajaNet, and Sanskriti. For more information, please contact Ramani at 408-833-8494.