We are presenting here the Mumbai of the last decade — the metamorphosis it has gone through. On the face of it, things look as despondent as they probably did at the beginning of the decade — the digging of roads goes on, the train travel does not seem to improve, and the cultural life is restricted to multiplex visits. yet, The city has a knack of confounding its worst critics...

Sunshine in the dark corridors
In 2000, RTI stood for the Ratan Tata Institute. Today, it is the Right to Information Act — a knock-down law which diluted the absolute power of the government and its babus ever since it came into effect in 2005. The act empowered citizens and for a change, government officials feared them. People found it to be the most powerful tool to get their work done without taking the under-the-table route. Right to Information also provided an important economic dimension, as it embraced not only political freedom but also the freedom to lead a life with dignity, unfettered by domination and discrimination.

Besides, the act was a powerful tool in scuttling the intentions of developers and builders who wanted to make Mumbai’s poor homeless when they took their homes for redevelopment.