What began as an experiment is now shaping into an open-source model for a single department in one state, that others can adapt across departments, states, and countries.

Zen Citizen began as an experiment to see if clear, comprehensive, and practical information could help curb corruption. We set out to provide a practical fix, a band-aid, that complements the efforts of activists leading whistleblowing, protests, signature campaigns, and structural reform efforts, starting with Karnataka, where we are based.  

Our hypothesis was built on the Right to Public Services Act and the Right to Information Act, where applicable in a given state. The former mandates that once a citizen submits an application and receives an acknowledgment from the relevant department, the department must deliver the service within a specified timeframe. If they fail, citizens can appeal to Sakala (in Karnataka), triggering consequences for the officials involved. The latter empowers citizens to question delays, also serving as a tool for accountability. We believed that if ZenC could guide citizens through the nuances of submitting an application successfully, the appeal process would take care of the rest. 

Evolving our approach

But the evidence suggested otherwise. We found that government officers often reject appeals on flimsy grounds, frequently necessitating a second and final appeal, which makes the process more time-consuming and effort-intensive. There is also a degree of gaslighting; even when all paperwork is in order, officials insist otherwise. For instance, a government staff member once insisted to our reader Suhas that his name was misspelled, despite it being perfectly correct in black and white.

We revised our definition of success; setting a more realistic, incremental goal. Instead of ensuring that people get services without paying bribes, we now consider success as helping them hold out longer, question bribery, and restore its stigma. Our approach remains the same; no whistleblowing, protests, or structural activism, just practical support.

Emboldened by Validation: Growing Beyond Modest Beginnings

We started with no set idea of the end impact: first as an experiment, then with the modest goal of helping even a handful of people before returning to corporate life. But the initiative took on a life of its own; compelling feedback from readers, powerful encouragement from civic leaders, an unsolicited grant from Dr. Malpani that further validated our efforts, and more recently, institutional backing from the government; top-down support as opposed to bottom-up efforts like visiting offices and seeking clarifications from apathetic staff, which isn’t scalable. 

Now we are working toward developing a companion site for a single department in one state. The site will be open-source, enabling other volunteers to adapt it for various departments, states, and countries. 

Exploring Possibilities for Sustainability

If we remain fully engaged with ZenCitizen, sustaining it without external funding will eventually become difficult; living off savings is not a long-term solution for full-time volunteers. 

We could explore allied services to achieve financial sustainability, such as creating an interaction layer on top of government websites.

For now, we are focusing on building a brand and a team of people who believe in the cause – empowering citizens to question bribes, regardless of our size or funding; the strength of this movement lies not in its scale but in the persistence of those who refuse to resign themselves to corruption.