National RTI Awards
| National RTI Awards | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | To reward outstanding work in RTI |
| Country | India |
| First awarded | 2009 |
| Official website | http://www.rtiawards.org |
The National RTI Awards are annual, non-government awards to acknowledge those individuals in India who have "displayed exemplary commitment to the Right to Information Act". The awards have been instituted by Public Cause Research Foundation,[1][2] and sponsored by NDTV, Hindustan Times, Dainik Jagran, and others. Some RTI activists who were killed receive posthumous awards.
The first RTI Awards were distributed at a ceremony held on 1 December 2009 in New Delhi and graced by the Honourable Vice President of India Hamid Ansari.[3]
In its 2nd year (2010) the awards were renamed as PCRF-HT RTI awards. The scope of the six awards in four categories were altered to include "an Information Commissioner who enforced RTI Act strictly, two Public Information Officers who provided correct and complete information, and two citizens who used RTI and created public impact".[4]
Categories
At present the awards are awarded for 4 categories:[5]
- Award for the Best Information Commissioner
- Award for the Best Public Information Officer
- Award for the Best RTI Citizen
- Award for the Best RTI Journalist
Winners
The winners get a cash prize, a citation and a trophy. The cash prize was 
200000 (US$3,200)[Note 1] for year 2009[2] and 2010.[6]
Winners for 2009
2009 was the first year that these awards were conferred. The award ceremony was presided over by the Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari[7] who highlighted that the RTI Act had "given a new meaning to citizen engagement with governance". The following awards were conferred to the following performers in each category:[8]
- Information Commissioner Category: Arunachal Pradesh Information Commission
- Citizen Category: Akhil Gogoi of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti of Assam.[9] He won among the 19 finalists who were shortlisted from 1,130 nominations received in this category.
- Public Information Officer Category: Dr. Lalit Narayan Mishra
Winners for 2010
The following winners were announced in December, 2010 for the year:[10]
- Best RTI Citizen
| Name | State | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| Vinita Kamte | Maharashtra | Wife of Ashok Kamte(a martyr of 2008 Mumbai attacks)-To prove that her husband had not died due to his poor personal judgement but due to inefficient handling of the situation at the top level |
| Manoj Kumar Karwasra | Haryana | Illegal construction on public land |
| Ramesh Kumar Verma | Haryana | Substandard medicines in Government hospitals of Delhi and Haryana |
| Rajan Savlo Ghate | Goa | Illegal purchase of public land by foreign nationals |
| Athar Shamsi | Uttar Pradesh | Rights of beedi workers in Uttar Pradesh |
- Best RTI Journalist Award
- Saikat Dutta of Outlook (magazine) for exposing the 25 billion rice export scam with the article Whose Name on a Grain of Rice? [Note 2]
- Saikat Dutta of Outlook (magazine) for exposing the
- Best Public Information Officer (PIO) Category
- Special awards
- "Jaanne Ka Haq" (Doordarshan National)
- "Eenadu Mundhadugu" (Eenadu)
- Simpreet Singh for exposing the Adarsh Housing Society Scam
- Gujarat Helpline (Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel,[12] a helpline service run by Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Parishad[13] for RTI queries)
Special honours (for the killed)
Additionally, the Jury specially honoured the following 10 RTI activists who were killed while pursuing RTI activities:[14]
| No. | Name | Date of death | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amit Jethwa | 20 July 2010 | Illegal mining in the Gir areas in Saurashtra region[15] |
| 2 | Satish Shetty | 13 January 2010 | Exposing land scams[16] |
| 3 | Datta Patil | 22 May 2010 | Bogus registration of cooperative societies and inquiry into two local police officers.[17][18] |
| 4 | Vitthal Gite | 21 April 2010 | Illegal utilisation of government funds for educational institutions[18] |
| 5 | Sola Ranga Rao | 15 April 2010 | Utilization of government funds for local development programmes[19] |
| 6 | Shashidhar Mishra | 15 February 2010 | Sale of contaminated water by government contractors to Indian Railways[18][20] |
| 7 | Vishram Laxman Dodiya | 11 February 2010 | Electricity power irregularities[21] |
| 8 | Venkatesh | 12 April 2008 | Land scams around Bengaluru[18][21] |
| 9 | Lalit Kumar Mehta | 14 May 2008 | Illegal fund allocation under government employment scheme of NREGA[22] |
| 10 | Kameshwar Yadav | 7 June 2008 | Illegal fund allocation under government employment scheme of NREGA[21][23] |
The awards were presented in a ceremony in New Delhi on 20 January 2011.[12]
Controversy
The awards are not conferred by the Government, and India's RTI watchdog the Central Information Commission has decided not to accept awards from private groups for discharge of their duties.[24]
The then Chief Information Commissioner of India Wajahat Habibullah blasted these "shamefully demeaning private awards" and said "We aren’t schoolkids, won’t accept demeaning RTI awards". Another Information Commissioner MM Ansari questioned the credentials of the activists behind the PCRF to grant these awards by categorizing them as an "eyewash".[25]
See also
- Right to Information Act, 2005
- Attacks on RTI Activist in India
Notes
References
- ↑ TNN (14 June 2009). "National RTI awards instituted". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 News Update Service (31 May 2009). "NGO institutes national award for RTI activists". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ndtvpcrf-join-hands-to-announcefirst-ever-rti-awards/377739/
- ↑ http://www.hindustantimes.com/PCRF-HT-RTI-awards-enter-second-year/Article1-558234.aspx
- ↑ "RTI Awards Committee Minutes of meeting on 30–31 January 2010" (PDF). RTI Awards Committee. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ "RTI Awards 2010, Award Categories". RTIwards.org. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ Reporter, Staff (2 December 2009). "Strengthen RTI movement at all levels, says Hamid Ansari". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ Correspondent, HT (2 December 2009). "National RTI awards presented". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ Reporter, Staff (14 November 2009). "KMSS chief Akhil Gogoi among RTI Award finalists". The Assam Tribune. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ S, Vidya (22 December 2010). "Saikat Dutta, Vinita Kamte among RTI award winners". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ Bindra, Jasneet (23 December 2010). "RTI awards: North shows the way". Indian Express. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 IANS. "RTI Awards presented in Delhi". Sify.com. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ Jain, Ankur (17 January 2011). "RTI helpline wins award". Times of India. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ Thite, Dinesh (23 December 2010). "National RTI Award for Vinita Kamte". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ Correspondent, NDTV (21 July 2010). "Gujarat: RTI activist Amit Jethwa shot dead". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ↑ Joshi, Satyajit (15 January 2010). "Why Satish Shetty was killed". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ Yogita Limaye,, Pratap Naik (1 June 2010). "Another RTI activist killed in Maharashtra". CNN-IBN. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Sharma, Nagendar. "truth suppression – The RTI murders". Hindustan Times ePaper. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ Janyala, Sreenivas (16 April 2010). "Foul play suspected in RTI activist’s death". Indian Express. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ Kumar, Rajiv (16 February 2010). "RTI activist shot dead by criminals in Begusarai dist". Times of India. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Pokharel, Krishna (10 September 2010). "Profiles of Five Slain Information Activists". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ Shenoy, TVR. "Where is the money going?". Rediff.com. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ AKHTAR, SHAHNAWAZ (8 June 2008). "NREGA activist shot dead". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ↑ http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200905311915.htm
- ↑ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/we-arent-schoolkids-wont-accept-demeaning/544068/
External links
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