- National RTI awards
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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. The awards have been instituted by a NGO to reward those individuals in India who have implemented India's Right to Information Act in letter and spirit.[1][2]
Contents
Categories
At present the awards are awarded for 4 categories:[3]
- 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
2 lakh (US$4,100)[Note 1] for year 2009[2] and 2010.[4]
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[5] 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:[6]
- Information Commissioner Category: Arunachal Pradesh Information Commission
- Citizen Category: Akhil Gogoi of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti of Assam.[7] 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:[8]
- 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
2,500-crore 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
- Pradeep Kumar, Block Development Officer of Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh for giving the requested information to all 65 applicants who approached his office under the provisions of the RTI act.[9]
- 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,[10] a helpline service run by Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Parishad[11] for RTI queries)
Special Honors (for the killed)
Additionally, the Jury specially honored the following 10 RTI activists who were killed while pursuing RTI activities:[12]
No. Name Date Killed Cause 1 Amit Jethwa 20 July 2010 Illegal mining in the Gir areas in Saurashtra region[13] 2 Satish Shetty 13 January 2010 Exposing land scams[14] 3 Datta Patil 22 May 2010 Bogus registration of cooperative societies and inquiry into two local police officers.[15][16] 4 Vitthal Gite 21 April 2010 Illegal utilization of government funds for educational institutions [16] 5 Sola Ranga Rao 15 April 2010 Utilization of government funds for local development programmes[17] 6 Shashidhar Mishra 15 February 2010 Sale of contaminated water by government contractors to Indian Railways[16][18] 7 Vishram Laxman Dodiya 11 February 2010 Electricity power irregularities[19] 8 Venkatesh 12 April 2008 Land scams around Bengaluru[16][19] 9 Lalit Kumar Mehta 14 May 2008 Illegal fund allocation under government employment scheme of NREGA[20] 10 Kameshwar Yadav 7 June 2008 Illegal fund allocation under government employment scheme of NREGA[19][21] The awards were presented in a ceremony in New Delhi on 20 January 2011.[10]
References
- ^ TNN (14 June 2009). "National RTI awards instituted". The Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/National-RTI-awards-instituted/articleshow/4653740.cms. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ a b News Update Service (31 May 2009). "NGO institutes national award for RTI activists". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200905311915.htm. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ "RTI Awards Committee Minutes of meeting on 30–31 January 2010". RTI Awards Committee. http://www.rtiawards.org/images/MOM_of_RTI_activists_meet_on_RTI_Awards.pdf. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ "RTI Awards 2010, Award Categories". RTIwards.org. http://www.rtiawards.org/awards.html. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Reporter, Staff (2 December 2009). "Strengthen RTI movement at all levels, says Hamid Ansari". The Hindu. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article58502.ece. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Correspondent, HT (2 December 2009). "National RTI awards presented". Hindustan Times. http://www.hindustantimes.com/National-RTI-awards-presented/Article1-482105.aspx. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Reporter, Staff (14 November 2009). "KMSS chief Akhil Gogoi among RTI Award finalists". The Assam Tribune. http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=nov1409/at05. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ S, Vidya (22 December 2010). "Saikat Dutta, Vinita Kamte among RTI award winners". The Hindu. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article968102.ece. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Bindra, Jasneet (23 December 2010). "RTI awards: North shows the way". Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rti-awards-north-shows-the-way/728178/0. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ a b IANS. "RTI Awards presented in Delhi". Sify.com. http://www.sify.com/news/rti-awards-presented-in-delhi-news-national-lbuxEkegafi.html. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ Jain, Ankur (17 January 2011). "RTI helpline wins award". Times Of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/7301457.cms. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ Thite, Dinesh (23 December 2010). "National RTI Award for Vinita Kamte". NDTV.com. http://www.ndtv.com/article/iphone/cities/74511?from=ndtv.com. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Correspondent, NDTV (21 July 2010). "Gujarat: RTI activist Amit Jethwa shot dead". NDTV.com. http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/gujarat-rti-activist-amit-jethwa-shot-dead-38683. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Joshi, Satyajit (15 January 2010). "Why Satish Shetty was killed". Hindustan Times. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Why-Satish-Shetty-was-killed/Article1-497596.aspx. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ Yogita Limaye,, Pratap Naik (1). "Another RTI activist killed in Maharashtra". CNN-IBN. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/another-rti-activist-killed-in-maharashtra/116770-3.html. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ a b c d Sharma, Nagendar. "truth suppression - The RTI murders". Hindustan Times ePaper. http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/HT/HD/2010/07/28/ArticleHtmls/truth-suppression-The-RTI-murders-28072010011005.shtml?Mode=1. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ Janyala, Sreenivas (16 April 2010). "Foul play suspected in RTI activist’s death". Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/foul-play-suspected-in-rti-activists-death/607084/0. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ Kumar, Rajiv (16 February 2010). "RTI activist shot dead by criminals in Begusarai dist". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/RTI-activist-shot-dead-by-criminals-in-Begusarai-dist/articleshow/5578330.cms. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ a b c Pokharel, Krishna (10 September 2010). "Profiles of Five Slain Information Activists". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/09/11/5-of-the-slain-activists/. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ Shenoy, TVR. "Where is the money going?". Rediff.com. http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/jun/06flip.htm. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
- ^ AKHTAR, SHAHNAWAZ (8 June 2008). "NREGA activist shot dead". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080609/jsp/frontpage/story_9385159.jsp. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
External links
- "National RTI Awards Official Website". http://www.rtiawards.org. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
Notes
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ElsewhereCategories:- Award ceremonies
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- Indian awards
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