RTI Awards presented in Delhi

NEW DELHI - From a sports teacher to widow of a slain cop, five people from various walks of life were felicitated here Thursday for effective use of the Right to Information Act.

The winners, including Vinita Kamte, widow of Mumbai Police officer Ashok Kamte who was killed in the Nov 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, were shortlisted from 726 applications received by the jury appointed by non-governmental organisation Public Cause Research Foundation, set up by RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal.

The jury included Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy, former chief justice of India J.S. Verma, former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh and journalist Madhu Trehan.

Manoj Kumar Karwasra, a sports teacher in Hisar district of Haryana, filed several RTI applications to expose how government land had been encroached by the panchayat members themselves.

I have great feeling now. It will boost my morale, Karwasra told IANS.

Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, a helpline service for RTI queries which was launched in May 2006 and claims that it has received more than 60,000 calls till now, was one of the winners.

Sadhna Pandya, coordinator of helpline, said the award will increase their responsibility.

“We receive calls from across the country in various languages,” she said.

Athar Shamsi, an advocate from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, was also honoured for fighting for the rights of the beedi workers who were not being paid their full wages by factory owners.

The workers were allegedly paid just Rs.27-34 per thousand beedis made, as against the minimum wage of Rs.60.

The other winners of the Best RTI Citizen award were Ramesh Kumar Verma from Haryana and Rajan Savlo Ghate from Goa. The Best RTI Journalist award went to Saikat Dutta of Outlook for exposing a Rs.2,500 crore-scam in rice exports.

Pradeep Kumar from Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh received the Best Public Information Officer award.