New Delhi:
Some of India's best-known faces came together for a very special cause - to select the winners of the Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF)-NDTV Right To Information (RTI) awards. These are essentially the people who did their bit to make the RTI Act a tool to bring about a change in the system.
In the Best Information Commissioner category, the jury was to choose someone who gave correct and complete information to the maximum appellant besides enforcing the RTI Act in its true spirit.
"When the jury was presented with the statistics from across the country, we realised that Arunachal Pradesh is a state where there is no one single commissioner but a bench. We found the way they handled RTI, the manner, extent, process, the penalties they put on officers, the steps they took as commissioner were effective and the satisfaction was 91 per cent," said Aamir Khan, a jury member.
For the Best Public Information Officer of the year, there were three nominees.
"The person we have awarded is Dr Lalit Narayan Mishra. He is from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. The other two finalists were Atul Fulzale and S Rajasekhar. Atul is from Kangra district and S Rajasekhar is from Mehbubnnagar in Andhra Pradesh," Aamir said.
Also, for the Best Citizen Category, there were over 1100 nominations, out of which 19 were short-listed.
"We decided to honour one person with the first prize and that is Akhil Gogoi from Assam. We would like to honour him with the first prize. And we would like to honour all the rest 18 with the second prize. Because it's very important. Each one has done a lot, and each one has contributed," Aamir added.
The awards will be given away at a special function in Delhi on December 1.
In the Best Information Commissioner category, the jury was to choose someone who gave correct and complete information to the maximum appellant besides enforcing the RTI Act in its true spirit.
"When the jury was presented with the statistics from across the country, we realised that Arunachal Pradesh is a state where there is no one single commissioner but a bench. We found the way they handled RTI, the manner, extent, process, the penalties they put on officers, the steps they took as commissioner were effective and the satisfaction was 91 per cent," said Aamir Khan, a jury member.
For the Best Public Information Officer of the year, there were three nominees.
"The person we have awarded is Dr Lalit Narayan Mishra. He is from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. The other two finalists were Atul Fulzale and S Rajasekhar. Atul is from Kangra district and S Rajasekhar is from Mehbubnnagar in Andhra Pradesh," Aamir said.
Also, for the Best Citizen Category, there were over 1100 nominations, out of which 19 were short-listed.
"We decided to honour one person with the first prize and that is Akhil Gogoi from Assam. We would like to honour him with the first prize. And we would like to honour all the rest 18 with the second prize. Because it's very important. Each one has done a lot, and each one has contributed," Aamir added.
The awards will be given away at a special function in Delhi on December 1.
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