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He quit the Indian Revenue Service to champion the cause of transparency. Arvind kejriwal, 38, the brain behind Right to Information (RTI) campaign, has won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2006 for his contribution to the movement.

Founder of the Delhi based Parivartan citizen’s movement, kejriwal will receive the award on August 31 in Manila, along with Sanduk Ruit (Nepal), Ek Sonn Chan (Cambodia) Park Won Soon (South Korea) and Eugenia Duran Apostol and Antonio Meloto (both Philippines)

Kejriwal calls the award a victory for the RTI movement in the country. “it belongs to all those who visited our camps across the nation, filing over 21,000 applications during the HT sponsored RTI campaign. But at the time the world is celebrating the success of the Indian right to information movement, it is sad that the government wants to modify the Act in a bid to throttle it.

Fellow activist Manish Sisodia, who co-founder parivartan with kejriwal seven years back,says his dedication is tremendous. It takes courage to quit the iRS. Arvind always struck to his guns-even when Delhi Vidyut Board officials accused us of being a security hazard during information camps. He patiently explained the merits of transparency to the people.

In choosing kejriwal for the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent leadership, the trustee board recognizes the activating Indias Right to Information movement at the grassroots, empowering poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding government accountable to the people.

Arvind kejriwal launched parivartan in East Delhi in January 2000. Its first activity was providing relief to taxpayers, which it did by exhorting people not to pay bribes. The NGO has helped around 2,500 consumers in DVB. Parivartan workers used to sit at the entrance of three DVB offices every day during public dealing hours exhorting consumers going in not to pay bribes inside.

Source: Hindustan Times