The Times of India: Mangalore:Thursday, March 01, 2012.
Meet Harsha Raj Gatty, 24, a silent warrior, who has taken it upon himslef to spread awareness about the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005, widely described as a powerful tool to eradicate corruption and to establish accountable governance in the country.
In May 2011, he founded Whitewhistle, a forum that educates people especially in rural areas on different aspects of RTI and also give them necessary training to use the tool effectively. Gatty through the forum trained several students, NGOs, organizations and government officials including police officers. Recognizing his efforts, the department of personnel and training (DoPT), government of India honoured him with a fellowship on Right to Information Act (RTI) for the year 2012.
After completing post-graduation in journalism, Gatty began his crusade against corruption by spreading knowledge about the act at a summer camp organized for children by city-based Centre for Integrated Learning (CIL). He also conducted training for over 40 cops following a request from city police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh. His fight yielded a noteworthy result when a public sector bank was forced to remove a hoarding carrying defaulters' photos put up in front of its head office. The practice is against the banking norms in the country.
He has so far filed more than 100 RTI applications through Whitewhistle and obtained a certificate - certificate of completion on RTI Act 2005 - from the Centre for Good Governance, government of India in March 2011. He also has coordinated the mass RTI education programme organized as part of the sixth anniversary of effective implementation of the act. "My main goal is to teach the common man, especially villagers, the use of RTI Act. In addition to filing RTI applications, we also teach and help people make use of various provisions of it. The motto of Whitewhistle is to educate people about their fundamental right to seek information from public offices and simultaneously alert public servants of their duty," he said.
Fellowship on RTI:
DoPT invites journalists, activists, government officials from all over the country to apply for the prestigious fellowship award. Only four persons will be selected for the three-month research programme on RTI, which will commence from April 1. Gatty has been selected for the fellowship for his proposal on 'lack of adequate capacity on the part of the marginalized groups to utilize the RTI Act effectively'. Gatty will be conducting research on the theme in DK and Udupi districts.
In May 2011, he founded Whitewhistle, a forum that educates people especially in rural areas on different aspects of RTI and also give them necessary training to use the tool effectively. Gatty through the forum trained several students, NGOs, organizations and government officials including police officers. Recognizing his efforts, the department of personnel and training (DoPT), government of India honoured him with a fellowship on Right to Information Act (RTI) for the year 2012.
After completing post-graduation in journalism, Gatty began his crusade against corruption by spreading knowledge about the act at a summer camp organized for children by city-based Centre for Integrated Learning (CIL). He also conducted training for over 40 cops following a request from city police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh. His fight yielded a noteworthy result when a public sector bank was forced to remove a hoarding carrying defaulters' photos put up in front of its head office. The practice is against the banking norms in the country.
He has so far filed more than 100 RTI applications through Whitewhistle and obtained a certificate - certificate of completion on RTI Act 2005 - from the Centre for Good Governance, government of India in March 2011. He also has coordinated the mass RTI education programme organized as part of the sixth anniversary of effective implementation of the act. "My main goal is to teach the common man, especially villagers, the use of RTI Act. In addition to filing RTI applications, we also teach and help people make use of various provisions of it. The motto of Whitewhistle is to educate people about their fundamental right to seek information from public offices and simultaneously alert public servants of their duty," he said.
Fellowship on RTI:
DoPT invites journalists, activists, government officials from all over the country to apply for the prestigious fellowship award. Only four persons will be selected for the three-month research programme on RTI, which will commence from April 1. Gatty has been selected for the fellowship for his proposal on 'lack of adequate capacity on the part of the marginalized groups to utilize the RTI Act effectively'. Gatty will be conducting research on the theme in DK and Udupi districts.
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