The Manjunath Shanmugham Integrity Award, instituted in the memory of the former IIM alumnus and Indian Oil Corporation employee who was killed by a fuel adulteration mafia in UP in 2005, was for the first time shared among three shortlisted finalists, including two who fought for the rights of the marginalised and a third who stood up to protect the forests despite opposition from his own department.

Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy handed over the third edition of the Manjunath Shanmugham Integrity Award to Jitendra Chaturvedi, the founder and chief of a voluntary organisation DEHAT (Development Association for Human Advancement).

Chaturvedi, who is working against great odds in the backward villages on the Indo-Nepal border, will receive the Rs 1 lakh cash component of the integrity award, considering the continuity of the DEHAT campaign, members of the Manjunath Shanmugham Trust said.

The two other finalists Vinod Adhau, a village revenue officer who fought for the rights of farmers in the Vidharba region of Maharashtra, and Sanjiv Chaturvedi, a deputy forest conservator from Panchkula, Haryana, were also adjudged winners of the award and will be given separate cash incentives.

“For years, people settled along the Indo-Nepal border were made to believe they don’t have the rights accorded to the ordinary Indian citizens. They were being exploited. Today they know they have rights. The awareness has been created,” said Chaturvedi, who taught the villagers to use the Right to Information Act. “Jai Azaadi”, a slogan he coined for the struggle of the people is now on the lips of all the villagers, he said.

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