A Village revenue officer who, despite pressures, stood up for the right to compensation for farmers who lost their crops; the founder of a voluntary organisation who fought to bring dignity to the lives of people in a backward region of the country; and a forest officer who has been striving to protect the forests.

These are the people shortlisted for the 2009 Manjunath Shanmugham Integrity Award, instituted by IIM alumni in memory of IIM alumnus and Indian Oil Corporation officer Manjunath who was killed in UP on November 19, 2005, while trying to stop a fuel adulteration mafia.

The winner of the third edition of the Manjunath Shanmugham Integrity Award will be chosen from among a Vidharba village revenue officer Vinod Adhau, founder of a voluntary organisation battling in the backward villages on the India-Nepal border, Jitendra Chaturvedi, and Haryana deputy conservator of forests Sanjiv Chaturvedi, on June 13.

A friend of farmers in ‘suicide belt’

Adhau, a revenue officer in the Gawandgao revenue circle of Anajangao Surji Taluka of Amravati district in Maharashtra refused to accept verbal orders by local authorities to reduce by half the number of beneficiaries in a crop loss compensation scheme, following the failure of kharif crops in the region punctuated by farmers’ suicides.

According to the award trust, Adhau demanded written orders from his higher officials to change the number of beneficiaries and went about informing the farmers, the youth and the media about the injustice “planned” by the Government.

The village revenue officer then exercised the Right to Information Act to collect the factual position from the government. Finally, “518 affected farmers from his revenue circle received Rs 5,22,930 as 100 per cent financial assistance”, says a note from the Manjunath Shanmugham Trust.

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