Gogoi, the general secretary of the Cotton College student’s union in 1995-96, left college and took up social service when he was doing his MA in English Literature in 2002. The same year, he married Gitashree Tamuly, who is a college teacher. They have a two-year-old son and the family’s expenses are paid for by the salary his wife gets.

“I was attacked by the local Congress Committee members for my ‘anti-state’ activities, and a case was also filed against me. But I was rescued by the High Court,” says Gogoi. During this period, Gogoi had to go underground, and he was introduced to his son only when he was already six months old.

Gogoi and his KMSSA used the RTI Act to uncover corruption in various schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana and the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana. This was reported to the Chief Minister and following media coverage, local officials were arrested for alleged corruption.

The two other finalists for the award were the Urmul Jyoti Sansthan (UJS) and its founder Chetan Ram from Bikaner in Rajasthan for their work in health care, rural development and public advocacy. The UJS also used the RTI Act to expose corruption in various public projects. Working under the banner of the Jagruk Nagrik Manch, UJS activists actually coerced many public officials into returning bribes they took from citizens.

“Though our efforts were initially dismissed, government servants gradually started returning the money they took. We have all the receipts with us, wherein the official writes the amount of bribe he took and then returns it back,” said Ram. “I have been dragged to court in many false cases and have even faced physical assault. But now, resistance has declined.”

... contd.