Sanjiv Chaturvedi, Anshu Gupta win Ramon Magsaysay Award

NEW DELHI: Sanjiv Chaturvedi, the whistleblower bureaucrat who exposed irregularities in Haryana and in the nation’s premier medical facility and the man wanted by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to wipe out corruption in the Capital, has received Asia’s most coveted prize — the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

The Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, which selected five people for the honour this year, chose Chaturvedi for Emergent Leadership, recognising his “exemplary integrity, courage and tenacity in uncompromisingly exposing and painstakingly investigating corruption.”

The award is “a tribute to the founding fathers of the Constitution and Sardar Patel,” Chaturvedi, a 2002 batch Indian Forest Service officer, told ET, adding that it should be a morale booster to all honest officers in the country.

The foundation also chose Anshu Gupta, the founder of Goonj, as the other awardee from India, citing his vision in transforming the culture of giving in the country.
Ashok Khemka, a senior Indian Administrative Service officer in the Indian state of Haryana, congratulated them:

Congratulations to Sanjiv Chaturvedi and Anshu Gupta for receiving the 2015 Ramon Magsayay Award.

— Ashok Khemka, IAS (@AshokKhemka_IAS) July 29, 2015

Gupta, who left his corporate job to start Goonj in 1999, is being recognised for "his creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India, his enterprising leadership in treating cloth as a sustainable development resource for the poor, and in reminding the world that true giving always respects and preserves human dignity."




Chaturvedi, 40, has allegedly been hounded by the previous BS Hoodaled Congress government in Haryana and harassed by the Union health ministry under JP Nadda. He unearthed several scams in Haryana and was deputed as chief vigilance officer at the AIIMS in New Delhi. He continued his campaign at the institute, taking action in 165 cases covering a range of irregularities during his tenure from 2012 to 2014, and was removed from the post on “technical grounds”.

Chaturvedi plans to donate the entire cash component of the award of about Rs 19 lakh. “I will give it all away to charity in AIIMS,” he said. From obstructing his inter-cadre transfer to denying him regular promotions, he has taken the government to the Central Administrative Tribunal in almost half a dozen cases and emerged vindicated and victorious.

Talking about how he has been treated, Chaturvedi said, “I have to say that in our country, corruption can never be eradicated by doing tamasha, nautanki and through hollow speeches.” “I had sincerely believed in the slogan of “na khaoonga, na khane doonga” — zero tolerance of corruption for the Hon’ble prime minister — and worked very passionately for it,” Chaturvedi said in an interview.

The awards, named after the third Philippine president, will be conferred at a ceremony in Manila on August 31.