Sanjiv Chaturvedi, Anshu Gupta win Ramon Magsaysay award

Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia's highest honour

Whistle-blower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who initiated a probe into alleged scams at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here before being booted out as its chief vigilance officer, and founder of non-government organisation Goonj, Anshu Gupta, were on Thursday chosen for the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2015.

Chaturvedi, 40, an Indian Forest Service officer and currently a deputy secretary at AIIMS, has been selected for the award under the emergent leadership category for his "exemplary integrity, courage, and tenacity in uncompromisingly and painstakingly exposing corruption in public office".

Gupta, who left his corporate job to start Goonj in 1999, has been selected for the award for his vision in transforming the "culture of giving" in India and in reminding the world that true giving always respects and preserves human dignity. Goonj collects used clothes and household goods and distributes these to the needy.

Chaturvedi said the recognition was a "strong morale booster" for honest officers and added he was able to "survive" only because of an "independent judiciary".

Chaturvedi said he was hugely disappointed with the prime minister's office (PMO) and had taken action in a number of graft cases allegedly involving "powerful" people, getting inspiration from the prime minister's slogans such as na khaunga, na khaane doonga (neither will I accept bribes, nor allow anyone to). "There should be zero tolerance to corruption, not against honest officers. I am hugely disappointed with the functioning of the PMO as I worked with a policy of zero-tolerance as espoused by the prime minister. I took this message to heart and took considerable personal risks to break corruption in AIIMS," he said.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, also a Magsaysay award winner, has sought the deputation of Chaturvedi to his personal office.

Chaturvedi recently won a legal battle against the prime minister-headed appointments committee of Cabinet on the change of his cadre from Haryana to Uttarakhand. He got a favourable order from the central administrative tribunal.

Chaturvedi has also been made party to a case filed against Union health minister J P Nadda in his personal capacity, the health ministry and others, on alleged attempts by the central government to scuttle probes into scams at AIIMS.

He also recently got a due promotion from the BJP government in his state Haryana  after he had filed a petition it had been wrongly denied to him.

Chaturvedi, transferred 12 times in the past five years, had taken on land sharks during his stint in the Haryana government.

He said though he had sent "documentary evidences" to the PMO on the alleged irregularities in AIIMS, nothing was done and the harassment against him "worsened".

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation also credited Chaturvedi with "resolute crafting of programme and system improvements to ensure the government honourably serves the people of India."