Human Rights and Crusade Against Corruption
Dr Pradhan has been a relentless crusader for bringing transparency in public institutions. By the innovative use of the Right to Information he has exposed gross irregularities in public affairs. In 2009, he made a petition to the Central Information Commission of India to bring about transparency in the Performance Appraisal System in RBI. Pradhan was the first person in RBI and the second public sector employee overall in India to obtain his PAR report through RTI Act. As against CIC's view that PAR was "confidential personal information", Pradhan famously contended that PAR is the appraisal committee's impersonal evaluation of the public service rendered by public servants in their impersonal capacity in a public organisation; and hence there is nothing personal about PAR. Pradhan still fights for full public disclosure of PAR marks. However, following his petition, Reserve Bank of India was forced to disclose the PAR reports to all employees. In the words of Smt Usha Thorat, the ex-Deputy Governor of RBI, Pradhan makes "ingenious use of the RTI Act" to redress individual grievances. He has also used the RTI Act to expose massive irregularities in the Indian Railways, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Air India and urban development authorities in Indian cities. Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan's polemic against the Drug Mafia and his advocacy of "socially productive and peaceful" use of banned substances was a major thought process behind the 2008 UK Sequel of the classic US movie Hemp for Victory.
Read more about this topic: Tapan Kumar Pradhan
Famous quotes containing the words human, rights, crusade and/or corruption:
“Friendship is nothing else than an accord in all things, human and divine, conjoined with mutual goodwill and affection, and I am inclined to think that, with the exception of wisdom, no better thing has been given to man by the immortal gods”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“Quite often ... these little guys, who might be making atomic weapons or who might be guilty of some human rights violation ... are looking for someone to listen to their problems and help them communicate.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the spectre of Communism.”
—A.J.P. (Alan John Percivale)
“Among the best traitors Ireland has ever had, Mother Church ranks at the very top, a massive obstacle in the path to equality and freedom. She has been a force for conservatism, not on the basis of preserving Catholic doctrine or preventing the corruption of her children, but simply to ward off threats to her own security and influence.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)