Unique Right to Information film contest at IITB
Winning entries will be screened during Avenues 2007 on Sunday
MIHIKA BASU
OCTOBER 25
I N times when Right to Information (RTI) is increasingly being used as a tool to enforce more accountability and transparency in the working of every public authority, a first-ofits-kind film contest on RTI in the country was held at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB).
The contest is part of Avenues 2007, a two-day annual international business festival organised by Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM) at IITB from October 27-28. “The main idea is disclosure of information through the creative medium. Also, we strongly feel that RTI needs support from all quarters and this contest will help create more awareness on the subject,” said Shishir K Jha, project lead of Creative Commons (CC)-India, which has conceptualised the event.
The Creative Commons-India chapter was launched in January 2007 at IITB and is an alternative and a more flexible approach to copyrighting. It primarily favours “some rights reserved” rather than the traditional copyright “all rights reserved” approach.
“The CC movement and the RTI campaign commonly believe that information made available either through disclosure or through liberal copyright licensing is a great public asset. Such ease of access can play a decisive role in creating more transparency, accountability and hopefully more citizen participation in daily governance,” explained Jha.
Subsequently, titled Chitra Katha, the contest was based on the theme “better governance through RTI”. “There were 50 registrations and 20 final entries wherein contestants were asked to make a short film of upto five minutes in Hindi or English on preferably a true dramatisation of the given topic,” said Jha.
While the films were judged on their overall content and narrative, technical aspects were also not overlooked. The winners were declared on Thursday and the first and second positions were bagged by “Road to Chandrapura” and
“Public Distribution System”, both by Priyanka Tyagi, who is a member of a Delhi-based NGO,
“Kabir-A Communication Initiative on RTI”.
“The film on Chandrapura depicts how this village, which was completely cut-off from civilisation, is now on the road of development primarily through the application of RTI by the residents there,” said Tyagi.
distribution systemon based on an The second film the public is elderly couple in Rajasthan and a woman residing in a Delhi reset tlement colony and narrates how both brought to book the errant ration mafia in their respective areas via RTI. “Through my films and the success stories narrated in them, I have tried to depict how rural India has started using RTI and how it’s helping to curb the ration mafia,” said Tyagi.
The third prize has been jointly won by “Jaano to Pe hchchano” by Lalit B Chhajed and “Contraption” by K Suraj and A Athmanathan. Chitra Katha will conclude with the screening of the winning entries and prize distribution during Avenues on Sunday.