The spending of legislators on their travels and the voices of a community following police action – these were the themes of two compelling stories that won the Ramnath Goenka Prize in Government and Politics.
The Wire’s Dheeraj Mishra is the winner of the Politics and Government category in Digital Media while The Wire’s Seema Pasha. Broadcast media is the winner.
Using the Right to Information Act to gain information, Mishra disclosed the expenses incurred during study visits of several members of parliamentary committees and bureaucrats to hotels, food and travel.
The report showed that despite MPs flagging higher expenses and guidelines in the CAG report that they should stay in government guest houses or hotels, members stayed in exorbitantly priced hotels and spent heavily on food and travel.
“I didn’t know where to start because there were thousands of files. I went through them but the information was insufficient. I then filed 30 to 35 RTIs in each ministry, visited each of their file rooms and collected data,” says Mishra.
The story had a noticeable impact as the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued directions to expeditiously cut expenditure on logistics by all parliamentary committees, including travel and accommodation on their study tours.
Pasha’s 30-minute-long documentary provided a glimpse into life inside Jamia Nagar after the police crackdown on Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) students in December 2019.
It caught the voices of thousands of students and staff from neighborhood and minority community homes and highlighted their concerns. Locals claimed that they have always been viewed with suspicion, not only by the police but also by residents of more affluent neighborhoods. Teachers said they were concerned about the future of innocent children, youth asked if they would be labeled as “terrorists” as they studied in Jamia Nagar and lived in Jamia Nagar, while senior citizens protested against segregation and Shared stories of discrimination. The documentary highlighted the lack of civic amenities and poor infrastructure in the area.
“Getting the residents of Jamia Nagar to speak openly on camera was not an easy task. Not only were they afraid of being punished for openly criticizing the state, but they were also suspicious of journalists after being misrepresented and criminalized by several TV news channels. I had to assure them that their statements would not be taken out of context and their concerns would be properly represented,” Pasha said.
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