College Station, Texas, October 26, 2006 –Arvind Kejriwal, winner of 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for emerging leadership, emphasized the critical role of information in fighting corruption in developing countries, such as, India in his presentation to Texas A&M on October 24.

Under the Delhi Right to Information (RIT) Act of 2001, every citizen possesses the right to inspect government documents. Kejriwal founded the organization Parivartan to help the citizens of India understand these rights to overcome governmental bureaucracy, slowness, and arbitrary enforcement of citizen services.

“The only way to overcome corruption is for people to use their rights under the Right to Information Act,” said Kejriwal.

The talk was attended by students, faculty and staff members from Texas A&M University. Dr. Narasimha Reddy, Chairman of Friends of India Network (FIN) and a professor at Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, said there is a strong momentum among the students after the discussion they had with Mr. Kejriwal.

“They are very impressed with his devoted work and some of them already expressed interest to support his volunteer organization Parivartan,” Reddy said.

Dr. Randy Kluver, Director of Institute for Pacific Asia said he was honored to help sponsor a speaker of such caliber to present a side of Asia that they might otherwise not be aware of.

“We will continue to help engage our students as well as faculty in meaningful interaction with our counterparts in the Asian Pacific region,” Kluver said.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award, often referred to as the “Asian Nobel,” was established in 1957 to commemorate late president of the Philippines and to perpetuate his example.

The event was sponsored by the Association for India’s Development, the Institute for Pacific Asia (IPA) at Texas A&M University, and the India Association.

http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/News/details.asp#Item14