The Young Chronicle: For Grade 3 February 14th, 2015 | Page 2

YOUNG CHRONICLE

THE YOUNG CHRONICLE
Right to Information (RTI) Act, which allowed the citizens to

The Chief Minister of Delhi- Arvind Kejriwal

access government records for a small fee. Parivartan used
RTI to help people get their work done in government
departments without paying a bribe. They also exposed
corruption in projects in 2002.

In November 2000, Kejriwal was granted 2 years of paid leave
to pursue higher education. He rejoined in November 2002,
but didnʼt get any posting for about a year, so after 18 months,
he applied for unpaid leave for 18 months. In February 2006,
Kejriwal resigned from his position as a Joint Commissioner of
Income tax. That year, he joined Anna Hazare to campaign for
the Right to Information Act.

In 2010, Kejriwal protested against corruption in the
Commonwealth Games. He advocated the appointment of an
Rons and Pranks had heard of the sweeping victory made by

objective person who would make public, the wrong

Arvind Kejriwalʼs Aam Aadmi Party, in Delhi. But they didnʼt know

happenings in the central government and the states. Such a

Arvind Kejriwalʼs background. So they decided to look for

person is called the Ombudsman or the Whistle Blower. In

information on him and hereʼs what they found.

2011, Kejriwal joined several other activists, including Anna
Hazare and Kiran Bedi, to form the India Against
Corruption (IAC) group. The IAC demanded enactment of

Arvind Kejriwal was born on 16th August 1968 in Haryana. His

the Jan Lokpal Bill, which would result in a strong ombudsman

parents are Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. His father was an

or whistleblower. The campaign evolved into the 2011 Indian

electrical engineer; and he himself is a mechanical engineer from

anti-corruption movement. In response to the campaign, the

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Before starting AAP,

government's advisory body - the National Advisory Council -

Kejriwal was an IRS officer who left the civil services as an

drafted a Lokpal Bill. However, the NAC's Bill was criticised by

Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax.

Kejriwal and other activists on the grounds that it did not have
enough powers to take action against the prime minister, other
corrupt office holders and the judiciary.

Kejriwal found that there was a lot of corruption in the Income Tax
Department. So he started a movement named Parivartan, with
Manish Sisodia (the deputy CM now) and few others, while still in

Kejriwal then decided to form the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and

service. A month later, he took leave from work, to focus on

fight the Delhi elections in December 201. He formed the

Parivartan. Parivartan addressed citizensʼ problems related to

government with the congress and stayed in power for 49

Public Distribution System, Public Works, Social Welfare Schemes,

days, after which he resigned because of the congress's

Income Tax and Electricity. Parivartan wasnʼt a registered NGO…

inability to pass his proposed anti-corruption legislation due to

it ran on individual donations.

a lack of support from other political parties. AAP then
decided to stand for the national elections but didnʼt win many
seats. They however had a landslide victory last week, and is

Later, Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia launched Kabir, a registered

poised to become the Chief Minister of Delhi for a second

NGO named after the medieval philosopher Kabir. Like Parivartan,

term.

Kabir was also focused on Right to Information and participatory
governance. However, unlike Parivartan, it accepted institutional
donations. According to Kejriwal, Kabir was mainly run by Manish
Sisodia.

One of the major achievements of Kejriwal were, enacting the

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