Ashoka Fellow & Anti-Corruption Activist Arvind Kejriwal has been Elected as Chief Minister of Delhi

Teyfik Sahin in a classroom
Source: Gefangene helfen Jugendlichen

Previously a Mechanical Engineer, Ashoka Fellow Arvind Kejriwal was elected as a Fellow due to his work which used a 2001 law called the Right to Information Act (RTIA) to bring political power back to the people of India. The law began in Delhi, and has since spread to more than eight other states, opening opportunities for citizens to hold their governments accountable to high standards of transparency and integrity. Through his organization Parivartan, Arvind raised awareness of the Act and trained citizen groups to use the law to check corruption. He leveraged a growing volume of success stories to demonstrate that direct engagement in local government can make a real difference in people’s lives. Since his election as an Ashoka Fellow in 2004, Arvind has collaborated closely with fellow anti-corruption activists to bring awareness to citizens across India.

In February 2015, Arvind led the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) party to a historic win in the Delhi Assembly Elections. AAP won 65 seats in the Delhi polls and Arvind is serving his second term as Chief Minister of Delhi. Arvind is currently inactive in the Ashoka Fellowship due to his political involvement. His changemaking skills against anti-corruption are serving him well in the public sector and we congratulate him. He is the second Ashoka fellow from India to gain prominence in recent months, Kailash Sathyarthi won the Nobel Peace Prize in the fall of 2014.