A short film shot on a mobile phone by Sourabh Acharya of Manipal and Kartik Shetty of Shirva bagged the first prize of Rs. 1 lakh in the film-making competition organised by the Rajiv Gandhi National Academy of Political Education (RGNA) here on Friday. Their short film was titled “Rozgaar.”
RGNA had organised a three-minute mobile phone film-making competition. The topics given were: Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Gurantee Act -MNREGA 2005, Right to Information (RTI) 2005, Right to Education Act 2009, and the National Food Security Bill 2011. The competitors had to do a film on any one of these three topics.
The other four winners were: Rosalia Preetisha Cardoza whose film was titled “Ask information get justice” (second place – Rs. 50,000); Vibha, whose film was titled “Right to write” (third place – Rs. 25,000); Manjunath H.S., film titled “Kanasu” (fourth place – Rs. 15,000); and Darshini M.G., film titled “Work is worship” (fifth place – Rs. 10,000).
Giving away the prizes at the academy here, Oscar Fernandes, Rajya Sabha member and general secretary of the All India Congress Committee, said that the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, had not only brought in technological revolution in the country by popularising computerisation and telecommunications, but also had given a lot of importance to the Gram Panchayats.
“It was Rajiv Gandhi who passed the legislation strengthening the Panchayat Raj institutions. This led to decentralisation and devolution of powers to the rural local bodies,” Mr. Frernandes said.
Mr. Gandhi wanted the Gram Panchayats to decide on what kind of developmental works they wanted in their villages. He did not want the developmental works of Gram Panchayats to be decided in either New Delhi or the State capitals, he added.
Mr. Gandhi believed that youth power could change the face of the country for the better. Hence, he brought in an amendment reducing the voting age from 21 to 18. This gave the youth a chance to participate in the political process of the country, Mr. Fernandes said.
Pratapchandra Shetty, MLC, Ashok Kodavoor, M.A. Gafoor, Naveenchandra Shetty, Sudhakar Kotian, Aruna Kumari, and Satish Amin, Congress leaders, were present on the occasion.
