<p>“The RTI activists like Amit Jethva and Satish Shetty are martyrs. I salute them,” Moily said while inaugurating a two-day conference on RTI orgainsed by the Central Information Commission.<br /><br />Social activist Satish Shetty, who had blown the whistle on a series of land scams in and around Talegaon, Lonavala and Pimpri-Chinchwad near Pune, was brutally murdered near his residence in January.<br /><br />Amit Jethva was killed near the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad in July after he raised his voice against illegal mining in the Gir forests area.<br /><br />“These RTI activists have contributed a lot to the country,” Moily said adding that an act to protect whistleblowers will be tabled during the winter session of parliament. <br />Under a bill cleared by the cabinet last month, the onus of protecting the identity of whistleblowers will be on the Central Information Commission. <br /><br />“The confidentiality of the whistleblowers should be maintained,” Moily said.<br />The government had passed a resolution in 2004 on protecting whistleblowers. The bill on this has been formulated following a number of murders of RTI activists and whistleblowers, starting with Satyendra Dubey, who was murdered in 2003 after he raised his voice against corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral road project.<br /><br />Moily also said the RTI Act was being misused by some people but added that it had made an impact in the short period of five years since its enactment. <br />“RTI has made India proud,” he said.</p>
<p>“The RTI activists like Amit Jethva and Satish Shetty are martyrs. I salute them,” Moily said while inaugurating a two-day conference on RTI orgainsed by the Central Information Commission.<br /><br />Social activist Satish Shetty, who had blown the whistle on a series of land scams in and around Talegaon, Lonavala and Pimpri-Chinchwad near Pune, was brutally murdered near his residence in January.<br /><br />Amit Jethva was killed near the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad in July after he raised his voice against illegal mining in the Gir forests area.<br /><br />“These RTI activists have contributed a lot to the country,” Moily said adding that an act to protect whistleblowers will be tabled during the winter session of parliament. <br />Under a bill cleared by the cabinet last month, the onus of protecting the identity of whistleblowers will be on the Central Information Commission. <br /><br />“The confidentiality of the whistleblowers should be maintained,” Moily said.<br />The government had passed a resolution in 2004 on protecting whistleblowers. The bill on this has been formulated following a number of murders of RTI activists and whistleblowers, starting with Satyendra Dubey, who was murdered in 2003 after he raised his voice against corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral road project.<br /><br />Moily also said the RTI Act was being misused by some people but added that it had made an impact in the short period of five years since its enactment. <br />“RTI has made India proud,” he said.</p>