Manjunath Shanmugam Trust

Manjunath Shanmugam is a name and face that not many from the batches of MBAs that passed through IIM Lucknow during 2002-2004 were going to forget. Then he went and made sure that not just these MBAs but the entire country would remember him forever.

The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust (MST) commemorates the First Death Anniversary of Manjunath Shanmugam on Sunday, November 19th, 2006. The trust will mark the day by launching two initiatives as detailed below. We request your support to create widespread public awareness. 

A. Right To Information (RTI) Act National Helpline
The RTI is probably the most significant legislation enacted since independence, allowing citizens to demand information from almost all Government departments/agencies on a wide spectrum of issues, thus promoting accountability. The MST is setting up a national RTI helpline in association with noted NGO Parivartan (www.parivartan.com), whose founder and IIT-Kgp alumnus Mr. Arvind Kejriwal won this year’s Magsasay award (emerging leader category). The vision of this helpline is to disseminate information about the RTI Act across India.It is hoped that this would be a continuation of the progressive step taken by the Government in enacting the RTI Act last year. The helpline will be serviced by a professionally trained call center team. The RTI helpline will initially operate in English, Hindi and Tamil.
Inaugural Call: Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys will make the inaugural call. Ms.Kiran Bedi will call in with a message of support.

B. The Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award
The Trust announces the Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award to honour and encourage person/s or institutions who are working to uphold the values of truth and honesty in Indian corporate, government or public life. We will start accepting nominations from 19th November. The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs. One Lakh. 

More about Manju..

Manjunath was an upright and honest man – an idealist to a fault, and passionate about values, and about making a difference to Society. It was this passion, this standing up for what he believed was right, that cost him his life.

November 19, 2005 – the fateful night…

On November 19, 2005, Manju was shot and killed in Lakhimpur Khiri in Uttar Pradesh, by a dealer of Indian Oil Corporation - the company he worked for. His only “fault” was that he did his duty: he would not accept bribes for turning a blind eye to the adulteration of fuel being carried out by the dealer.

The heinous crime brought out an intense reaction from the people of India. Everyone, including the Media, Indian Oil Corporation, the Minister of Petroleum - Mani Shankar Iyer, the President of India - Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, expressed their shock and anger, and condemned the killing.

The murder not only highlighted the corrupt and mafia ridden distribution of petroleum products in the country, it punctured the false cocoon of security of Manju’s friends, and other conscientious citizens of the country who - perhaps blanketed by the comfort of their urban lifestyles, had become impervious to the decay and malaise prevailing in India.

The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust

This trust is the result of a strong desire now to make a difference… to not allow the life and the death of Manjunath go in vain. The most immediate objective of the Trust is to ensure that justice is done in Manju’s murder case. The murderers must not go free.

The Trust also aims to focus like-minded people and resources to promote better governance in Indian public life.

This is a call for everyone who wants to make a difference in this case to join hands and contribute to the cause of ensuring Manju’s death is not in vain.