Date:18/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/18/stories/2007091858840200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Online essay contest prizes distributed

Staff Reporter

It was organised to raise awareness of corruption among the youth

— Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

On top: Former Central Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal gives the first prize in the online essay contest to R. Indushree of Elite School of Optometry in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI: The prizes for an online essay contest on good governance were distributed at a function here on Monday.

The competition, organised as part of the 60th Independence Day celebrations, was intended to raise awareness among young people of corruption.

The convenor of the event, G. Suresh, is a vigilance officer with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). He had launched a website www.siv-g.org, through which entries were invited. Of 123 entries, 27 had qualified for the contest, he said.

Former Central Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal said the entries were ‘vibrant evidence of young India rooted in tradition.’

Former bureaucrat B.S. Raghavan said good governance was necessary within family and corporate structures as well. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Chairman V.R. Lakshmi Narayanan said all the prize-winning essays discussed a common theme — corruption and development cannot co-exist.

Mylapore Academy chairperson Sarojini Varadappan delivered the welcome address. R. Indushree of Elite School of Optometry won the first prize in the college category, writing on ‘Can good governance contribute to national development?’.

Arvindan Chandran of DAV Boys Senior Secondary School won in the school category, writing on ‘What does good governance mean to me?’