Celebrating sunshine in a dimly lit world

On Human Rights day, every person is reminded of the basic rights, everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being irrespective of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. This year, Vartika Nanda, prison reformer, organised the Tinka Tinka India Awards- 2020 on Human Rights Day, awards aimed at the contribution of jail inmates and staff.

On Human Rights day, every person is reminded of the basic rights, everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being irrespective of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. This year, Vartika Nanda organised the Tinka Tinka India Awards- 2020 on Human Rights Day, awards aimed at the contribution of jail inmates and staff. She says, “Due to the pandemic, everything was virtual. This is the first time that inmates joined live and shared their thoughts in the presence of senior jail officials.”

This year, the theme was the one thing that has hijacked imaginations all over the world, ‘Corona in Jail.’ Vartika says, “ There were 3 categories this year, namely Painting, Special Mention and Prison Administration. 7 inmates received awards in the Painting category while 6 were chosen for their special contribution to prison life. Prison staff was awarded too.”

40-year-old Amitabh Bachchan incarcerated in District Jail, Firozabad was chosen for his extraordinary work as a Health Warrior. He has been sanitizing the jail since the onset of Covid-19. And on the other hand, 53-year-old Ajay Chauhan from District Jail Mainpuri was chosen for his extraordinary work in Prison Jail radio, helping inmates fight depression during the pandemic. Ashok Kumar, logged in Model Jail, Chandigarh made the maximum number of masks during Covid-19. Vartika says,”Their hard work and efforts need to be respected and brought to light and these inmates received a special mention through the Tinka Tinka awards.”

The award was dedicated to Late Raj Kumar Tripathi who lost his life while doing his duty as Deputy Superintendent in District Jail, Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. Aniraj Tripathi, his son, says, “Tinka Tinka is a novel initiative to value the sacrifice of prison staff, an area which is usually ignored. My dad is a corona warrior in the real sense. In such professions, interaction with the public is more and that is when he contracted the virus.”

In a time like this, when the world needs to come together, more than ever before, this initiative brings together the wholesome efforts carried out for the sake of humanity and is a tribute to inmates and the jail staff.