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Felicitating Padma Bhushan Dr. N. Mahalingam
Bangalore, June 6: Dr. N. Mahalingam, a social servant of South India, made strong plea to the central government to implement long-standing projects related to interlinking of southern rivers to enable irrigation, generation of hydro-electricity and creating water ways in southern parts of the country.
"We
have
enough
rivers
and
tears
as
the
major
portion
of
river
water
is
reluctantly
flowing
into
the
seas.
Collectively
all
of
us
have
miserably
failed
in
making
use
of
abundant
water
resources,
which
in
turn
has
led
to
slow
pace
of
growth.
Inter
connecting
of
rivers,
a
dream
initiated
by
the
then
Prime
Minister
A.B.
Vajpayee
at
a
cost
of
5.75
lakh
crores
has
only
remained
a
dream.
UPA
government
in
all
its
three
budgets
has
not
allocated
funds
to
step-up
the
projects
as
it
was
assured
in
the
manifesto,"
he
lamented.
He urged Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to allocate Rs 2,00,000 crore to kick-start the process of connecting rivers in South India. Dr. NM believes that inter connecting river Brahmaputra, Ganga, Yamuna, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Vadepennai, Palar and Cauvery is one and the only solution to alleviate water crisis and power shortagein most parts of Indian Territory.
Dr. NM a recipient of Padma Bhushan Award (2007) was speaking after accepting felicitations from his friends and admirers in Bangalore on Tuesday evening. The felicitation was organized by the Gounder Community of Karnataka and SISMA, (South India Sugar Manufacturers Association) Karnataka chapter.
Dr NM, as he is popularly known, is a Gandhian in word and spirit. A visionary by himself, he is a darling among the doyans of social upliftment in the State of Tamil Nadu. He is a successful industrialist and a philanthropist too. Hailing from a traditionally agricultural background, Dr.NM nurtured his family business and transformed the same into a mighty modern enterprise. He is the Chairman of Sakthi Group of Companies.
Amid his remarkable achievements, Dr. NM (84) remains a man with keen spiritual motivations that underline all his activities. He excelled and gained prominence as an industrialist, a political and social activist, an educationalist and a philanthropist. He is also credited with scholarly publications on religion, philosophy and literature.
He has been in the forefront of many social reforms in Tamil Nadu. He was responsible and instrumental for the implementation of Paramabikulam-Aliyaaru Irrigation project. He was also involved in the establishment of Institute of Asian Studies at Madras in 1981.
Several Universities in the State of Tamil Nadu have conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Science. He has been conferred the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award.
But, what do these awards means to him? "I have been a Gandhian all my life and as such, I have never expected anything in return for whatever I have done," says Dr. Mahalingam.
The Banquet Hall of the hotel Taj Residency on M.G. Road, Bangalore, reverbrated with recitals and citations to Dr. NM on Tuesday evening. Governor of Karnataka, His Excellency T.N. Chaturvedi said, "Mahalingam is a proud son of India and pride of the Nation. He was born with richness of human sympathy. He was instrumental in translating and publishing books on South Indian Shaiva Philosophy in Hindi."
M.V. Rajashekharan, Minister of State for Planning, M. Rajashekhar Murthy, M.P, His Holiness Shri Balagangadharanatha Swamiji of Adichuncahanagiri Mutt, Scholar Matturu Krishna Murthy, Padma Bhushana Prof. N.S. Ramaswamy, Dr. S.V. Balasubramanyam, Dr. P.J. Bagiltaya, Aranga Dorairaj and a close associate of Dr NM, V. Venkata Reddy provided glimpses of remarkable achievements of the octogenarian decorated with Padma Bhushan Award.
OneIndia News
