Pune's based Dr Karve gets Jamnalal Bajaj award

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Mumbai, Oct 16 (UNI) Pune-based Dr Anand Dinkar Karve has been chosen as the recipient of the Jamnalal Bajaj award for application of science and technology for rural development while peace scholar and activist Prof Michael Nagler will get the International award for promoting Gandhian values outside India.

95-year-old, Ashoka Gupta from Kolkata will be honoured for her work for the upliftment and welfare of women and children. Mr Yashpal Mehngaramji Mittal from Pathankot (Punjab) will be awarded for his contribution in the field of constructive work.

Each of the awards consist of a citation, a trophy and a cash prize of Rs five lakh. The awards will be presented on November 14.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living Foundation, Bangalore, will be the chief guest and will give away the awards.

Addressing a press conference here, the Foundation Trustee Madhur Bajaj said that for the first time, three East European nations previously under communist regimes (Romania, Czech Republic and Poland) had sent their nominations for the International award.

There were 13 persons nominated for the International award. Two nominations were from United States.

''This goes to show that Gandhian thoughts and values have been accepted all over the world,'' he added.

Mr Bajaj said that the Foundation judged the nominations on whether the nominees were low profile and had been dedicated to their chosen field without any financial aid and publicity.

75-year-old, Mr Mittal was a close associate of Vinoba Bhave and Jayprakash Narayan. His main activity revolves around reaching out to people and public education especially developing virtues in social workers. His emphasis is on promoting Khadi Gramoudyog and adopting swadeshi. Institutions connected with constructive work have been set up by him in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. He runs the Sarvodaya Ashram in Pathankot.

Dr Karve has devised standardised cloning techniques for about 50 plant species yielding medicinal and non-timber forest products, a novel method of growing root drugs, a technology for making bamboo non-biodegradable and using the same for constructing outdoor structures, a technique for using saline water for irrigation and use of domestic sewage for raising trees.

Major part of Dr Karve's work has been in the field of agriculture and this includes research in plant breeding, agronomy, pest control, crop physiology, water management, seed technology, plant tissue culture, green house technology and post harvest technology.

Mrs Gupta was instrumental in setting up one of the homes of Save the Children Committee at Bankura under the auspices of All India Women's conference led by Mrs Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit in 1943-44.

In the post partition days, she shouldered the responsibility of co-ordinating the efforts of various voluntary organisations working in the state for refugee rehabilitation. She is the President of the SOS Children's Village, Kolkata which aims at bonding shelterless children under one roof.

Prof Nagler, teaching peace and conflict studies, has been involved in the peace movement for the last 15 years and his concern all along has been that the principled non-violence, as practised by Gandhiji, should be adopted in both constructive programmes suited to American conditions and in non-violent resistance to injustice and oppression.

He is the founder of Metta Centre for non-violence education and educators for non-violence, with the Dalai Lama Foundation and is now its president. He has been the moving spirit behind the 'Shanti Sena' project (now called the non-violent peace force) of which the first pilot project is at present being tried in Sri Lanka.

UNI

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