ITANAGAR, Sep 3: The Lohit Youth Library Network has been conferred with the prestigious Mahaveer Award, instituted by the Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation (BMF - Chennai), in recognition of its huge role towards reading promotion.
Sathyanarayanan Mundayoor, Coordinator, Lohit Youth Library Network, received the award for education from Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra in a ceremony held at Pali in Rajasthan today, while the “amount” award was accepted by Dr Ngilang Taley, president, Reading Promotion Endowment Trust for Arunachal (RPETA), Delhi for creating a corpus for supporting reading promotion activities.
The Mahaveer Award, the ‘biggest’ award given by any NGO in the country, comprises a citation and a cash award of Rs 10 lakh.
On the occasion, the Rajasthan Governor also presented the 25th Mahaveer Awards to several other awardees for eminent social service rendered.
The awardees included People for Animals, Rajasthan (Non-violence and Vegetarianism), Vivekananda Mission Ashram, West Bengal (Medical care of blind), and Nagaland Gandhi Ashram (Community and Social Service).
Speaking on the occasion, Kalraj Mishra lauded the BMF for its foresight, social commitment and the spirit of charity for the welfare of the needy and the voiceless in our society. He also appealed to the people to inculcate the values and principles of Bhagwan Mahaveer in their personal lives.
Pramod Jain, Trustee (BMF), spoke on the unique contribution of the foundation since 1995 by conferring so far 84 awards to various individuals and organizations from 22 states and one union territory.
In his presidential address, D R Mehta, former Chairman SEBI paid warm compliments to the founder trustee of BMF Sugalchand Jain for his foresight, social philanthropy and industrious nature in setting up several charitable ventures.
Justice G S Singhvi, one of the jury members of the selection committee, lauded the Lohit Youth Library Movement for its contributions to promoting reading habits among the marginalized youth.
A three-minute film titled ‘Mission Possible: The Joy of Reading’ was also screened on the occasion.