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Aram award
 The Tamil Nadu Governor P S Ramamohan Rao presented the Aram award of the Shriram Ilakkiya Kazhagam to Dr G Venkataswamy for his steps to serve society and develop the Tamil language. He also received a prize of Rs 1 lakh at the function held at the Narada Gana Sabha on January 22.
The Governor presided over the function and lighted the traditional lamp. He said, “Thirukkural represents a code of conduct which contains plenty of moral values for society to follow.” Venkataswamy dedicated himself totally to the society mainly to the disabled. There are not many in the country who could be compared to Venkataswamy in social service to the society. It was a matter of pride that Aravind hospital of Ventakaswamy was a subject of a case study by an American group. The hospital has contributed a lot the poor and disabled, providing 80 per cent of patients free treatment while the remaining 20 per cent are charged at normal rates. The Governor appreciated the efforts of the Shriram company to identify such persons and to encourage them in their efforts at social service.
He also distributed prizes and awards to students who had won the State-level Tirukkural recitation competition.
R Kannan, Executive director, of Shriram group, R. Thyagarajan, Chairman of the Shriram Group and Dr. Avvai Natarajan, Head, Advisory Panel participated in the function.
Replying to the felicitation, Dr. Venkataswamy said, “India has given birth to number of intellectuals. But it is suprising why India is still backward.? The Shriram group is taking steps to develop the Tamil language and also organising a lot of social service movements." This had to be appreciated, he added.
S. Magesh (Bishop Hooper college, Trichy) won the award at college level, A. Naiyanar Muhammad (Ammapet, Thanjavaur), at Senior school level, and C Saitha (Athoor, Salem), junior school level.
The Shriram lIakkiya Kazhagam, a part of Rs. 5,000-crore Shriram Group, India's premier non-banking financial company, has been conducting a Thirukkural festival successfully over the last years. The Shriram group has segregated the festival into two parts. It conducts a mega state-level. Thirukkural competition for School & College students throughout Tamil Nadu and gives an Aram award to a deserving septuagenarian who lives by the tenets of the Thirukkural.
Thirukkural Competition
Over 1,461 students from 675 colleges & schools participated in the preliminary rounds held at eight centres, Chennai, Vellore, Pondy, Trichy, Madurai, Thirunelveli, Coimbatore & Salem. 195 of them made it to the semi-final and 48 of them were handpicked to participate in the grand final at the Ramakrishna Mission Higher Secondary School (opp. Panagal Park) on January 22, 2004.
Aram Award
As part of this festival being corducted over the years, Shriram awarded a Porkizhi to a deserving septuagenarian. This year it was decided to honour a septuagenarian who lives by the teachings and tenets of Thiruvalluvar's Thirukkural.
A 5-member advisory panel of scholars had been formed by Shriram Ilakkiya Kazhagam to pinpoint the apt person for the award. Or. Avvai Nataraasan, Former VC, Tanjore Tamil University headed the panel. The other members included G. Rangarao, lAB (Retd.), A. M. Swaminathan, Dr. T. Raasagopalan and Dr. Sudha Seshaiyan. From over 260 applicants, the name of
Padmashree Dr. G. Venkataswamy, Founder, Arvind Eye Hospital, Madurai, was selected.
BRIEF ON ARAM AWARD RECIPIENT
Born in Vadamalaipuram, a small village in Southern Tamilnadu in a humble peasant family,
86-year- old octogenarian Dr. G. Venkataswamy is the classic rags-to-greatness story. Says Alfred Sommer, Dean, B:oomberg School of Public Health at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA: "Not only has Aravind... made an enormous difference withir Tamilnadu, but (has) set the standard for the delivery of high quality, practical and cost-effective eye care for all of India and indeed for all of the world".
If his business model is a roaring success - and a model widely studied, including by the Harvard Business School - it's because Venkataswamy, at 86, the grand old man of eye care, never set out to create a profitable enterprise.
He completed his B. Sc. in Chemistry at Madurai American College and his Medicine at Stanley Medical College, Chennai. To satiate his need to serve the country above all else, he joined the Indian Army as a doctor. However, 4 years after his service to the nation, he was afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis and had to return. His dogged determination propelled him to rigorously prepare for surgeries and finally landed him at the Tamilnadu Government Eye Hospital as a specialist in cataract surgery who would go on to conduct more than one lakh successful operations.
In 1956. he joined Erskin Hospital, Madurai (currently Rajaji Hospital). The plight of mothers who bring their children with eye anomalies moved him. He realized that these disorders that accounted because of malnutrition could be cured.
Hence, after he retired from Government duty he started the Govel Trust to address these issues and opened the Arvind Eye Hospital through this trust. Today, the Hospital has assets worth over Rs 175 crore with 3,650 beds. Truly a testimony to his philanthropic mindset. He is a recipient of the Indian Government's B. C. Roy award. He has also received more than thirty awards including the Padmashree. He has also written books on eye disorders, pregnancy and sugar complaints.
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