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Manava Seva Dharma Samvardhani (MSDS) was established in 1999 as a registered public charitable trust that strives for the promotion of collective social consciousness. MSDS identifies and awards women social entrepreneurs who have committed themselves to providing care and shelter to the underprivileged in society. MSDS annually institutes the prestigious Sadguru Gnanananda National Awards for Women for Excellence in Social Work. Till date, 76 women and two ‘families in social work’ from all over India and have been felicitated in the four metros – Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The award consists of a cash prize of Rs 50,000, a citation, a silver plaque and a shawl.
The function of Sadguru Gnanananda National Awards –2007 for social work excellence is being held on February 10, 2007, at Narada Gana Sabha, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala will be the chief guest, Dr K C Chakrabarty, CMD, Indian Bank, P Haridas, secretary, MOP Vaishnav College, and Swami Nityanandagiri of Tapovanam, Tirukovilur, Tamil Nadu, will be the guests of
honour.
The women awardees to be felicitated are: Aneena Joseph, Corrections India, Kottayam, Bhanumathi Narasimhan, Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth, Bangalore, Gargi Banerji, Pragya, Gurgaon, M R Prashantha, Prerana Resource Centre, Bangalore, and Radha Mani, LEAD,
Srirangam.
A D S N Prasad and Chandra Prasad, Pathway, Chennai, Dr Suryaprakash & Dr S V Kameswari, Life-Health Reinforcement Group, Hyderabad, will receive awards under the ‘Families in Social Work’ category, and Suresh Kamath, managing director, Laser Soft Infosystems, Chennai, will receive an award under the category ‘ Socially Responsive Corporate’
Devarajan,
Founder-trustee,
MSDS
Details about the awardees
Aneena Joseph established Corrections India in Kerala and Aswasa Bhavan that works for the total rehabilitation and welfare of prisoners and their families. An NGO approved to do counselling among prisoners, they provide counselling and offer de-addiction treatment to prisoners. Aswasa Bhavan or the House of Solace, is a home for the children of prisoners which gives hope, love and joy to these children in order to break the cycle of crime in society.
Bhanumathi Narasimhan, trustee of the Sri Sri Ravishankar Trust, Bangalore, heads the Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth, a free rural school, which provides value education to over 2,500 children, largely comprising first generation learners. She also heads the Value Integrated Services To All (VISTA) project of the trust which has imparted skill training and education to around 2,000 women from the remotest villages of Karnataka.
Gargi Banerji launched Pragya to develop innovative solutions for problems such as depletion of medicinal plants, reducing water resources and lack of livelihood options in the five Himalayan states of Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttrancahal and Himachal Pradesh. Community plantations, kitchen gardens, herb ‘orphanages’ aimed at preserving critically endangered species, ethno-botanic centres, rural museums for preservation of local culture, solar energy systems, etc., leading to eco-conservation and snow harvesting are projects implemented by
Pragya.
M R Prashantha established Prerana Resource Centre, Bangalore, which provides employment opportunities and care to visually impaired and disabled girls of rural Karnataka. She has identified more than a 100 job opportunities for them and has successfully placed over 400 visually impaired and disabled girls in different factories and industries. They also provide free hostel facility to about 90 disabled and visually impaired women and also impart mobility training, vocational training, and on-the-job training.
Radha Mani established League for Education and Development (LEAD) which works for a gender-sensitive society through people’s own initiative and Sangamam, a women’s multipurpose thrift and credit cooperative society. These micro finance programmes and livelihood programmes address gender dimensions like control over assets, loans, marketing, income, etc., and poverty alleviation issues. LEAD also focuses on development programmes for the differently-abled and child rights campaigns.
Families in Social Work
Chandra and A D S N Prasad established Pathway Centres for Rehabilitation and Education of Mentally Retarded in Chennai which offers free and affordable services to children with mental retardation and related conditions. They offer a wide range of vocational training which provide employment to these children, making them self-reliant individuals. Pamela Martinez – Pathway Agro Farm at Agili village, and The Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled Adults at Koothavakkam village are two other facilities started by this enterprising couple.
Dr S V Kameswari and Dr Suryaprakash Vinjamuri established Life-Health Reinforcement Group, in Hyderabad, with a vision of developing a just society where people enjoy health as a right. This motivated doctor couple understands the current approaches in the health sector, identify effective methods, promote established treatment interventions, and create hope for the untreatable. Their projects, ‘Bringing in Life’ offers cost-effective, appropriate interventions for addressing the issue of infertility, and ‘The Open House’ focuses on sharing of information on food and its role in health promotion. They also have special programmes for the aged.
B Suresh Kamath established Laser Soft Infosystems Ltd, a Chennai-based banking software products company. A company with a rare vision to empower the disadvantaged, nearly two-thirds of its employees are challenged - either physically or economically. Kamath has also established LITE (Life Institute for Technical Education), an advanced technical institute which provides good quality technical education coupled with business domain knowledge for these special students and transforms them into IT professionals with high levels of knowledge and skills. Lasersoft - ‘the firm with a heart’ - has been successful in converting disability into ability.
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