Jamnalal Bajaj Awards – 2018:
- Background: Jamnalal Bajaj Award was established in 1978 by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation to propagate the ideals of Jamnalal Bajaj.
- Categories: The Awards are categorized into three National and one International Award.
- Constructive Workfollowing Gandhian principles in India
- Application of Science and Technology for Rural Development
- Welfare of Women and Children
- International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India (presented to an individual holding a foreign passport and nationality)
- Ceremony: These are given away each year on his birth anniversary. Each award carries a Citation, a Trophy and a Cash Prize of Rs. 10,00,000.
- 2018 recipients:
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Category
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Recipient
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Constructive Work
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Dhoom Singh Negi
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Application of Science and Technology for Rural Development
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Rupal Desai and Rajendra Desai
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Development and Welfare of Women and Children
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Prasanna Bhandari
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Promoting Gandhian values outside India
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Clayborne Carson
(from Stanford University)
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Jamnalal Bajaj:
- Jamnalal Bajaj (1889–1942) was an Indian industrialist, social reformer, philanthropist, and Indian independence fighter.
- Industrialist: He founded the Bajaj Group of companies in 1926.
- Freedom fighter:
- He was also a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the president of Gandhi Seva Sangha, a group of workers who dedicated their time to constructive work.
- He gave up the title of Rai Bahadur conferred on him by the British government and joined the non-co-operation movement in 1921.
- In 1933 he was elected a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and as the treasurer of
- Social initiatives
- Charity: Jamanalal dedicated much of his wealth to the poor, in line with the trusteeship concept proposed by Gandhi.
- Removal of untouchability: He opened his own family temple, the Laxmi Narayan Mandir, in Wardha, for the Harijans in 1928. He began a campaign by eating a meal with Harijans and opening public wells to them.
- Rural development: He was interested in the promotion of Khadi and village Industries. In 1925, he was chosen as the treasurer of the All India Spinners Association.
- Promotion of Hindi: He was also the president of the All India Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (literary convention) and founded the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (university) along with C. Rajagopalachari to spread the learning of Hindi across the country.
- Legacy: A locality, JB Nagar, in the sub-urban Andheri in Mumbai has been named after him.
