By TCN News,
New York: In a three day celebration of Buddha Jayanti-Vesak Day and 125th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Dr. Ambedkar Association of North America (AANA) announced ‘Dr. Ambedkar International Award’ and ‘Savitribai Phule International Award’
This year’s ‘Dr. Ambedkar International Award’ was given to Vidya Bhushan Rawat, a noted writer/columnist from India for his outstanding contribution of highlighting Dalit issues and the ‘Savitribai Phule International Award’ was given to Thenmozhi Sundararajan from New York for her distinguished contribution of spreading awareness about Casteism in USA and her recent leadership in the campaign to prevent the removal of reference to caste in California text books among her other great works.
The program was organized at Great Valley, New York between May 27 to May 29 which was attended by Ambedkarites all across USA, Canada and from India. In addition with the awards some other events on meditation, Dalit issues, Women’s Empowerment and Dalit Cultures were also held.
The awards were accepted on behalf of Rawat by Raju Kamble and for Sundararajan by Vinaya Khobragade.
Both the awards were judged on the basis of voting process by all members of AANA across the diaspora and it carries $1000.00 USD which would be divided equally to both for their current projects.
The award function was presided over by AANA President Raj Cherukonda, and conducted by Rupali and Jitendra Sahare with all the AANA family in attendance from all over USA, Canada and India.
The Dr. Ambedkar International Award was instituted in the year 2011. Previous winners were:
2012 – Dr.Ambedkar Mission,Toronto,Canada
2013 – Raju Kamble-Ambedkar International Mission (AIM), Richmond, Texas
2014 – Late. Dr Jamanadas Khobragade ,Chandrapur, Maharashtra India 442402
2015 – Dr Munshilal Gautam Nagpur, Maharashtra India
Whereas the Savitribai Phule International award was instituted in 2015 by AANA and it was given last year to Dr. Vimal Thorat, International commission on Dalit Rights.