By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind conferred Sadbhavana Award upon four persons for their outstanding work in the field of communal harmony during its inaugural session of 15-day nationwide campaign for conveying message of peace and humanity.
The session was held in New Delhi and saw intellectuals and leaders from various religions speak about over the growing communalisation in the country and ways of restoring harmony.
The awardees were Ram Puniyani (Mumbai), Sandeep Pandey (Lucknow), JS Bandukwala (Vadodara) and Yugal Kishore Shastri (Ayodhya).
Ram Puniyani is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. In December 2004, he took voluntary retirement to work full-time for communal harmony in India. He is involved with human rights activities, communal harmony and initiatives to oppose the rising tide of fundamentalism in India.
Sandeep Pandey is a social activist. He co-founded Asha for Education with Dr. Deepak Gupta (presently Professor at IIT Kanpur) and V.J.P Srivastava, while working on his Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi.
JS Bandukwala is a former Physics professor and a human rights activist based in Vadodara.
Yugal Kishore Shastri is a resident of Hanuman Garhi, Ayodhya and has been working for communal harmony. He has been promoting communal harmony by organising peace Yatras and local programs.