Mukherjee presents Jamnalal Bajaj awards in Mumbai

President Pranab Mukherjee presented the Jamnalal Bajaj Awards at a function in Mumbai on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee said that if one goes through the life of Jamnalal Bajaj one would recognize the tremendous influence that Gandhiji had on him, and also that which he had on Gandhiji.

"Shri Jamanlal inspired his whole family to imbibe the Gandhian way of life. Gandhiji adopted Jamnalal Bajaj as his "fifth son" and it was Jamnalal Bajaj who persuaded Gandhiji to come and settle in Wardha," said Mukherjee.

The president said that if one looks at the galaxy of past recipients of the Jamnalal Bajaj Awards, one can see that the awardees have been meticulously selected for recognizing the selfless contributions made by them towards society building.

"We have recognized four such distinguished and selfless personalities today who have dedicated themselves to the well-being of the society," Mukherjee said.

He said that he would like to express his deep appreciation to the awardees for their selfless service.

"We should not forget our core civilizational values and the values advocated by Gandhiji such as love for motherland, respect for women, compassion, discipline, tolerance etc.," the president said.

The Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation gives four awards annually, of which, the fourth award is an international award.

This year the recipient of the Award for Outstanding Contribution in the field of Constructive Work is G.V. Subba Rao, the Award for Application of Science and Technology for Rural Development was given to Snehlata Nath, the Award for Development and Welfare of Women and Children to Vidhya Das and the recipient of the International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India went to Jean -Marie Muller.