Kaif Miyaji, Vice Captain of Rajasthan Under 19 Football team and student of Class XI at St Paul’s school Udaipur was among the students presented with the Maharana Fateh Singh Samman at this year’s Maharana Mewar Charitable Foundation awards.

Kaif, who has been pursuing football fervently for the last many years, is the Vice Captain of the Rajasthan Football team (Under 19) and leads the team at national level. His endeavors in the National Cadet Corps have also earned him honors in his division. Kaif was awarded for his achievements in football and the NCC.  Kaif has trained under Shakeel Ahmed of the District Football Association, Udaipur.

This year, Maharana Mewar Foundation 37th Annual Award Distribution Ceremony – 2019, an integral part of MMCF, was held today, 10 March 2019 at The Manek Chowk, The City Palace, Udaipur. The distribution ceremony commenced with presentation of certificates to students from schools and universities in Udaipur and across the State of Rajasthan. This is followed by the main Ceremony when the international and national awardees gather on the dais to receive their awards from Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Chief Guest and Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, Chairman and Managing Trustee of Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Udaipur.

36 Annual Awards         4425 Awardees        1 Vision

Honouring service of permanent value rendered to society

Announcing the International and National Annual Awards 2019, Convener of the Ceremony Dr. Mayank Gupta said that the international award instituted in 1996 and named after Col. James Tod is to honour a foreign national who has made a lasting contribution through his work of permanent value and understanding of the spirit and values of Udaipur and India. This year the award was given to Dr. Paul T. Craddock who had a life-long interest in early technology and science. After graduating in Chemistry at the University of Birmingham he joined the Research Laboratory of the British Museum. After his preliminary visit of the ancient mines and smelting remains of the Zawar mines in December 1982, the investigations revealed how important the mines of Mewar were throughout India for several millennia, an importance that through his work has now been revived. This process was the result of continued research and experimentation over a long period, initiated and supported by the mine’s owners, the Maharanas of Mewar.

The National annual award, Haldighati Award, is given to an individual for work of permanent value that initiates an awakening in society through the medium of journalism.   This year the Award was awarded to Swati Chaturvedi, freelance reporter for print and broadcast media. She was awarded Press Freedom Award for Courage by Reporters without Borders in 2018; established in 1992.    Reporters without Borders (RSF) held its annual Press Freedom Awards in London on 8^th November 2018 when the international award for Courage was given to Swati Chaturvedi, the only journalist from India.

Download the UT App here

Hakim Khan Sur Award was conferred to Suresh Wadkar in recognition of his distinguished service of permanent value to society by spreading the message of integration and introducing Hindustani Classical Music to thousands of students. It has been his continuous endeavour to educate, integrate and spread Hindustani Music, Culture and Art across society through devotional songs in different languages. He has sung in more than 500 films in 17 languages. Through his pursuit of excellence and his expressive music, he encourages young people to get involved in nation building projects and other activities.

Maharana Udai Singh Award was given to Geeta Seshamani, a senior wildlife conservationist and an animal rights activist. She is the Co-Founder, Secretary of Wildlife SOS, established in 1995.   She has been involved in animal welfare and wildlife conservation for over 40 years.

The other recipient of the Maharana Udai Singh Award was Kartick Satyanarayan,  an active senior wildlife conservationist and Co-Founder and Chairman of Wildlife SOS. He has been involved in wildlife conservation, welfare & the protection of the natural environment for over 23 years. With their shared commitment, Geeta and Kartick  have dedicated themselves to mission ‘Elephant Conservation and Care Center’  created in 2010 at Mathura to rehabilitate severely abused captive elephants in distress. The Centre, India’s first specialised hospital, currently houses 20 elephants with 12 females and 8 male elephants.

Panna Dhai Award, which was instituted to honour an individual who has rendered selfless service, rising beyond the call of duty   and  setting  an   example  to  society  of  permanent  value  through  sacrifice,  in  the  face   of  immense  hostility was given to awarded to Swapan Debbarma and his 9 year old daughter Suma Debbarma, inhabitants of Dhanchara, Ambassa, Dhalai, Tripura. They are being awarded for their commendable work in the bravery and courage they showed to save thousands of innocent lives. On the 15th June 2018, on a rainy day when they had no food at home, the duo headed out in search of some fish. As they walked along the railway tracks they saw that almost a kilometer of railway track had been derailed due to a huge landslide following heavy rains. Realizing that the damaged track would have led to a serious accident, possibly with the loss of thousands of innocent lives they waited to warn the train driver. After nearly two hours at around 3.30 pm the passenger train Siliguri to Agartala coming from Ambassa approached. Standing at the side of the track, Swappan pulled off his shirt and his young daughter her skirt and they waved frantically to try and stop the train. They then realized the only way of attracting the driver’s attention was to risk their lives and stand in the middle of the tracks and it was then that the driver Sonu Kumar Mandal saw them and was alerted to the danger and stopped the train.

Maharishi Harit Rashi Award is being awarded to Dr. Narottam Pujari, who is an authority on Astrologer and Vastu. His pioneering work over the last 21 years includes Karma Kand and Jyotish Vidhya. Another Maharishi Harit Rashi Awardee is Dr. Hemant Krishna Mishra, a well-known name in Sanskrit language and literature. His work has been recognised by the Rajasthan Government and awarded by the ‘Rajasthan Vidwat Award’.

Maharana Mewar Award has been instituted to honour work of permanent value rendered to society, in the field of social service, nation building and character building activities, contributed through educational methods. This year’s award was given to Malini Awasthi, Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh for her distinguished service of permanent value to serve society by promoting folk art and living heritage through education and literature. A Padma Shri awardee in 2016; founder of a non-profit organization, ‘Sonchiraiya’ she works to spread awareness of folk art as the intangible heritage from Awadh, Brij, Bundelkhand and Bhojpur districts.

Maharana Kumbha Award was awarded to Prof. Girish Nath Mathur, Udaipur distinguished for his literary work specifically his work on Mewar that is widely recognised among historians.  He is an inspirational mentor for large number of researchers in history. The other recipient of the Maharana Kumbha Award was Dr. Jitendra Kumar Singh, a philosophical author. His wide spectrum of work  covers different areas of Literature, History, Linguistics and the study of poetic structure.

Maharana Sajjan Singh Award was awarded to Jamna Lal Kumhar, Molela, Khamnor, Rajsamand who has been a traditional Terracotta Art and Craft artist for the last 42 years.

Dagar Gharana Award was awarded to Ustad Mohi Baha’ud-din Dagar an exponent of the Rudra Veena. He is listed among the finest instrumentalist the Indian Classical Music who has played for diverse and varied audiences in India and across the world.

Rana Punja Award was awarded to Mr. Jhalam Chand Angari, resident of Shyampura Kala, Jhadol, Udaipur. His significant contribution to the people of Jhadol has been through Van Utthan Sangh, formed in 1997 and formally registered in 2000. Van Utthan Sansthan is a network of Village Forest Protection Committees (VFPCs), working in conjunction with the Joint Forest Management Policy of the Government. His leadership qualities in bringing people together to improve their quality of living has been widely recognised whilst pursuing village development work in Jhadol.

Aravali Award was awarded for the outstanding achievements in sports and games from Rajasthan. This year’s awardee is Paralympic Sandeep Singh Maan, a National and International Level Sprinter and Long Jump Paralympics Athlete. He has won 4 Medals at State level tournaments, 26 Medals at National level tournaments and 27 medals at International events. He is one of the few Paralympics Athletes to have won three Asian Para Games in 2010, 2014 and 2018. He was awarded by the Arjuna Award in 2016 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.

This year Best Police Station of Rajasthan Award was given to Police Station Makbara, District Kota, Rajasthan.

This year Bhamashah Student Award was given to 18 students, Maharana Raj Singh Student Award to 8 students and Maharana Fateh Singh Student Award to 80 students.

Vote of thanks was given by Mr. Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur, Trustee, Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Udaipur.

Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) has over the years, been committed to nurturing centres of excellence in heritage management, fine arts, the performing arts, education, ecological management, hospitality, philanthropy, spirituality and sports. Unique in having conceived of, and actualized the practices of ‘living heritage’, the MMCF is sharing ancient legacies through broad-based and sustainable platforms of development within Rajasthan, in India and through global outreach programmes. Over the last four decades, its activities and endeavors have resulted in employment generation, stemming the rural migration to urban areas and instilling greater pride in traditional professions and craftspeople. This approach to holistic and comprehensive development by the Foundation has been acknowledged internationally, most importantly receiving the prestigious WT Award in 2012 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, for its ‘contribution to universal culture’.

Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation pursues its mission of nurturing cultural values in society by adopting innovative methods of communicating and impacting.

Amongst the most important of these is providing recognition of excellence, through appreciation and acknowledgement of achievement through existing pursuits.