This year's Lokmanya Tilak Award will be given to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit.
This was announced by president of the Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust, Deepak Tilak, here on Thursday. The award is given every year by the trust.
It consists of a gold medal, a memento, a citation and Rs.1 lakh. The ceremony will take place on August 1 at the Tilak Smarak Mandir on the occasion of the 89th death anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak. The award was established in 1983.
ADVERTISEMENT
The award is being given to Ms. Dixit in recognition of her contribution to politics, Mr. Tilak said. “The award is bestowed every year on a person who has strived for the well-being and progress of society and the nation. After having served a full term that witnessed development through her internationally acclaimed initiative, Bhagidari, i.e. people's participation in the process of governance, in her second term Ms. Dixit practised citizen-centric and open administration and democratic decentralisation. It was as a result of this open and responsive system of administration that development — social and economic — took precedence over parochial and sectarian issues,” he told journalists.
Enumerating Ms. Dixit's achievements such as improving civic life in Delhi, her active role in women's development, in promoting handicrafts and rural art, and the setting up the Environmental Centre at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, Mr. Tilak said she deserved the award.
The ceremony will be presided over by Mr. Tilak. Union Minister of Power and trustee of the trust, Sushilkumar Shinde, will also be present.
ADVERTISEMENT
The previous recipients of this award included: Indira Gandhi (posthumous), Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, M.S. Swaminathan, Rahul Kumar Bajaj, Sivathanu Pillai, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Pranab Mukherjee.
Last year, the Lokmanya Tilak Journalist Award was given to N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu.