Governor Ravi in a function at Raj Bhavan’s Bharathiar Mandapam emphasised the relevance of teachings of Ramanujacharya and Babasaheb for social equality and cohesion necessary for building a developed & capable Bharat under the all inclusive leadership of #PMModi in #AmritKaal.
5th Ambedkar – Ramanujacharya Awardees for 2023 & 4th P. Kakkan Lifetime Achievement Award
5th Ambedkar – Ramanujacharya Awardees
1.The Tamil Nadu Young Thinkers Forum confers the Ambedkar – Ramanujacharya Award to Thiru M.S. Saravanan in the field of education. He is currently the head of schools at Shrishti Schools (CBSE and Matric) in Vellore. He holds honorary positions as Chairperson of Thiruvannamalai-Vellore Sahodaya School Complex, City Co-ordinator for CBSE, Vellore District, City Co-ordinator for the national testing agency, Vellore, and Chief Commissioner, Vellore, for Hindustan Scouts and Guides. He has organized several cleanliness drives as part of Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, awareness programs to reduce child labor, and cultural education for downtrodden government students. He has authored several publications, such as Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century. I am a teacher at heart.
2.The Tamil Nadu Young Thinkers Forum confers the Ambedkar – Ramanujacharya Award to Thiru Vanumamalai Ramanujadasan in the field of spirituality and community leadership. He is currently the Managing Trustee of the Thirukulathar Sri Ramanuja Trust and the Nandanar Trust. He has 25 years of service to the downtrodden, especially Dalits and tribals. He is focused on enabling cultural awareness education for the downtrodden. His area of focus is also on empowering drop-out children and those affected by child labor through education, housing, and employment. He also works among HIV/AIDS-affected children by providing housing, education, and employment, including financial support. He works in places like Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Kanyakumari, Sriperumbudur, Vanarapettai, and Poonamallee, to name a few.
3. The Tamil Nadu Young Thinkers Forum confers the Ambedkar – Ramanujacharya Award to Thiru Devi Selvam in the field of physical education and sports. He is a dedicated physical education educator with three decades of experience in training sports players and helping them improve their game skills and lives through sports. He continues to work in several government schools and has assisted a sports-supporting NGO aimed at supporting underprivileged children. He is currently the President of the Tamil Nadu State PE (Physical Education) and PD (Physical Director) Association. He is currently working at the Government Madrasa Higher Secondary School. He has more than 75 championships in multiple tournaments to his name.
4.The Tamil Nadu Young Thinkers Forum confers the Ambedkar – Ramanujacharya Award to Dr. G. Raghuram in the field of Indian Knowledge System (Yoga). He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research. He is also a Yoga teaching evaluator as part of the Yoga Certificate Board of Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India. He continues to take Yoga to cure mentally challenged problems, stress, and obesity. He has two decades of experience in Yoga practice. He is the Founder and Managing Trustee of Mahaveer Illam Charitable Trust, Chennai, a Residential Home for the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Ill, since 2008. He is known to have adopted several therapies from Yoga for curing inmates at his trust.
5.The Tamil Nadu Young Thinkers Forum confers the Ambedkar-Ramanujacharya Award to Kum. T. Thayabari for community leadership. Hailing from the Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu, she is a tribal woman working to uplift and empower tribal communities for the last 20 years in over 12 districts of Tamil Nadu. She is the state head of Vanavasi Seva Kendram for Tamil Nadu and Kerala and previously served as district head for Nilgiri district. Some of her works have been tailored around imbibing patriotism, cultural education, community harmony, and indigenous sustainable living. Her work also focuses on spreading general knowledge and awareness through cultural art forms such as dance and drama and equipping tribal citizens through information technology. She also caters to empowering women through the profession of tailoring and helping them avail of scholarship opportunities, as well as through 150+ village education forums. She promotes yoga and martial arts in her community. She aims to prepare students for the Olympics. She also ensures the benefits of central government schemes reach tribal citizens. She works amongst six tribal communities in TN: Kota, Kuramba, Toda, Paniya, Irula, and Kattunayakan.
4th P. Kakkan Lifetime Achievement Awardee
The Tamil Nadu Young Thinkers Forum confers the P. Kakkan Lifetime Achievement Award to Thiru K. Murugaraj in the field of spirituality and social work. He is the Founder and Head of the Athma Sarana Alayam Thapovanam Trust and Athma Sarana Alayam Shelter Trust in Thiruvannamalai since 2004. A civil engineer and businessman, he has been committed to spirituality and social work for the last three decades. He hails from Tindivinam and lives in Selaiyur, Tambaram, in Chennai. Noticing caste inequities in society, he is fully committed to enabling social cohesion and has resolved to work towards eliminating every man-made division. The Trust is housed in Thiruvannamalai. He has worked relentlessly to renovate several temples in and near his home town of Selaiyur and in Somasipadi, near Thiruvannamalai. He has taken members of socially disadvantaged communities to the holy shrine of Sabaramalai every year. He has also organized several pada yatras (travels by foot) to Tirupati and Sabarimalai. He is also a certified Yoga teacher. His spiritual guru is Sadguru Subhirananda Swami. He has also gotten enlightened from Shri Yogi Ram Sarat Kumar, also known as Visiri Swamigal, Katpadi Ozhukuswami, Vallimalai Balananda, Karumarapatti Velayananda Swami, and Ulundhurpettai Sankaralingam Swami. He owes it to them to learn all the pranayama and yogic practices. His trust caters to empowering the socially disadvantaged through personal development, spirituality, self-discipline, and entrepreneurship, to name a few. During the festival seasons in Thiruvannamalai, through the Trust, he organizes free food distribution as well as plays his part in organizing security for all. He has been working with the motto ‘serve and motivate to serve’. Through his trust, they have ensured free books and facilitated fee payments for the socially disadvantaged for the purpose of education. Among the future plans of the trust is to build a 40-bed hospital for medical purposes. His spiritual motto is’ Be enlightened and enlighten others’. In the Trust’s temple, the 24-foot Rudrakasha lingam and Ardhanareeswara Sahasra lingam are standout highlights. The trust is also committed to training future priests and spreading spiritual knowledge.