By Matters India Reporter
Varanasi, Sept 9, 2020: Two Dalit right activists from Varanasi are among 30 selected for awards for promoting Dalit rights.
Ang Madad Foundation, a NGO based in Bhagalpur, Bihar, September 8 announced the awards to be given at the end of September.
Lenin Raghuvanshi and Shruti Nagvanshi are the cofounders of the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), a Varanasi-based NGO that works for the rights of Dalits for the last 25 years.
They will receive the awards under the social work category.
Nagvanshi is engaged in the welfare of Dalit and underprivileged women. She will be honored with the Tilka Manjhi National Award for her contribution.
Raghuvanshi is selected for giving Dalit and deprived their rights in Varanasi.
Tilka Manjhi is considered the first freedom fighter of India against the British.
“It is a great honor to receive an award. I feel more joy due to recognizing my grassroots work for Dalits, women and marginalized,” Nagvanshi, a managing trustee of PVCHR, told Matters India on September 9.
“It is a wonderful moment amid a tough time of Covid-19 pandemic that my co-founder and life partner Lenin and I received the same award for our work,” she added.
Manjhi was the first Adivasi leader who took up arms against the British in 1784, around 70 years before Mangal Pandey (an Indian soldier who played a key part in the events immediately preceding the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857).
Manjhi organized the Adivasis to form an armed group to fight against the resource grabbing and exploitation of the British.
“Today I am feeling proud and joy to receive the Tilaka Manjhi National award with Shruti. Thanks to the award selection committee,” Raghuvanshi, CEO of PVCHR said.
Both Raghuvanshi and Nagvanshi have received several awards in the past for championing the rights of Dalits, women and marginalized groups through their organization, PVCHR which was e established in 1996.
The award consists of a plaque to each. This year award ceremony is going to be held a virtual ceremony in the last week of September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ang Madad Foundation initiated Tilaka Manjhi Rashtriya Samman (Tilaka Manjhi national award) seven years ago. People from art, sport, literature, social work, and journalism will be receiving an award every year.
Other prominent awardees are Ms. Divya Niar (USA), Lorena Julio (human Rights activist of Argentina), Gandhian Manoj Meeta and law expert and Gandhian Suad Jamal and others.
Established in 2013, Ang Madad Foundation, NGO, in the areas of education, rural development, healthcare, arts and culture, and destitute care. Its mission is to work in remote regions of several states in India including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi NCR, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.