Karmaveer Puraskaar 2008 : National awards for social justice and citizen

The Mumbai base dedicated social activist and Founder President of Silver Inning Foundation Sailesh Mishra received the prestigious award from leading actress and social activist Amala in New Delhi for his commendable work for the cause of Senior Citizens in India ,after having been nominated for the awards which has been accepted and shortlisted.

The third Karamveer Puraskar, national awards for social justice and citizen action took place today at Satyagraha Mandap, Gandhi Darshan, RajGhat. November 26 every year is pledged to be recognized as the National Social Justice and Citizen Action Day to rekindle the spirit of our constitutional pledge. It was adopted this day in 1949 when the nation was announced as a Republic.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jeroninio Almeida, Founder and Chief Volunteer, iCONGO said, "In a country of almost 1.2 billion Indians we have many awards for movie stars and other achiever awards launched by tobacco, FMCG, media and beverage brands as marketing campaigns but we are yet to recognize the Real Life Unsung Heroes who believe that it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness by leading change. He further added "Karmaveer Puraskaar is given to change dreamers & doers who practice Philanthropy for social justice."

Karamveer Puraskar is being instituted by iCONGO-Indian confederation of NGOs, the representatives of people sector and social justice through citizen action movement in India. This is to recognise individuals who have been pivotal for leading change beyond their business by being committed on individual levels to work on social issues. The awards are given to individuals for their contribution to promote social justice and citizen action who are chosen from various sectors and this year the focus is on 'people from Government, Businesses, and Media'.

The shortlisting of the screened entries is carried out by an expert panel from iCONGO comprising representatives from across areas of work and past awardees based on a process set and created by Mercer and Grant Thornton. Mercer and Grant Thornton are International Audit firms.

The 'Karmaveer Puraskar' is a national award for Social Justice & Citizen Action. The award is instituted by iCONGO – Indian Confederation of NGOs – the people sector association- in partnership with government, business, media, civil society and other sectors and leading global and national organisations which over the years include institutions like TISS, BCCI, NASSCOM FOUNDATION, PHDCCI, CMS, RAI, UNMC, UNODC, The art of living, UNDP, World Bank, UNFPA, GTZ, WOTR, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, NDTV, Business World, Outlook and various others.

The recipients of the Karmaveer Puraskaar 2008 include:
* Lifetime Achievement Karmaveer Puraskaar - Maj. Gen. Raghubir Singh Pannu
* Global Indian Karmveer Puraskaar – Dr. Venkat Pullla and Dr.Sailesh Rao
* Real Wealth Creators For The Communities - Rajendra Joshi and Vipin Sharma
* Lifelong Fight for Social Justice Through Citizen Action - Pamela Gale Malhotra
* Government Citizen Karmveer Puraskaar - Syeda Hameed
* Media Citizen Karmaveer Puraskaar
- Print Media - Umesh Anand and Rita Anand
- Film maker- Mainstream - Pritish Nandy
- Filmmaker on contemporary Issues - Bhavna Talwar
- Documentary film maker - Nitin Das and Akanksha Joshi
- Short Film maker –Swati D'Souza, Sehej Mantri, Aalap Deboor and Sheetal Bhan
- Author - Vandana Shah
- Literary Consultant - Mita kapur
*Corporate Citizen Karmaveer Puraskaar
- Corporate Citizens for Holistic CSR Initiatives – CEO-Ajay Bijli, CSR Head- Deepa Menon
- Corporate Citizens for Holistic Media Initiatives- Chairman- Indu Jain, Director- Pooran Pandey
- Corporate CEO's Foundation – Ashok Kurien
- Corporate Executive Citizen - Meera Sanyal
*Civil Society Karmaveer Puraskaar
- Disability - Divya Arora
- HIV – Dr Ashok Rau
- Community Welfare - T. K. Mathew
- Fund Raising - Surat Sandhu
- Education, Health and Empowerment - Shobha Murthy
- Women Empowerment and Child labour - Nusrat Naqvi
- Animal Welfare and Environment - Nigel Otter
- Cancer - Harmala Gupta
- Care for the Elderly - Sailesh Mishra
- Social Communications and Campaign Strategist - Meenakshi Madhwani
- Social Venture Mentoring - Varun Sahni
- Social Entrepreneurship/Transformation - Rejendra Misra
* Student Citizen Karmaveer Puraskaar - Inir Pinheiro
* Artistes 4 Change karmaveer Puraskaar
- Dance - Geeta Chandran
- Music – Bobby Cash, Gautam Ghosh and Ritika Sahni
- Theatre - Lushin Dubey and Arvind Gaur
- Mainstream Actress– Kajol
* Young Social Entrepreneur Citizen - Meghna Agrawal and Madhusudan Agrawal
* Professional Citizen Karmaveer Puraskaar - Madhu Bhatnagar and Shrenik Rao
* Kids 4 Change – Aradhna Chhachhi and Diwakar
* Young Creative Citizen - Ambar Prakash

November 26th is the day the citizens of India adopted the constitutional pledge in 1949 and is now promoted by iCONGO as the National People's Socal Justice and Action Day. Next year is the 60th year of adopting the pledge and on the occasion, iCONGO would be launching a mammoth signature campaign to have the GOI, an appeal addressed to the President, Prime Minister and all citizens serving in Government" to announce this day as the national social justice and citizen action day.

The Karmaveer Puraskaar is given out at the Right every Wrong Conclave every year which is a National Forum for Social Justice and Citizen Action. Every year eminent thought leaders and concerned citizens with constructive opinions from India and overseas gather to discuss social issues like Poverty and marginalisation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Responsible Media, Climate Change, Child rights, Animal Rights and other social justice issues and understand the need for a citizen movement to come together as one and pledge to try and right every wrong. This year's theme is about Citizen Action for Electoral Reforms.