The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the Dr. Ambedkar National Awards for outstanding contribution to the promotion of social understanding and for the upliftment of weaker sections of the society for the years 2011, 2012 and 2014 today (May 26, 2017) in New Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, the President congratulated the winners of Dr. Ambedkar National Awards. He said that we deeply appreciate and value the works done by Professor S K Thorat, a well known scholar, ‘Samta Sainik Dal’ a non-political organization founded by Dr. Ambedkar, ‘Amar Sewa Sangam’ an institution working in the field of empowering differently abled persons and Shri Babu Lal Nirmal, a social activist from Rajasthan. All of them have done tremendous work in furthering the vision of Bharat Ratna, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, which was to create a society in which everybody is treated equally irrespective of his or her caste, community, status or belief.
The President quoted Dr. Ambedkar and said "Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognizes liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life”. He stated that Dr. Ambedkar’s vision of liberty, equality and social justice found appropriate place in our Constitution which puts a lots of emphasis on removing social injustice and promoting positive actions to bring the disadvantaged sections in the mainstream. He stated that the generation of today, identifies Baba Saheb as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, but he was much more than this. Dr. Ambedkar strongly believed that political Independence cannot assure either solidarity or national integration in the absence of social justice.
The President congratulated Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Thawar Chand Gehlot and his colleagues for working to extend a helping hand to those in need and mobilizing social forces to ensure that all can enjoy the fruits of development.
This release issued 1800 hrs.