Eight achievers from various fields were conferred with the Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year awards at a ceremony held at Veer Savarkar Sabhagriha, Shivaji Park, on Wednesday night.
Eight achievers from various fields were conferred with the Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year awards at a ceremony held at Veer Savarkar Sabhagriha, Shivaji Park, on Wednesday night.
The awards were given away by the Lokmat Media Ltd to felicitate outstanding contributions of Maharashtrians to the state.
President Pratibha Patil, who was the chief guest of the event, distributed the awards to the winners.
The award recipients in various categories are Amitabh Bachchan, Paromita Goswami (public service), Nasir Shaikh (entertainment), Dr Himmatrao Bawaskar (science and technology), Raju Shetty (politics), Virdhawal Khade (sports), Hanmant Gaikwad (business) and BR Khedkar (arts).
A special award — Jeevan Gaurav — was given to Dilip Kumar for his exemplary contribution to the film industry.
"The awards are also an expression of our gratitude to these individuals. We are happy that their outstanding contribution at the grassroot level will receive nationwide acclaim. We hope their felicitation would inspire others to emulate them," said Vijay Darda, chairman of Lokmat Media Ltd. "Through this award, we wanted to honour achievers in various fields who have made us proud," he added.
Talking about media playing an important role in the society, President Patil said, "In a democratic country like us, media plays a crucial role therefore they should be responsible while reporting.
A thought needs to be given by the media owners on quality of the news shown. In the race of giving breaking news, the news or facts are somewhere compromised."
President Patil further asked the media to also bring forward work by people like Paromita Goswami who has been toiling in Naxal-dominated area of Gadchiroli and Chandrapur.
There were more than 50 nominees, of which 39 were short-listed. Present on the occasion were Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group, film director Madhur Bhandarkar and Mayor Shardhha Jadhav.
The nominees and the winners were selected by a jury comprising the group's senior editors, eminent figures and through a process of public voting.
The panel of judges included Ashutosh Gowariker, Shobha De, Dhanraj Pillai, Medha Patkar, Achyut Godbole, Julio Ribeiro and Rajdeep Sardesai.
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