11 people conferred with bravery awards in Kolkata

allvoices.com.( cg2007) Kolkata, 20th March, 2013: Godfrey Phillips Bravery, a corporate social responsibility initiative of Godfrey Phillips India, today honored eleven bravehearts from West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Awards were presented by Shri Manish Gupta, Honourable Minister in Charge, Power & Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Government of West Bengal, celebrated danseuse and actor Smt Mamta Shankar and renowned actor Smt. Roopa Ganguly.

Mr. Harmanjit Singh, General Secretary, Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards, stated, “I congratulate all our awardees. In our journey of over 21 years, Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards have always stood for courage, compassion and alertness in thought and action. The winners and nominees are the true mark of this impact; we hope that these brave stories will continue to encourage the young minds and imbibe the spirit of bravery in their everyday life.”

He added, “With our two initiatives, Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards and Amodini, we have been working to promote the values of courage and empowerment in society. We have till date empowered over 20000 women directly and hope to work with the communities in near future.”

The Zone comprised of entries from West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards 2013.

Kum Prasannta Shandilya, 11 year old student of class V from Odisha was awarded the Special Physical Bravery Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards for fighting five dacoits and saving her parents’ lives. The young girl and her family were attacked by the dacoits on the night of 12th April 2011. Prasannta with her quick thinking, threw chilli powder at the attackers and deterred the armed dacoits. She has also been awarded with National Bravery Award 2011 from the honorable on the Republic Day last year.

Shri. Vadivelu,Shri P. Kalaimani, Shri V. Madan, Shri Uday Moorthy and K. Gopi from Tamil Nadu saved lives of 22 sailors who were trapped in their ship stranded due to the cyclone Neelam in October 2012. The five gallant men from Tamil Nadu without a thought to their own safety went to the rescue of the sailors. For the brave and compassionate act, the five men from were awarded the Physical Bravery Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards.

16-year-old Suthrapu Shiva Prasad saved the life of a 45-year-old woman from drowning in river Mayendla in Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh. For his fearless spirit, Master Suthrapu Shiva Prasad of Andhra Pradeshhas been awarded the Special Physical Bravery Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards.

The Special Social Bravery Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards has been conferred on Shri. Manoj Rai, a videographer from West Bengal who works with a local cable television of Kalimpong. On 18th September 2011, a devastating earthquake hit the Kalimpong town and the neighbouring areas of Darjeeling District of West Bengal. Shri looking at the plight of the stranded villagers braved heavy rainfall and landslides to cover the situation and ran the news of earthquake victims. He also contacted various NGOs and government officials to plead them for relief work. Manoj was also awarded Excellence in Journalism Award by the Kalimpong Press Club for his valor and his contribution to the relief work in three of the most affected villages.

43-year old nurse, Smt. Udasi Sahu, works for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Smt. Udasi Sahu from Odisha was awarded the Social Bravery Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards for her lifetime dedication to the cause of reproductive and child health. She has ensured safe and natural deliveries for hundreds of women who cannot afford c sections, and has pursued vaccinations and immunity development for the children in the villages she has worked. For her dedicated work she has also been awarded the ‘Florence Nightingale’ award by the medical profession.

Smt. Priyanka Mondal from West Bengal has been awarded the Social Bravery Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards. On the fateful day, Priyanka, a qualified nurse by profession was walking back from work on a highway, when she heard cries of pain. On closer inspection she found a woman in midst of her labour pains and a helpless husband who was unable to locate anyone or any vehicle to help. The highway was deserted and dark. Priyanka came to the rescue and helped the woman deliver her baby on the roadside with merely the assistance of a mobile phone light. Kolkata’s premier hospital, Bhagirathi Neotia Woman & Child Care Centre also felicitated her with the ‘Woman Achiever Award’ for her sense of duty and dedication towards her profession.

Pathway India, a voluntary non-profit NGO from Tamil Nadu works for the rehabilitation and education of intellectually challenged children and facilitates free and affordable services for their healthcare. Besides serving the specially-abled, Pathway India is offering free medical, psychiatric, pediatric and dental care to over 4200 patients every month. Over the years it has helped more than 22,000 children. The organization has been bestowed with numerous awards and prizes for its humanitarian services. The organization was founded by Shri. Prasad, a speech pathologist. For its dedicated service to challenged children Pathway India of Tamil Nadu was awarded theSocial Bravery Special Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards.

A Sociology student Shri Mora Bhadresham of Andhra Pradesh is a young leader, who has taken on the task of good governance in his village. An incentive of Rs. 5 lakhs, given to the villagers for electing a

Sarpanch, was invested by him in setting up a water purifying plant, which today provides 36 cans of 25 litres each to all the families residing in the village. He also organizes for training of the farmers in the latest techniques of cultivation and irrigation. For his dedicated efforts towards transforming the grassroot-level governance, Shri Mora Bhadresham of Andhra Pradesh was awarded the Special Social Bravery Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards.

Kumari Anjali Chandrashekhar, a 19 year old young artist and a columnist has raised funds and created awareness on issues concerning conservation of the environment, HIV awareness, violence against women, etc through her art. She regularly visits orphanages, old age homes and also delivers motivational lectures on myriad issues. Amongst her major work one is ‘DAD’ or Dialysis a Day for Tamil Nadu Kidney Research Foundation, for whom she raised Rs 1.3 lakhs. She donated $ 5,000 to buy insulin for diabetic children in 17 developing countries through her efforts. For her service to the society Kum. Anjali Chandrasekhar of Tamil Nadu has been conferred with the Social Bravery Special Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards.

Late Shri Barun Biswas from West Bengal was posthumously awarded the Mind of Steel Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards. The small village of Sutia lying in North 24-Pargana District of West Bengal was infamous for gang rapes, a daily occurrence in the village. Barun was the only one who stood in protest and led a campaign against the same. In 2010, he protested against misappropriation of funds at his own school, Mitra Institution, leading to suspension of the headmaster. He was also involved in the de-silting of a canal in the area. On 4 July 2012 he was shot dead by the very criminals he worked against. As a tribute to his courage, hundreds of women, armed with brooms and bamboo sticks protested against the murder of the schoolteacher.

Drawing inspiration from Nobel Prize winner, Mohammed Yunus and his Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Smt. Madhuri Ghosh of West Bengal led a micro-credit revolution spanning in 80 villages of Howrah’s I Block. She formed the Bagnan I Mahila Bikas Co-operative Credit Society Ltd. (BMBCCSL), with a meager contribution of Rs 5,000. Today, the credit society has a corpus of over Rs 11 crores and has socially and economically uplifted around 23,042 marginalized rural women. For her outstanding contribution to the upliftment of women in South Bengal, SmtMadhuri Ghosh of West Bengal has been awarded the Amodini Award at the 21st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Zone Awards.

Godfrey Phillips India instituted the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards in 1990. These Awards bring to light the uncommon spirit of the common man, and gives recognition to extraordinary yet little known acts of physical valor, social service and humanitarian deeds. The purpose of the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards is to instill amongst people the culture of selfless action. With its two initiatives, Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards and Amodini, over 1,200 bravehearts have been honored and over 20,000 women empowered directly.

Since inception in 1990, these awards have grown to encompass 20 states - Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and the recent addition of Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The five zone awards will be followed by the National Awards, which will take place in Delhi

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Brief Account of Bravery

Manoj Rai’s tale is of grit, presence of mind and a compassion for fellow human beings caught in the grip of Nature’sfury. This braveheart’s commendable sense of duty and responsibility was responsible for rescuing many precious lives in the Kalimpong town and the neighbouring areas of Darjeeling District of West Bengal.

A devastating earthquake had hit the area on 18thSeptember 2011 resulting in extensive loss of life and property. Eventually, four people died and numerous others were rendered homeless. Roads were cut offdue to the landslides and all communication links with the area were snapped.

During the earthquake, many remote areas were struck by tremors, thereby rendering thousands of villagers homeless. Somevillagers of Sankhey and Mandir villages managed to come out alive from theaffected areas and contacted Shri Manoj Kumar, a videographer, who worked in a local cable television network of Kalimpong via telephone. Deeply moved by theplight of these people, he decided to act fast in order to bring some relief to these hapless souls.

Manoj immediately contacted the State Relief Officials and some NGOs and pleaded for relief and rescue operations to be undertaken immediately. Soon thereafter, he headed towards Kalimpong town, without being bogged down by constant rainfall and landslides. When he witnessed the dismal plight of the victims, he shot exclusive footage of their woeful condition and decided to rush back the same night in order to activate and expedite the relief and rescue missions. He edited his coverage, which was telecast the very next day and thanks to this moving film on the earthquake victims, huge number of people from the adjacent towns and cities also decided to intervene in this cause.

He was facilitated by the Kalimpong Press Club for his unique initiative and awarded Excellence in Journalism Award for his contribution in the relief work in three of the most affected villages.

For his commendable bravado, sense of responsibility and enviable act of bravery, Shri Manoj Rai of West Bengal is awarded the Special Social Bravery Award at the 21^st Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards.