Maharashtra Foundation’s vision is to bring social transformation to modern India through basic education, science, health care, empowering women and masses in general.
This was the 25th year, a milestone for these awards. The elegant ceremony was held on January 27th at the Bal Gandharva hall in Pune. Actor, Director and social activist Amol Palekar was the chief guest and Baba Amte’s Anandwan was the winner of the main Lifetime Achievement award for social service. Shanta Gokhale, the eminent writer and translator was the winner of the Lifetime Achievement award in Marathi literature.
Marathi Press covered the event on the front pages and all Marathi channels showed select parts of the program on TV that night. This event was a treat for socially conscious people and the fans of Marathi literature. Eminent people like actor/director Mohan Agashe and the retired Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Hemant Gokhale were in the audience. The Mahrashtra Foundation President Ankush Karnik made a special trip to attend the ceremony. His speech about his vision for MF was well appreciated by the audience. Sunil Deshmukh, the inspiration behind these awards, talked about his thoughts and feelings behind establishing these awards.
“Maharashtra has led in social reform. We would like to honor the literary figures and social workers who swim against the current to establish a just and happy society, so the younger generaon can emulate such role models”, he said.
