Bhubaneswar: Eminent Sarvodaya, Bhoodan worker and Gandhian, Shri Krushna Singh was honoured with this year’s Pradyumna Bal Memorial Award 2023. He has worked on Gandhian principles for the last 50 years, choosing Semiliguda in Koraput as his workplace.
In his speech at the event, Krushna Singh talked about institutional safeguards in order to protect media freedoms. “While journalists in today’s era are merely following the orders of their superiors in the official hierarchy, that are indirectly dictated by the political dynamics, the reporters and journalists are losing on their core instincts.”
He praised the principles of Pradyumna Bal, the founder Editor of Pragativadi, stating that he maintained his dignity and held on to ethics both in the field of journalism and politics.
Singh also stated that every affair has now turned into a monetary transaction, where even to represent in a ward-member election, one needs to have the wallet full.
Similarly, eight persons were awarded the Pradyuma Bal Seva and Prativa Awards for their service and achievements in various fields. An organization was also awarded for their service.
Following is the list of awardees:-
- Banchanidhi Mohanty, Bhoodan worker of Gunupur.
- Dr PK Das, Cardiologist of Bhubaneswar.
- Abhimanyu Das, Social activist from Cuttack.
- Lakshmidhar Das, Educationist from Dasapalla, Nayagarh. Se
- Umakanta and Bhishma Kumar Das, Visulally-Impaired artists.
- Leela Reddy, ITI student of Bhubaneswar
- Namita Bhoi, National kabaddi player
- ‘Atoot Bandhan’, a non-profit organization for financial assistance to medical students
- Pradyuma Bal Journalism Award To Pratap Das
Similarly, for dedication and excellence in reporting the triple train tragedy this year, the Bahanaga representative of Pragativadi, Shishir Kumar Ray, representative of Soro, Shishir Kumar Das and representative of Balasore district, Ratikanta Patra were felicitated.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday called upon people to follow the principles of Pradyumna Bal, the founder of Pragativadi. Addressing the 91st birth anniversary of Pradyumna Bal and the annual day of Pragativadi virtually, the chief minister said, “Pradyumna Babu was a great institution builder. Apart from Pragativadi, he was also the founder and president of KIIT, both of which are models of a rising and inspiring Odisha’.
