A fine award ceremony in Kolkata

This was not just another ordinary awards ceremony, rather it was one that was aimed at recognising the efforts of those making a difference to society.

The award categories included the Social Achievement Award, Mind of Steel Award, Acts of Social Courage Award, Physical Bravery Award and the Amodini Award, which was introduced for the first time to honour women.
With a difference: The 17th Godfrey Phillips Bravery National awards ceremony held in the Capital recently saw some of the bravest of Indians walk up the stage to receive top honours from Salman Khurshid, Union minister of state for corporate affairs.And what Khurshid had to say after the show, best sums up the evening. ��It was nothing short of a pilgrimage and a spiritual moment that brought pictures of living Gods in front of me,�� he said.
A mixed bag: The award categories included the Social Achievement Award, Mind of Steel Award, Acts of Social Courage Award, Physical Bravery Award and the Amodini Award, which was introduced for the first time to honour women who have played an important role in society. Present at the occasion were Sameer Modi, executive director, Godfrey Phillips, Harmanjit Singh, general manager, corporate affairs, Godfrey Phillips, Nita Kapoor, executive vice-president �� marketing and corporate affairs, Godfrey Phillips, Laila Tyabji, chairperson of Dastkar, Ram Poddar, chief mentor, KK Modi Group, S Seru, CEO, domestic, Godfrey Phillips India and Bhisham Wadhera, executive vice-president, sales, Godfrey Phillips India.
Ane the award goes to: Dr Prakash Murlidhar Amte and his wife, Dr Mandakini Amte, were honoured with the most prestigious award of the evening, the Social Lifetime Achievement award. Yashoda Palan won the Mind of Steel award. The gold medal for Physical Bravery award went to Late Chintan Joshi, while the silver and bronze in that category went to Late Subash Swain and Late Talib Hussain. The awards were received by their parents.
In the acts of social courage awards category, Parmaben Sawa won the bronze medal, while Pratibha Devi won the silver medal. The gold medal went to Grace Nirmala of the NGO, APVJS/Ashray.
The Amodini Award for women was presented by Laila Tyabji to Chetna Gala Sinha, founder and chairman of the Mann Deshi group of Companies for her extensive work in empowering woman through micro finance in rural Maharashtra. And no, it wasn��t an all serious affair as Rabbi Shergill enthralled the audience with his soulful tunes after the awards were announced.

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