Hari Narke, Meena Kotwal recipients of this year’s AANA awards
Ambedkar Association of North America’s (AANA’s) ‘Dr Ambedkar International Award’ for 2022 has been conferred on noted Marathi scholar Hari Narke for his outstanding contribution to research, seminars, lectures, and publications on the life of Jotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule and B R Ambedkar.
The ‘Dr Ambedkar International Award’ was instituted by AANA in 2011. The award is an honour for the exceptional work done for social change following the vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
The other awards were ‘Savitrimai Phule International Award,’ which has been given to Seematai Sakhare for her distinguished contribution to grassroots feminist activism and women’s studies and for ceaselessly working towards justice for women since 1953, and ‘Mooknayak Excellency in Journalism’ award to journalist Meena Kotwal for her incessant effort to highlight Dalits’ issues on social media.
AANA also honoured Buddhacharya Shanti Swaroop Boudh posthumously with the ‘Dr Ambedkar International Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his contribution to spreading Buddhism and Ambedkar’s philosophy. Shanti Swaroop Boudh, who was a writer, Buddhist scholar and Ambedkarite-Buddhist activist, died in 2020 at the age of 70.
Ambedkar Association of North America was formed in 2008 with the aim to uplift the lives of people who belong to the underprivileged castes in India.