Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award

Pune:1/8/23:The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi was conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award in Pune, Maharashtra today. The Award was constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983 to honor the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak. The Prime Minister donated the cash prize to the Namami Gange Project.

The Prime Minister paid floral tributes at the statue of Lokmanya Tilak after arriving at the venue. Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister paid tributes to Lokmanya Tilak on his punya tithi and said that it is a special day for him. Highlighting his feelings for the occasion, the Prime Minister said that today marks the punya tithi of Lokmanya Tilak and the birth anniversary of Anna Bhau Sathe. “Lokmanya Tilak ji is the ‘tilak’ of India’s freedom struggle”, the Prime Minister said. He also underlined the extraordinary and unparalleled contributions of Anna Bhau Sathe towards the betterment of society. The Prime Minister paid tribute to the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Chapekar Brother, Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule. Earlier the Prime Minister sought blessings at the Dagdusheth Temple.

Recalling that lakhs of people had given up the gas subsidy when the Prime Minister had made a call to those who can give it up during his address from the Red Fort, he informed that a survey was conducted of many countries which revealed India has the most faith in their government. Shri Modi emphasized that increasing public trust is becoming the medium of progress for the people of India.

Governor of Maharashtra, Shri Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis and Shri Ajit Pawar, Member of Parliament, Shri Sharadchandra Pawar, President of Tilak Smarak Trust,  Dr Deepak Tilak, Vice President of Tilak Smarak Trust, Dr Rohit Tilak, and Trustee of Tilak Smarak Trust, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde among others were present on the occasion among others

Background

The Award was constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983 to honor the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak. It is awarded to people who have worked for the progress and development of the nation and whose contribution can only be seen as remarkable and extraordinary. It is presented every year on the 1st of August – Lokmanya Tilak’s death anniversary.

The Prime Minister became the 41st recipient of the award. It has previously been presented to luminaries such as Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mrs Indira Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Shri N. R. Narayana Murthy, Dr E. Sreedharan among others.