His Excellency Hon’ble President, eminent dignitaries and all the Samaritans who are proud recipients of the coveted honour.

At the outset, accept my apologies for the delay in the commencement of this program. Unfortunately, I got held up because of another pressing commitment which required my presence, hence I sincerely apologize again to all of you for the delay caused.

Today, when the world is celebrating the 150^th birth anniversary of Pujya Bapuji, the conferring of coveted Gandhi Peace Prize to Samaritans and organisations who have internalised Bapu’s vision throughout their lives while dedicatedly working for the cause of humanity, is indeed a fitting significant tribute to the Father of the Nation. 

Such organisations or citizens who dedicate their lives for welfare deserve such recognition.  Leading by example are visionary organisations like Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari or EkalVidyalaya who, with their sustained efforts, are inspiring the most marginalised section of society towards embracing education and amelioration. Fully dedicated towards development of society these organisations have developed a chain of sustainable developmental projects at the grassroots level. On this occasion when their efforts are being honoured, I extend my heartiest congratulations to all of them.

Once when Gandhi ji was asked to choose between “Swaraj”- Self Governance or “Swacchhata” – cleanliness, he said that if I have to select one of the two then I would give preference to cleanliness. The onus lies on all of us to fulfil this vision of Pujya Bapu ji.

The most honoured person today for us is the one who is single-mindedly working towards setting up of toilets and ensuring cleanliness in nook and corner of our country. It is indeed a privilege to honour and congratulate the contribution made by a mission like SulabhShauchalay in propagating the cause of Swachhata-cleanliness.

Akshay Patra has redefined the mid day meal scheme and has strengthened this government scheme of providing nutritious food to children during school which has been mandated across states. They are extremely professional in rendering their services, and I was indeed fortunate to serve their three billionth meal at Vrindawan sometime back.

The Government of India is also working on a mission with a very big comprehensive plan to combat malnutrition. If the children of India are healthy only then India can be healthy too.

This humongous mission of government can only be consolidated with participatory citizenship to make India self-reliant.

Success in Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom mission can be attributed to his undying passion which is very much a tradition in our country. The years of slavery had also given great revolutionary leaders to our country. This is the trait of our nation that Gabdhiji made the freedom struggle a peoples movement. He instilled in every mind that any service to nation shall contribute in the freedom movement. The robust people participation and mass movement exhibited during freedom movement is equally valuable now for a prosperous and happy India. This is the Gandhian vision leading us to fulfil his dream on his 150^th birth anniversary and the diamond jubilee of 75 years of freedom in 2022. Pujya Bapu was a world human.  Despite being hard pressed with time during freedom movement, he diligently spared a day in his week to serve the lepers. He would relentlessly dedicate his time to the cause of leprosy as he had to change the mindset of the people who outcast lepers. Saskawaji committed four decades of his life to the cause of leprosy. Their efforts led to awareness about the disease and this led to acceptance in the society. There have been many such change makers who showed empathy towards these citizens who had been discriminated and outcast from the routine activities of their society due to this illness. On this pious occasion it is important to acknowledge the contribution of those who connected them to the mainstream. This will indeed be a fitting tribute to the service that Bapu rendered to the stigma attached to leprosy.

Such is the compelling aura of this world leader- Bapu that on his 150^th anniversary singers of more that 150 countries have together sung his famous prayer ‘vaishnavjan to tenekahiye je”. How beautiful is this rendition from people who do not even know the language. One can see it on You tube. It is awe inspiring to see the acceptance and recognition that India is receiving globally. This multi nationality amalgamation of artists in honour of Gandhi ji is a testimonial of the fact that Gadhian Philosophy is episodic in context of working towards the humantarian good.  This is now being acknowledge across the globe.

This is one of the biggest honour for every citizen of India.what can be a better recognition for the children of this country.

Once again I congratulate each one of you. All the best wishes in your future endeavours. With my modest salutation to Pujya Bapu, I conclude my speech by offering my homage to this great leader.

Many thanks!

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