Sushri Nivedita Bhide and others from Vivekananda Kendra handing over the amount of Gandhi Peace Prize to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi
New Delhi: True to its ideals, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari donated an amount of Rs one crore it received as Gandhi Peace Prize to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 9. The Kendra has described its decision as a humble offering of the organisation towards our Jawans. The money will be used for the welfare of the families of the martyrs.
The Kendra was conferred with the Gandhi Peace Prize of 2015 earlier this year. A sum of Rs one crore accompanied the prize was given to the Kendra for its contribution towards promotion of self-help, sustainability and development throughout Bharat, especially in tribal areas. Founded in 1972 the Kendra is centred around the noble thought of Swami Vivekananda that service to man is worship to God.
Vivekananda Kendra has been working in the field of formal and non-formal education through its schools in several regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Andamans. There are 75 such Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas running now. In the informal education sector, the Kendra has started 120 Anandalaya in Assam’s tea garden areas and this has influenced the life in tea garden to a great extent. Today, the Kendra runs some 277 Anandalaya and over 200 Balwadis. Besides 565 Sanskar Vargs for 17,000 students, 147 Swadhyaya Vargs for 2500 college students are also being conducted. The Kendra is concentrating on rural development projects in South Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh catering to the needs of children, youth and elderly persons.
Vivekananda Kendra was founded by Eknath Ranade. After the successful installation of Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, he decided to create an army of dedicated youth who would work for the emancipation of people from the neglected, exploited, deprived sections of the society. The Kendra has set up 830 activity centres in the country to launch organisational and service projects. The Gandhi Peace Prize is given to the individuals, associations, institutions or organisations who have worked selflessly for peace, non-violence and amelioration of human sufferings particularly of the less-privileged section of society contributing towards social justice and harmony.
