National awards for child welfare presented

National awards for child welfare presented
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JUNE 28: President K R Narayanan on Wednesday presented the National Awards for Child Welfare, 1999, to five institutions and an individual for their outstanding voluntary action in the field of child development and welfare.

The awards instituted in 1979 carries a cash prize of Rs two lakh and a citation for institutions and Rs 50,000 and a citation for the individual.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Human Resource Development, Murli Manohar Joshi appreciated the role played by the institutions and individuals for the welfare of children and said non-governmental organisations (NGOs) contribution had been immense in this sphere.

He said even though tremendous progress has been made in the welfare of girl-child, much more needs to be done for their upliftment.

Joshi said there was need for creating a healthy environment for proper all round growth of children and NGOs could play an important role in this.

Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Sumitra Mahajan said government was paying special attention to the development of girl-child and all facilities were extended for this purpose.

The institutions which were given the awards were SOS Children's Village, Balgran, Jammu, Anupama Education Society, Satna, Madhya Pradesh, Society for Rehabilitation of Spastic Children, Aizawl, Mizoram, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Institute for the Handicapped, South Sikkim and Dakshin Kalikata Sevashram, Calcutta.

In the individual category, the award was given to J Viswanathan who is running an orphanage in Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu.