14th CAVINKARE ABILITY AWARDS
Honoring the disabled achievers across the country since 2003
Chennai 12th March, 2016: Once again, at a scintillating evening of music, diversity and range the 14th edition of the Cavinkare Ability Awards took place at Chennai on Saturday, March 12th 2016 at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Auditorium, Chetpet. From among an extensive range of countrywide achievers with disabilities, 5 lucky ones were the awardees this time. The recipients were picked out by the discerning jury members comprising Mr. Arun Jain – Chairman & MD, Intellectual Design Arena Ltd, Mr. Mani Ratnam – Film Maker, Ms. Mariazeena Johnson – Director, Sathyabama University, Mr. Rajiv Lochan – MD & CEO, Kasturi & Sons (The Hindu Group), Mr. Santosh Radhakrishnan – Head, Corporate Business, Tamil Nadu & Kerala, Dainik Bhaskar Group and Mr. G Venkat Ram – Fashion Photographer, who also were present at the event, gracing the grand occasion. Mr. Vikram –Film actor attended the event as the guest of honour.
The evening’s programme featured a galaxy of artists and creative minds. The master of ceremonies was celebrated rapper, poet , singer and lyricist Blaaze. The musical evening had the presence of DJ Kave, internationally known DJ and scratchmaster . A.R.Rahman’s Sunshine Orchestra conducted by Mr Srinivasa Murthy mesmerized the audience with their presentation, while Irwin Victoria, who made the top ten in Vijay TV’s Super Singer competition, captured everyone’s hearts with his singing.
The CavinKare Ability Awards are conducted together by CavinKare Pvt. Ltd., a leading FMCG corporate and Ability Foundation, a national NGO for the empowerment of persons with disabilities.
The awards aim to encourage and recognize the exceptional achievers with disabilities from across the country – individuals who have defied conventional, social, attitudinal, physical and other barriers in pursuit of their aims and aspirations.
The awards fall into two categories – Eminence & Mastery. The Eminence Award salutes the excellent achievement of a person who has not just overcome great odds towards achievement but has also contributed significantly to society by initiating an organization of his/her own. This award carries a citation, a trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh. The Mastery Awards is presented to three individuals with disability in recognition of their extraordinary achievement in any field of their choice. The recipients of this award, each receives a citation, a trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh.
The nomination process starts 3 to 4 months prior to the event where every individual who desires to participate will have to nominate themselves for the suitable award category. Based on the nominations the award category will be filled in helping the jury to identify the right talent of the year. The CavinKare Ability awards were announced on a National media platform covering Print, Television, Radio and other NGO’s.
This year’s achievers are:
CavinKare Ability Award For Eminence
K R RAJA Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
K R Raja, who became disabled due to polio, has found an unusual calling in life. His organization Global Network for Equality works to support the children of prisoners serving their time as life prisoners for homicide against their spouses. He believes that such children are left with no childhood to speak of, and therefore there is an imperative need for them to receive educational and all other support from society.
CavinKare Ability Mastery Awards
JUSTIN JESUDAS Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Justin has a spinal cord injury right from his neck downwards, as a result of a road accident in 2009. In a surprisingly short time, he has risen to become a star on the international swimming circuit, and ranked among the top 20 at the IPC World Swimming Championship in Glasgow in 2015. That he juggles the rigorous training of competitive swimming with a full time job with an IT major is a tribute to his zest, zeal and determination.
ANJAN SATHEESH Ernakulam, Kerala
Anjan is the youngest member of the Kerala Cartoon Academy and an art and computer science teacher at the Adarsh School. Given that he has cerebral palsy along with speech & hearing disability, his achievements are the result of his innate abilities and hard work, as well as tremendous family support.
ANKUR DHAMA New Delhi
Ankur has several championships on the international front to his credit, winning medals for track and field athletics, as well as being a high achiever on the academic front at St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi. Not one to allow blindness to come in the way of achievements, his list of accomplishments include gold medals at the World Youth Championships, Colorado, USA, the Open Championship, Malaysia, and a host of national meets. He has recently qualified for the Rio Paralympics to be held in August this year and hopes to bring home more laurels and do his country proud.
CavinKare Ability Special Recognition Award
These apart, there is also one other award ,the CavinKare Ability Special Recognition Award , which is given to a person with disability who is an acknowledged leader in the disability sector with exceptional achievements – either on the personal or the organisational front – inspiring awe and meriting a special mention in the Awards. This is an honorary award that carries a citation and a trophy. This year’s Special Recognition award recipientis:
MAJOR H P S AHLUWALIA from New Delhi.
Maj. H P S Ahluwalia became a national hero from the moment he scaled Mt. Everest in 1965. Just three months later, a bullet injury during the Indo-Pak conflict rendered him a tetraplegic. While lesser men would have faltered and dithered, Major Ahluwalia rose like a phoenix to create a state-of-art, one-stop destination for all victims of spinal injury, and established the The Indian Spinal Injury Centre that offers all required necessities in style.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. CK Ranganathan, Chairman & Managing Director, CavinKare Pvt.Ltd. said, “Disabled people are, very often, a treasure trove of talent and fountain of inspiration. I have drawn inspiration from such specially talented disabled people & have explored a new perspective to life. Cavinkare Ability Awards is a felicitation of disabled people who have gone on to achieve brilliance despite their physical limitation. Each year, we embark to cast the net wider & drive this inspiration with the support of our media partners. This 14th Edition of the Cavinkare Ability Awards has truly been an eye-opener that motivates me to embark on a new journey in life.”
Ms. Jayshree Raveendran, Founder & Honorary Executive Director, Ability Foundation, “As I always say, there are more role models amidst people with disabilities than there are anywhere else in the country. To be able to highlight on just half a dozen of these hi-fliers is an honour for us and a revelation for the others in the country. It is with a sense of glee that I watch the members of the jury struggle to pick out the recipients as we can award only so many per annum… changing their mindsets first, then that of the audience and eventually the country… it’s thrilling to be able to do that. That’s what we’re here for, anyway. “
