Mahaveer's teachings are still relevant today: TN Guv

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Friday stressed the need to remain firm in our cultural values, especially non-violence, peace and harmonious living, besides helping the needy, as enunciated by Bhagwan Mahaveer.

He was speaking at the Mahaveer Awards for Excellence in Human Endeavour, organised by Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation here where those including 'Maths wizard' Anand Kumar were presented awards in different categories.

"The forces of modern culture are sweeping across the globe and upsetting our traditions, values and attitudes. It is imperative that we do not lose the core values of our culture, namely, non-violence, peace and harmonious living and helping the needy," Purohit said.

Bhagwan Mahaveer, who lived 2,600 years ago, wanted to help each and every living being on Earth and wanted to remove all kinds of their sufferings.

The Governor lauded the various awardees.

The awards were presented in different categories, including Non-violence and vegetarianism to Federation of Indian Animal Protection organisation, New Delhi and Baba Palla Singh Goushala, Punjab respectively.

Anand Kumar "the Maths Wizard (and) founder of Super 30 the innovative educational programme which trains poor children to face the entrance exams," in Education category were among the others who received the awards, a Raj Bhavan release said.

Kumar runs a highly innovative Super 30 programme for the last 18 years to mentor 30 students free of cost through a year-long residential coaching for Indias premier IIT-JEE.

Earlier, he had been awarded Rashtriya Bal kalyan Award by President of India Ram Nath Kovind in 2017 and the highest award of Bihar government in the field of education, "Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar" in November 2010.

Jeevodaya Hospice for Cancer Patients in Chennai and the Pain and Palliative Care Society, Kozhikode received the award in the field of medicine.