Shyam Sundar Co Jewellers receives ‘Mother Teresa International Award’

‘Shyam Sundar Co Jewellers’ was presented the ‘Mother Teresa International Award’ for social responsibility at a special programme held at Conrad Hotel, Dubai, on August 26. The award, instituted by the ‘Mother Teresa International Awards Committee’, was presented to Rupak Saha, Director, ‘Shyam Sundar Co Jewellers’. Doing the honours were Blanche Ravalec, a famous Hollywood actor, Ireland, Chairman of the ‘Mother Teresa International Award Committee’, H. E. Juma Madani, UAE and Bijender Singh, Consulate General of India, UAE.

This special honour is in recognition of this heritage jewellery house’s commitment to social causes and contribution in that direction. And, to quote the formal on-stage introduction, ‘for coming to the aid of crying needs of society and extending a helping hand whenever the call came’.

Some of the initiatives that were cited for the special honour were ‘Swarnagram - Model Village Project’, which is the adoption of a village for the upliftment of lives and livelihood of tribal people in a remote corner of Tripura in North-East India; ‘Durga and Friends’, the adoption of a shelter for the abandoned girl child in Calcutta. It’s an initiative to bring back hope and happiness in the lives of the homeless and hapless girl children and celebrate the power of love and care.

The mother of all tributes, ‘Shricharanesu Ma’, is an initiative to go beyond the traditional toe-touching exercise and take charge of her health and happiness. ‘Hrishikesh Saha Memorial Charitable Dispensary’ is an initiative to provide proper health care and medication for people who don’t have access to it. ‘The Future of Earth is in Our Hands’ is a series of mass media campaigns to spread awareness of the perils of deforestation and consciousness of the resultant global warming and other related dangers and impending disasters that are staring us in the face along with a massive tree planting drive to undo the damage before it’s too late.

The recipients of the award in other categories included well-known names like Sacha Jafri, Imran Zaki and Usha Uthup. The programme included a live painting inspired by Mother Teresa by the world-famous artist Sacha Jafri.

“It’s indeed a great honour to receive the ‘Mother Teresa International Award’ for social responsibility and I thank the ‘Mother Teresa International Award Committee’ for adding to the rewarding experience of our CSR initiatives with this very special award that is in the name of the ‘mother of all love and care’, St Teresa of Calcutta,” said Rupak Saha.