ITANAGAR, Apr 22: The Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation, Chennai, a reputed public charitable trust involved in social philanthropy, has selected the Lohit Youth Library Network Coordinator, Sathyanarayanan Mundayoor aka ‘Uncle Moosa’ for the 25th Mahaveer Award for Excellence in Human Endeavour in the field of Education. The Award carries a cash component of Rs.10 lakhs, a memento and a citation. The awards are also awarded in other fields ‘Non -violence & Vegetarianism’, Medicine & public health, and Community and Social service.  

Thanking the Foundation, S Mundayoor said that the entire Lohit Youth Library Network volunteers, mentors, patrons and well-wishers feel it as an award for book lovers and reading enthusiasts on the eve of World Book Day. 

The award shall also be a great motivation to many more youth to come forward to serve their reading-deprived brothers and sisters in such remote and rural communities, not only in Arunachal, but the rest of India, he said.

Mundayoor also expressed gratitude to the Arunachal State Cabinet and the Deputy Chief Minister for their wholehearted backing and support to the Youth Library movement. It is also an occasion to remember our many patrons, volunteers in distant places, who have been with great commitment backing the reading promotion activities during the last 15 years, he added.

Assuring the library Network’s commitment to continue working to spread the joy of reading and thus contribute to improve the educational standards of rural Arunachal societies, the Coordinator informed that the entire cash award will be utilized to build a corpus for training and creating a cadre of reading volunteers in Arunachal.