Mumbai, Dec 4 (IANS): Supreme Court Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud will be the chief guest and give away the prestigious 45th Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation Awards at a mega-event here on December 8, an official said here on Monday.

The winners shall be felicitated by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation Chairman and industrialist Shekhar Bajaj, and Trustees like Nobel laureate K. Satyarthi, Dr. R. A. Mashelkar and others at the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace.

This year (2023), the Foundation received 125 nominations for Constructive Work, 61 for application of science and technology for rural development, 123 for development and welfare of women & children, and 24 nominations from 14 countries for the international award category for promoting Gandhian values in the world.

The award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 20-lakhs, a Citation and a Trophy is presented to honour and motivate the unprecedented contributions of the individuals towards the upliftment and development of society, rural community and the nation at large.

Jamnalal Bajaj, also known as the 'Merchant Prince', was a renowned industrialist of the pre-Independence era, a freedom fighter and philanthropist who was adopted by Mahatma Gandhi as his fifth son and later Bajaj was the 'alter-ego' of Gandhiji during the Gandhian Constructive Movement.

Subsequently, Jamnalal Bajaj’s second son, Ramkrishna Bajaj also embraced Gandhian philosophy and dedicated his life in the service of the nation in many different ways, and set up the ‘Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation’ in the memory of his illustrious father.