Mumbai, Dec 8 (IANS): Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud conferred the prestigious 45th Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation Awards-2023 on four eminent personalities for excellence in different fields, here on Friday.

The recipients were Dr Regi George and Dr Lalitha Regi, Trustees of Tribal Health Initiative, Tamil Nadu, for constructive work; Dr Ramalakshmi Datta, Joint Director of Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology, West Bengal, for application of science and technology for rural development; and Sudha Varghese, Secretary, Nari Gunjan, Bihar, for development and welfare of women and children.

Raha Naba Kumar, Director & CEO of Gandhi Ashram Trust, Bangladesh, was honoured with the International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India.

Each awardee were given a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh - doubled from the earlier Rs 10 lakh as a tribute to the birth centennial of Ramkrishna Bajaj, the founder of JBF- a citation and a trophy.

Present on the occasion were JBF Chairman and industrialist Shekhar Bajaj, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, R.A. Mashelkar and other dignitaries.

Jamnalal Bajaj (1889-1942), 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. Later Bajaj was the 'alter-ego' of Gandhiji during the Gandhian Constructive Movement.

Subsequently, Jamnalal Bajaj’s second son, Ramkrishna Bajaj (1923-1994), also embraced Gandhian philosophy and dedicated his life in the service of the nation in many different ways. He set up the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation in the memory of his father.