Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
With Inputs from Media Release
Mangaluru, Jan 6: Well-known social activist Vidya Dinker will receive the Lawrence Pinto Human Rights Award for the year 2016.
Lawrence Pinto (in whose name the Award is instituted), lived all his life in the service of the working class and the downtrodden. ‘Friends of Lawry’, with the intention of perpetuating his memory, has instituted the – ‘Lawrence Pinto Human Rights Award’.
The awards selection committee of ‘Friends of Lawry’ said in a statement that Vidya Dinker has been unanimously chosen to receive the award for the year 2016, as she has dedicated many years selflessly to fight for people’s rights, taken on the might of the state against the displacement of locals, especially the poor, under the SEZ project, her valiant fight for ecology and in defence of the trees being felled in the name of development and progress, for standing-up bravely against anti-social elements and for doing all this, almost single-handedly.
The award ceremony will be held on Sunday January 24 at Kalaangann at 6 pm.
The award will include a citation, public honour and a purse of Rs 1 lac. Prof M I Savadatti, scientist and former vice-chancellor of Mangalore University will present the award.
Eminent rationalist and consumer protection activist Dr Narendra Nayak had received the first Award in 2015.
About Lawrence Pinto
Lawrence Pinto was born in Nagpur on January 26, 1949, to William Robert Pinto and Severine Dominica D'Souza. He married Leena Pereira in 1979. In his early days, he led the young Christian workers movement in Mangaluru and at the national level. He was the co-founder of the All India Church Employees Federation.
In later years, he joined the trade union movement and spearheaded many working class struggles and established very many independent unions. Along with his comrades, he was responsible for the formation of the Dakshina Kannada co-ordination committee of Trade Unions. He also ably represented the workers' cause consistently during his entire tenure in the KEB.
He was one of the founding members of the premier Konkani cultural organization Mandd Sobhann, and served the cause of Konkani culture for nearly 28 years. He always went out of his way to serve the poor and the unfortunate.