Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

MUMBAI— Because we all have a hidden hero inside – that was the tag-line of the 4th edition of ShoorVeer awards from Dr. Aneel Kashi Murarka’s foundation AmpleMissiion. The ShoorVeer Awards is a unique initiative that honors common men and women from across the country who achieved uncommon goals.

It honors brave-heart individuals who have known no fear and have performed extraordinary acts of bravery. The event held at the Bombay Stock Exchange Aug.10 was attended by a bevy of celebrities from the corporate world, film and the television industry, and the social field.

Besides, hosts Dr. Aneel Kashi Murarka and Siddhant Murarka, Roop Kumar and Sunali Rathod, Padmini Kolhapure Sharma, Mickey Mehta, BJP members Ashish Shelar, Vinod Shelar and Shaina NC, designer Sangeeta Murarka, Vastu expert and numerologist Basannt R Rasiwasia, Sooraj Thapar, Akashdeep Saigal, audiologist-speech therapist Devangi Dalal, Gurpreet Kaur Chadha, Yogesh Lakhani, Ashok Lokhande, television’s Tenali Rama – Krishna Bharadwaj, comedian VIP and writer-director Anusha Srinivasan Iyer were among the guests or presenters.

The award ceremony was also marked by live performances by singers Meghna Mishra (of “Secret Superstar”) and Aaman Trikha among others. The awards also saw a ramp walk by transgender women, signifying gender equality.

ShoorVeer 2018 awardees

Anoop Khanna

‘Dadi ki Rasoi’ in Noida sector 29 has gained immense popularity over time. Begun by Khanna (social activist), it aims at providing quality food to poor and needy people at just Rs 5. It serves food to more than 500 people per day, and the group also collects old unwanted clothes, cleans and irons them and sells them in a special shop for a nominal price of Rs. 10.

Rekha Mishra:

Railway Protection Force Sub-Inspector Rekha Mishra (32)’s daring exploits to save children, often battling great odds, feature in the Maharashtra State Board’s Class X textbook. She is credited with rescuing hundreds of destitute, missing, kidnapped or runaway children from various railway stations in the past few years. Currently posted at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), the cop has helped 953 children till date. This correspondent was given the honor of being one of her presenters.

Insia Dariwala

Insia Dariwala is an award-winning international filmmaker and one of the founder members of Sahiyo, an organization against Female Genital Mutilation. Dariwala, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, creates awareness to help similar victims through her films and her organization. Her award-winning debut film “The Candy Man,” followed by another hard-hitting film, “Cock-Tale,” delved into topics like child sexual abuse, and sexual violence on women. Insia also started The Hands of Hope Foundation, which diligently focuses on sexual violence on women and children.

Aarefa Johari

Aarefa Johari is a journalist and an anti-FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) activist based in Mumbai. She began her career with a four-year stint as a reporter for the Hindustan Times. For the past three years, she has been working at Scroll.in, an online news publication. Johari is also a co-founder of Sahiyo along with Insia Dariwala, a non-profit organization working to end female genital mutilation among the Dawoodi Bohra and other South-Asian communities.

Saumya Chandra & Nagesh Ahir

While most children their age would panic in the face of an emergency, these two, aged 13 and nine respectively, remained calm. When their friend fell into a deep water-tank, they rushed to help him. Having learned disaster management, they caught onto his collar and saved his life.

Major D.P. Singh

Major D.P. Singh is India’s first Blade Runner, who was severely injured on the Kargil battlefield! The army surgeon declared him dead on arrival after being blown by a mortar bomb and sent his wrecked body to a makeshift mortuary. But he won over death and, today at 39, has run close to 20 marathons. He is also a motivational speaker, inspiring over 1700 amputees across India. He manages a support group called The Challenging Ones.

Aaman Trikha

For someone qualified in engineering, Aaman Trikha is the voice behind the popular BJP anthem “Acche Din Aane Wale Hain” in the run-up to the Lok Sabha Elections of 2014. He is a known playback singer.

Rajan Kumar

Rajan Kumar is an Indian actor, born and brought up in Munger in Bihar. He is the first Indian actor who has been portraying comedian Charlie Chaplin for as many as 12000 hours in 4000 shows in India and abroad. For this, he won many awards and accolades and entries into the Guinness and Limca Books.

Dr. Habib Z. Shaikh

Dr. Habib Z Shaikh has been serving the poor patients without charging them any fee since 20 yrs. The doors of his Kamili Clinic are always open to the sick and needy slum-dwellers of Hari Nagar in the western suburbs of Mumbai. He is a household name there, and his patients get the best treatment possible. He is an unsung hero who shies away from any media glare, leading by example and being true to his profession.

Salma Memon

Salma Memon’s journey motivated her to take up education of underprivileged children as a cause. Her passion and hard-work took roots two years ago when she launched her dream initiative, Project UMEED, which supports education of underprivileged and orphan children.

Annasaheb Jadhav

Annasaheb Jadhav is a young Deputy Superintendent of Police, who was posted a few years back in the Naxalite-prone area of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. During his tenure, he set up a library for the poor and underprivileged students, a counseling center for educational guidance and various other activities to help their economic growth. This year, they have come together again to help 250 students of Gadchiroli with school stationary. He has also been selected for the President’s Medal this Independence Day.

Subarna Ghosh

Delivering a baby through a C-section without any medical need is a norm these days. Still, nobody raises any questions. Today we have a voice questioning this practice, reflecting the collective agony of so many women tricked into undergoing unnecessary surgery. This is the voice of Subarna Ghosh, who has filed a petition through change.org (which received 1.5 lakh signatures till date) to urge hospitals to declare the number of C-sections conducted. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has supported this petition, urging the health ministry to make necessary policy changes to curb C-sections in the country.

Dr. Satendra Singh

Dr. Satendra Singh is a doctor at the University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Delhi. A physiologist by profession, he contracted poliomyelitis at the age of 9 months but went on to complete MBBS and MD (post-graduation) in Physiology. He is the first Indian to win the prestigious Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards, given to extraordinary leaders in the global disability community. He is a noted disability activist, especially for his sustained efforts in making public places accessible for disabled persons.

Meghna Mishra

Singing sensation Meghna Mishra has achieved huge success at 16 and is a star already.

Shams Alam

Mohammad Shams Alam Shaikh, a mechanical engineer by profession, was also a passionate Black Belt Karate player. But life had different plans for him. After getting diagnosed with spine tumor and undergoing multiple operations in 2010, Shaikh was left paraplegic. But he took to swimming and won the bronze in the 12th Para-Swimming Championship in Chennai. Shaikh won four gold medals at the championship that was held in Indore and was also awarded a trophy for best swimmer. He is the first Indian to have successfully finished 6 kilometers of open sea swimming organized by the Indian Navy.

Nagraj Gowda

Nagraj Gowda always dreamed of setting an example for others, and wondered how to do it. Since he had a passion for cycling, he hit upon the idea to go on a solo cycling expedition across India with a social message for people. There were many issues he strongly believed in, and he wanted to advocate to his countrymen. Gowda, a resident of Mumbai, started his all-India Cycle Yatra on Dec.3, 2017 to spread the messages of World Peace, Communal Harmony, National Integration, Save Water, et al. So far he had peddled over 6000 kilometers.

source: http://www.indiawest.com / India West / Home / by R.M. Vijaykar , Special to India West / August 18th, 2018