Prakash Amte

Prakash Amte (Marathi: ) is a medical doctor and social worker from Maharashtra, India. Son of Magsaysay awardee and legend Baba Amte, he and his wife, Dr. Mandakini Amte were awarded [1] theMagsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership' in 2008 for their philanthropic work in the form of the Lok Biradari Prakalp amongst the Madia Gonds in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the neighbouring states ofAndhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Early life[edit]
He obtained a medical degree from GMC, Nagpur. His brother Vikas Amte, also a medical doctor, coordinates the activities at their father's ashram at Anandwan and manages the satellite projects and hospitals. He has written marathi books like 'Prakashvata', 'Negal'.

Lok Biradari Prakalp[edit]

After completing his M.B.B.S. when he was studying for M.S. he was granted land by Maharashtra Govt. for his project. He left his M.S. and moved to Hemalkasa to start the Lok Biradari Prakalp in 1973, a project for the development of tribal people, most of whom were the Madia Gond in the forests of Gadchirolli district in 1973.[2] He lived and worked there without electricity, telephone etc. for almost twenty years and at times performed emergency surgical procedures without electricity. ( Interview to Raju Parulekar on Marathi TV channel ETV Marathi, Programme name Samvad) The project transformed into three things: a hospital,Lok Biradari Prakalp Davakhana, a residential school Lok Biradari Prakalp Ashram Shala and an orphanage for injured wild animals the Amte Animal Arc. It seeks to improve health and educational services for tribals in the area. Hemalkasa lies in a tribal belt and the project provides health care to about 40000 individuals annually. The Lok Biradari Prakalp Ashram School has over 600 students, residents and day scholars.[3] A countryside that belongs to the rural folk. To the tribals; the very people for whom the Lok Biradari Prakalp was established by the revered Murlidhar Devidas Amte (Baba Amte) in December 1973. The eyes of the Baba light up at the mere mention of the project. The pride of successful service to the tribals by his son, shows in that gleam in his eyes.

Magsaysay award[edit]
He was awarded the Magsaysay Award for community leadership for 2008, jointly with wife Mandakini, his citation reads as follows:

enhancing the capacity of the Madia Gonds to adapt positively in today's India, through healing and teaching and other compassionate interventions".[1]

Mata Amritanandamayi
Mt Amtnandamay Dev (Devanagari: , Malayalam: )(born asSudhamani Idamannel on 27 September 1953), primarily known simply as Amma ["Mother"], is a Hindu spiritual leader and guru, who is revered as a saint by her followers. She is widely respected for her humanitarian activities.[1]She has been described as "the hugging saint."[2]

Biography[edit]
Amritanandamayi is an Indian Guru from Parayakadavu (now partially known as Amritapuri), Alappad Panchayat, Kollam District, in the state of Kerala.[3] Born to a family of fishermen in 1953, she was the third child of Sugunanandan and Damayanti. Like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sudhamani displayed an intense love for God right from very tender age. Her favourite God was Krishna. She started praying, crying and shedding tears seeking the darshan of Krishna and she composed and sang impromptu several devotional songs on Lord Krishna right from childhood. Her education ended at the age of nine, when she began to take care of her younger siblings and the family domestic work full-time.

Teachings[edit]
In the book The Timeless Path, Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri, one of Amritanandamayi's senior disciples, writes: "The [spiritual] path inculcated by Amma is the same as the one presented in the Vedas and recapitulated in subsequent traditional scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita."[17] Amritanandamayi herself says, Karma [action], jana [knowledge] and bhakti [devotion] are all essential. If the two wings of a bird are devotion and action, knowledge is its tail. Only with the help of all three can the bird soar into the heights.[18] She accepts the various spiritual practices and prayers of all religions as but various systems for the single goal of purifying the mind.[19] Along these lines, she stresses the importance of meditation, performing actions as karma yoga, selfless service, and cultivating divine qualities such as compassion, patience, forgiveness, self-control, etc. Amritanandamayi says that these practices refine the mind, making it fit for assimilating the ultimate truth: that one is not the limited body and mind but the eternal blissful consciousness that serves as the non-dual substratum of the universe.[17] This understanding itself Amritanandamayi refers to as jivanmukti [liberation while alive]. Amritanandamayi says, "Jivanmukti is not something to be attained after death, nor is it to be experienced or bestowed upon you in another world. It is a state of perfect awareness and equanimity, which can be experienced here and now in this world, while living in the body. Having come to experience the highest truth of oneness with the Self, such blessed souls do not have to be born again. They merge with the infinite."[18]

Books and publications[edit]

Amritanandamayi's disciples have transcribed her conversations with devotees and spiritual seekers to create approximately a dozen books of her teachings known as "Awaken Children". The addresses she has delivered at various international forums have also been published in book form. Beginning in April 2011, a bi-weekly message from Amritanandamayi has appeared in the Lifestyle section of the Express Buzz Sunday supplement of the New Indian Express newspaper. She also writes a regular blog in the spiritual publication Speaking Tree.

S S Kumar
S S Kumar was born in Kolkata. He had studied in the National High Schools and obtained his graduation in commerce and law from Calcutta University. He also holds a diploma in Textile technology. He served a brief stint in the Supreme Court of India, he moved on to look after his family business. He has long been associated with industrial activities and represented several trade bodies. He was the President of the Indian Leather Industries Association for 6 years (199298) and served as the Regional Chairman of the Council for Leather Exports sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce & Industries, GOI (19982002). Later he served as the National Chairman of the Council for Leather Exports(200405).

Career[edit]
Kumar was one of the prime movers of the relocation of the Kolkata tanneries from Topsia, Tiljala and Tangra belt to the modern Kolkata Leather Complex. He has represented the Project Standing Committee, Leather Technology, GOI; He was the Chairman of the Steering committee for the relocation of the tanneries to the CLC, represented the State level Management Committee, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Managing Committee of the FIEO, CII, Footwear Design and Development Institute, as well as the Central Leather Research Institute, and as the Co-Chairman of the FICCI Leather Panel(ER). He is an executive member of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce and its Chairman of the committee on industry and a member of the High Power Committee on Calcutta Leather Complex, set up by the Government. He has also been a member of the task force for monitoring the implementation of Corporate Responsibility in Environmental Protection, set up by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. He presently represents Council for Leather Exports as its Panel Chairman for Core Committee on the Animal Welfare Programme and the Committee on Bureau of Indian Standards. Kumar coordinated the visit of several industry delegations to several capitals in the world, noteworthy amongst them with the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Buddhadev Bhattacharjee. Initiated by Kumar, the MOU signed during the visit of the then Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Romano Prodi to Kolkata saw the birth of the Tanning Training & Service Center set up with the assistance of the Italian Government in Kolkata. In his tenure as the Chairman CLE, the Wal-Mart was invited to India and the Indian export initiatives with the global retailer had began.

Role in Education Sector[edit]

Kumar is closely connected with Administration of Academic Institutions. He has been the President of the National High Schools, Kolkata for 10 years, and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Government College of Engineering & Leather Technology, GOWB. He has also been the Vice President of AHEAD, a school of National excellence, dedicated to specially empowered children. Kumar is a keen social worker and has been associated with several social upliftment projects in and around West Bengal. He is also a keen sportsman and has been the founder president of the Kolkata chapter of the Bengal Non-Olympic Association; He is a member of the Indian Life Saving Society, and the Lake Club. He is a naturalist and a keen photographer and is a member of the Royal Photographic Society, England. He has

regularly held photo exhibitions in India and abroad and has published Coffee Table Books on Sundarban and Darjeeling. His other hobbies are poetry, painting, reading and traveling, particularly to wild life parks. He has written a novel, christened the Frozen Waves launched in 2012 June.