Anne Ferrer leads the way in Spoorthi Awards

Bommidala Srikrishnamurthy Foundation, an NGO, is renowned for awarding individuals who have shined in the fields of literature, education, social service and agriculture at the national level. This year, the Spoorthi Awards by the foundation were presented to highly revered Anne Ferrer representing the ‘Rural Development Trust’. Three other recipients include the literary giant Kalipatnam Ramarao, agriculture innovator Goriparthi NAarsimharaju Yadav and educationist Dr Adarapurapu Tejovathi.

Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah presented these awards with a cash award of Rs 3 lakh each apart from a citation at a function recently.

Sister Anne Ferrer is the wife of late Father Vincent Ferrer, who is the heart and soul of Anantapur district. The Rural Development Trust (RDT) founded by him spends money for education, housing, health, agriculture and multiple economic activities for sustaining the village economy and to uplift the less privileged sections including scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other economically vulnerable sections of the society. Unlike the government, every programme of the RDT is well monitored and implemented in a hassle-free and corruption-free manner.

However the most disappointing factor is that while the Vice President of Spain awarded the RDT for its services to the downtrodden in Anantapur, the local government have not recognised the organisation yet. RDT is currently planning to expand its activities to other districts in the State. It is already working in the Nallamala forests to uplift the Chenchu Tribes.

Kalipatnam Rama Rao is also another literary giant who is recognised as a people’s poet and writer. His works reflect the living conditions of the poor, the have-nots and the artisans of the country. Some of his works include books such as ‘Yagnam’, ‘Chavu’, ‘Bhayam’, ‘Arthi’, ‘Theerpu’, ‘Jeevana Dhara’, ‘Veerudu ‘and ‘Mahaveerudu’. He set up a literary exhibition in Srikakulam dubbed as ‘Kathanilayam’ where all rich works of Telugu writers of social themes can be found.

Another recipient of the Bommidala Awards is Goriparthi Narasimharaju Yadav of Machilipatnam. He is farmer who practices bio-farming without using pesticides or chemical fertilisers. He took the cultivation of basmati rice as a challenge and is producing high yielding horticulture crops and 40 such rice bags per acre, beating even records of Punjab farmers.

The final awardee Dr Tejovathi, a poet, writer and educationist, was instrumental in the revival of the age old educational institution called ‘Sharada Niketan’. She raised funds on her own and even inspired old students of the school to contribute and virtually revived the institution which was once a pride of place.

By: Ravi P Benjamin