Catholic organization awards Hindu seer

February 06, 2013: A Catholic social service society in India has honored a Hindu guru with a Human Dignity Award for his work to end social and caste discrimination.

The Kaira Social Service Society (KSSS) honored Swami Adhyatmanandji with the award at the St Mary’s School campus at Nadiad near Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Addressing a gathering of over 1,000 people, KSSS director Fr. Joseph Appavoo said he selected Adhyatmanandji because of the work to check discrimination among various sections of society.

The priest said that the Hindu religious leader has also organized interfaith program and worked against female feticide.

On the occasion, the seer appreciated the efforts of KSSS in trying to uplift the conditions of the poor and suppressed classes so that they could lead a life with dignity and self-respect.

He hoped the efforts of KSSS would ultimately result in reducing the discrimination on the basis of caste and communities and promoting universal human brotherhood.

He claimed that his ashram in Ahmedabad and other places in India as also abroad had been propagating the same values.

Quoting from the Bible, Bishop Thomas Macwan of Ahmedabad said that human life was extremely sacred and the moral foundation of the society depended on human dignity.

He said that the status of a society depended on whether it respected or threatened the dignity of the human being.

A childline service to prevent child abuse and a leadership training program for women from religious minorities was inaugurated by Kheda district collector M V Pargi on the occasion.

Both the schemes are sponsored by the federal ministry of women and child development and KSSS has been selected to operate them.

KSSS, a catholic organization working for 46 years for promotion of justice, peace, human rights and upliftment of poor and downtrodden, instituted the award five years ago and confers it on an eminent social and human rights activist on its foundation day every year on Feb. 3.