The Arutchelvar Dr.N.Mahalingam Award 2024 was presented to Prof.Dr.Vishwanath Karad, Founder-President, of MIT Group of Institutions, Pune on Saturday at Kumaraguru Institutions for his unparalleled contributions to value-based education, interfaith, universal brotherhood and human welfare.

Dr.B.K.Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman, Kumaraguru Institutions conferred this prestigious award on Prof.Dr.Vishwanath Karad in the presence of the chief guest of this ceremony Justice M.M. Sundresh, Supreme Court of India, Balasubramaniam, Correspondent and Shankar Vanavarayar, Joint Correspondent, Kumaraguru Institutions.

This prestigious award was created by Kumaraguru Institutions, Coimbatore in 2014 in memory of its illustrious founder Dr.N.Mahalingam to recognise distinguished individuals who have made phenomenal contributions to the cause of nation-building through various fields including education, industry and society.

Dr.N.Mahalingam is a multi-faceted personality; a remarkable Engineer, a true Gandhian, a renowned educationist (who created 35 educational institutions), a powerful industrialist (who founded the Sakthi Group), an extraordinary statesman (who was a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislature for 3 times and a member of the State Planning Commission) and a humble spiritual leader.

Speaking at the event, Justice M.M.Sundresh said, this grand occasion is not just to admire the outstanding lives of Dr.N.Mahalingam and Prof.Dr.Karad but to take their lives as lessons to learn and live by.

He said Dr.N.Mahalingam and Dr.Karad are Great minds who exhibited the ability to think beyond their own successes and paved way for transformation, and wished that more such personalities like them should emerge from the youths of this region.

Accepting the award, Dr.Vishwanath Karad said, “He (Dr.N.Mahalingam) was a divine soul and only for bowing down and getting his blessings I came here, and not to advise anybody”.

At the occasion he said that Swami Vivekananda had strong believe in India that it will emerge as a global leader that will show the pathway to peace and harmony to other nations, and he underlined that such a moment has come now and it is the duty of us all to make India a Vishwaguru, so that this whole world which is essentially one family will benefit.