Kolkata, 9th July, 2021: Established in 1946, Sanmarg is the largest circulated and most popular Hindi daily in eastern India, headquartered in Kolkata. It was founded by Swami Karpatri Ji Maharaj, and is based on the pillars of humanity and righteousness. Today, it is the only newspaper to reach the every corner of Bengal, and covers all 23 districts of the state. It is also published from Patna, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata and Ranchi. Keeping up to today’s time Sanmarg is equally established in both print and digital media.
In 2001, Sanmarg Foundation, earlier known as (Sanmarg Relief Fund Kolkata), was founded with the aim to promote quality education to the masses through the language of Hindi. 2006 saw the birth of ‘Pratibha Puraskar‘, aiming to felicitate students who excelled in the study of Hindi, and wanted to pursue higher education in the same. It was later renamed as ‘Ram Awatar Gupt Pratibha Puraskar’, after our founder editor Late. Shri Ram Awatar Gupta. The foundation also organizes other various events to promote and shape the future of society as a whole, and shall continue to do so in future.
For the last one and a half decades, the ‘Ram Awatar Gupt Pratibha Puraskar‘, has endeavored to promote Hindi as the true official language of our country, by encouraging students, teachers and educational institutions who have excelled and done exceptional work in the language. Students have been provided scholarships to study Hindi, at a higher level.
This pandemic has seen a baseline change in the education system, with schools closed, and the teaching system online. Consistent with this new normal, we at Sanmarg Foundation, understood the need to come out of the boundaries of an award ceremony to that of being an encourager and facilitator, hence going ahead with the 15 year long journey, the 16th edition, of the ‘Ram Awatar Gupt Pratibha Puraskar’ has been re-modeled to ‘Ram Awatar Gupt Protsahan’. This endeavour by Sanmarg Foundation remains firm on its objective. This edition also introduces “Guru Pranaam”, as a new esteem to the teachers of the Hindi language, and a special ceremony is to be held in North Bengal.
Mrs. Ruchika Gupta, Director, Sanmarg & Trustee, Sanmarg Foundation said while speaking to the media, “The approach and eligibility criteria have been modified in light of the pandemic but the response has been overwhelming with entries pouring in from all across the nation. The aim of this event is to encourage students to take pride in Hindi. Over the last 15 years, we have succeeded in our mission, to a great extent. In 2006-07, the highest marks obtained would be around 90-92. Today, students are securing full marks!” The award has helped increase the percentile of marks across all recognized boards in India, as verified by teacher and institutes of the subject.
“We are restructuring this program according to circumstantial changes due to the pandemic. The objective remains the same and hereafter the foundation shall empower and encourage students, teachers and institutions to pursue and grow in all aspects of the official language, therefore, now this campaign will proceed in the form of Ram Awatar Gupt Protsahan.”