M.D. Thomas Awarded 'Himalaya Aur Hinduthan Ratna'

NEW DELHI, 12 Jan. 2011, 10:45 Hrs:(CBCI News)

Himalaya aur Hindusthan Foundation, Rishikesh, conferred 'Himalaya aur Hindusthan Ratna Award 2010' on Prof. Dr M.D. Thomas. This honour was extended to him for his exceptional contribution at national and international levels to the 'promotion of religious harmony' and for 'journalism'. The award contained a 'Certificate of Honour with Citation' and a 'Rudraakshamaala'.

The award was conferred on 30 December 2010 at Sindhi Dharmashala, Gumanivali, Rishikesh, by Shree Sandeep Gupta, Vice President, Sugar Cane Development Consultative Committee, Government of Uttarakhand during a two-day national conference to mark the 18th anniversary of the Hindi fortnightly 'Himalay aur Hindusthan'. This is the highest award of the above foundation, the others being 'Himalaya aur Hindusthan Bhooshan', 'Himalaya aur Hindusthan Gaurav' for meritorious contribution at local and state levels.

Fr Thomas has been deeply committed to fostering good relations and collaboration with persons and organizations of other religious and social communities for the last eight years as National Director of the Commission for Religious Harmony, CBCI, on behalf of the Catholic Christian community in India. He has also been facilitating wider understanding and social amity through religion-related information and knowledge as editor of the half-yearly bi-lingual journal 'Fellowship'. He has been actively involved in promoting religious harmony, national integration and social cohesion for the last three decades.

Dr Thomas holds M. A. and Ph.D. in Hindi Literature and a seven-year B.Mus. in Hindustani Classical Music. He is recipient of 'Saahityik Kriti Sammaan -- 2003-2004' from Hindi Academy, Delhi, for his book ‘Kabeer aur Eesaayee Chintan’, which is the fruit of a multi-disciplinary research. He has delivered 'guest lectures' at Departments of Religious Studies, Philosophy, Gandhian Studies, Sociology, Hindi and other related disciplines of nearly 40 Universities by now.

He has also delivered 'extension lectures' on 'harmony of faiths for social integration' at over 35 Christian Faculties. He has been a resource person at one-day seminars for school-teachers on 'national integration and social harmony' in over 10 cities, as well. Besides, he addresses a large number of local, regional, national and international conferences of diverse compositions in India and abroad on a variety of harmony-related themes and current concerns.

The versatile contributions of Prof. Thomas include his musical compositions ‘Samanvay-dhaara’ audio-CD album of on ‘multi-faith values’, membership of over 20 literary, social, cultural, religious and inter-faith organizations, authorship of over 120 articles in Hindi and English as well as interviews to TV channels. A few of his current involvements are -- research for 'D.Litt.', books of poems on the universal values of faith traditions, musical compositions on 'multi-faith values of the Saint poets of Hindi' and books and articles on 'harmony themes', both in Hindi and English.

Dr Thomas was also honoured with a 'Certificate of Honour' also by Kahaanee-Lekhan Mahaavidyaalay, Ambala, for his versatile as well as literary contribution in Hindi, on the same platform. He was a recipient of many awards in the past from several cultural, social and multi-faith organizations, as well.