News

Volume 6 Issue 13 - December 15, 2009

11th N.C.P.E.D.P. Shell Helen Keller Awards wind up to a full house

Kapil Sibal at the award ceremony

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The 11th N.C.P.E.D.P. Shell Helen Keller Awards came to a close on the night of December 2, on the eve of World Disability Day. The award ceremony began shortly after 7 p.m. and was hosted at the India International Centre Auditorium, New Delhi.

This year’s ceremony witnessed an unprecedented turnout. Friends, relatives and well wishers of the awardees made sure that the auditorium operated at full capacity. Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development was the Chief Guest and Shekhar Gupta, Editor - in- Chief, The Indian Express presided over the function.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Sibal lauded the efforts of the organisations for creating equal opportunity. “We should all work together to ensure that people with disability can avail the same facilities and benefits like everyone else,” Sibal said.

“My doors are always open to you,” he added.

Shekhar Gupta started off by noting that it is not always that a person gets an opportunity to address a full house! In a speech laced with wit and humour, he said that the political system often neglects millions of disabled people, as they are not seen as a vote bank. “I long to see the day when the disabled population of the country will become a political force to reckon with,” he said.

Dr. Meenu Bhambhani gave the acceptance speech on behalf of all individual awardees while Suresh Vaswani, Joint C.E.O., Wipro’s I.T. Business spoke on behalf of all organisational winners.

N.C.P.E.D.P. Shell Helen Keller Awards are given away every year under three categories: role model disabled individuals, role model non-disabled individuals and role model organizations. The Award honours those who are doing their bit in providing gainful employment and promoting equal opportunities for disabled persons.