Saraswati Vidyalaya Alumni Association (SVAA) organized the annual reunion of all ex-students on December 27 in school premises, and conferred Saraswati Ratna awards on 5 accomplished SVians at the hands of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The Saraswati Ratnas awarded were: Maj Gen Ajit Hari Gadre (1960 batch) for serving the country through the Indian Army and its various arms since 1972; G Jayaraman (1955 batch) for working and leading the cement industry for the last 55 years, including serving as the head of its industry association; MS Narayanan (1959 batch) for doing the nation a huge service through his work at ISRO, including in India’s space programme; Nagaraja Sharma (1958 batch) for successfully setting up, running and guiding his own and numerous other companies developing animation movies and graphics ion Chennai, and Ramchandran Natrajan (1965 batch), who is a professor of management and associate dean at the College of Business, Tennessee Technological University, USA.
A jury comprising Justice Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari, Shri.Yeshwant Kanetkar & Dr.Seema Somalwar selected the five award winners from 19 nominations received from 1953-1970 SVN batches. The other nominees were Smt.Maya Muley, Dr.K. Sunder Rajan, Shri.G.Balasubramanian, Smt.Gauri Ravindra Mahajan, Dr. Kailash Marwah, Shri.Ramamurthy Jayaraman, Shri.N.V.Sarma, Shri.Rahul Kumar Guha, Smt.Rupa Shekhar Rai, Dr. Shanta Satyanarayan, Shri. A.K.K. Kumar alias Rajan Nair, Smt. Meera Chandrashekaran, Dr.M.Soumya Narayanan and Shri.Jagannathan G. All of them too have made a distinct mark in their respective fields and have not only made the school but the city and country proud.
Shri.Amol Kale, SVAA Aide de camp to Hon’ble CM escorted Hon’ble Chief Minister to Dias while Shri.Mayank Sharma & Ms.Akshita Vyas conducted the ceremony. Before the arrival of Hon’ble CM, Dr.Neeta Bhave & Shri.Shreekrishna Buty commenced the musical feast “Mile Sur mera Tumhara” at 6pm. Shri.Sanjay Rajak and Smt.Sulabha Patil assisted by Shri.Sanket & Shri.Anket Wankhede escort the Saraswati Ratna nominees to their seats. Shri.K.Jagdeesan, Shri.Jagtar Singh Sethi & Smt.Shobha Dhanwatey rendered a traditional welcome to Hon’ble CM whereas Dr.Anup Marar, President (SVAA), Shri.Udayan Shrouti, Secretary (SVAA) and Shri.Shreekrishna Buty, Treasurer (SVAA) presented a floral welcome to Hon’ble Chief Guest Shri.S.R.Subramanium, President (SIES) and Shri.Prabhuraman, Principal( SVN) respectively on dais.
Representative of present silver jubilee batch Shri.Pranay Tidke presented a memento to Hon’ble CM. Subsequently Shri.Sanjay Rajak gave assembly readiness call, followed by school prayer led by Shri.K.Jagdeesan, Shri.Jagtar Singh Sethi, Adv.Ramani Patro , Shri.Nirav Thakkar & Shri.Kirtiraj Garud. Lamp lighting ceremony by all members seated on dais followed. Welcome speech by Shri.Rajendra Kulkarni, Convener, Saraswati Ratna 2015 Project was followed by introduction of 14 nominees by Smt.Sulabha Patil, Coordinator, Saraswati Ratna Award 2015 Project.
The 14 nominees were felicitated by Shri.K.Jagdeesan, Shri.Jagtar Singh Sethi, Shri.Venkatesh Manian, Shri.Dharmendra Bandwar, Adv.Satyendu Dutta, Shri.Suresh Junghare, Shri.Shivaramkrishnan, Dr.Nikhil Balankhe, Dr.Shailesh Pitale, Shri.Vishal Jaiswal, Shri.Ashok Kale, Shri.Sujit Rajankar, Shri.Manoj Virkhare, and Shri.Atmaram Pande respectively. Felicitation of jury members by hands of Hon’ble CM followed introduction of jury members Hon’ble Justice Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari, Shri.Yeshwant Kanetkar & Dr.Seema Somalwar by Shri.Sunil Sarma. Dr.Seema Somalwar shared her experience on behalf of the jury.
Introduction of Five Saraswati Ratna Awardees was done by Dr.Radha Munje, Smt.Shobha Dhanwatey, Adv.Rahul Pande, Shri.Avinash Sahu & CA Ashish Khandelwal while the winners were escorted by 5 groups namely Shri.Mitesh Rambhia & Shri.Venkatesh Manian, Shri.Sameer Badhe & Shri.R.R.Sudhakar, Shri.Yogesh Deshmukh & Shri.Shrikant Bhoge, Shri.Amit Sampat & Shri.Abhiman Hegde & Shri.Shankar Bhavsar & Shri. Randhir Nashine respectively.
Felicitation and award presentation of Saraswati Ratnas was done by the hands of Hon’ble CM which was followed by words of wisdom by each Saraswati Ratna. The Hon’ble Chief Guest also addressed the gathering. Smt. Ashwini Jichkar, Vice-President delivered a vote thanks on behalf of SVAA.
Site decoration, Photography, audio visual readiness were ensured by Shri.Sujit Rajankar & Shri.Abhiman Hegde while award set & Floral welcome preparedness was looked after by Shri.Pranay Tidke & Shri.Yogesh Deshmukh. Hospitality was the responsibility of Shri.Mitesh Rambhia & Shri.Manoj Virkhare whereas publicity management was looked after by Shri.Amit Sampat, Shri.Rahul Soman & Shri.Swapnil Subhedar.
Shri.C.R.Subramanium, President- South Indian Education Society, Dr.Anup Marar, SVAA, President, Shri.Prabhuraman, Principal- Saraswati Vidyalaya, Shri.Udayan Shrouti, Secretary, Shri.Shreekrishna Buty, Treasurer, Shri.Rajendra Kulkarni & Smt.Ashwini Jichkar, Vice Presidents, Shri.Amol Kale- SVAA Aide de Camp and Smt.Sulbha Deshpande & Shri.Sanjay Rajak, Coordinators, Saraswati Ratna 2015 Award Project were also seated on the dias.
