All You Need to Know About the Lokmanya Tilak Award That PM Narendra Modi Will be Receiving

The esteemed Lokmanya Tilak Award will be given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year. President of the Tilak Smarak Trust Dr. Dipak Tilak and Rohit Tilak made an official declaration in this regard today at a press conference in Pune. On August 1, the anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak’s departure, the prize will be given out by Trust President Dr. Deepak Tilak.

The renowned award, Lokmanya Tilak Award is named after Bal Gangadhar Tilak, born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak. He is widely Known affectionately as Lokmanya. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an Indian nationalist, educator, and crusader for independence. He made up a third of the trio that comprised Lal Bal Pal.

The Lokmanya Tilak Award 2023:

On August 1, at a ceremony in the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will receive the 41st Prize, which is named in honor of the revolutionary and nationalist independence hero Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920). The award will be conferred to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on the 103rd Death Anniversary of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

A souvenir and citation will be included with the prize.
The award was given to PM Modi in honor of his outstanding leadership and his work encouraging patriotism among the populace.

President of the Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar, Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, and Trustee Sushilkumar Shinde are among the prominent figures attending the event.

The Following is a List of Some of the Recipients of the Loknayak Award:

• Indira Gandhi
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee
• Sharad Pawar
• Rahul Bajaj
• Cyrus Poonawalla
• Manmohan Singh

Who was Bal Gangadhar Tilak?: Birth and Education:-

• On July 23, 1856, Keshav Gangadhar Tilak was born in Ratnagiri, the administrative center of the Ratnagiri district of what is now Maharashtra (then the Bombay Presidency), to a Marathi Hindu Chitpavan Brahmin family. His hometown of origin was Chikhali.
• In the year 1877, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics with honors from Deccan College in Pune. Midway through his M.A. program, he switched to the L.L.B. program. He graduated from Government Law College with his L.L.B. degree in 1879.
• Tilak began working as a Math instructor in a private school in Pune after graduation. Later, he withdrew and became a journalist as a result of ideological conflicts with his classmates at the new institution.
• Tilak was involved in politics regularly. “Religion and practical life are not different,” he said. Making the nation your family rather than working solely for your own is the true spirit. Serving others is the next step, and serving God is the step beyond that.
• Together with a few of his college pals, including Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, and Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi, he co-founded the New English School for Secondary Education in 1880. Their goal was to improve young people’s educational opportunities in India.
• As a result of the school’s success, they established the Deccan Education Society in 1884 to create a new educational framework that placed a strong emphasis on Indian culture while instilling nationalist values in young Indians.
• The Society established Fergusson College in 1885 to provide postsecondary education. Tilak lectured on Mathematics at Fergusson College.
• In 1890, Tilak resigned from the Deccan Education Society in favor of more explicitly political action. He spearheaded a significant push towards independence by putting a lot of emphasis on a religious and cultural revival.
• At the age of 64, he passed away in 1920.

Political Life of Bal Gandgadhar Tilak:

• In 1890, Tilak enrolled in Congress.
• He held a more radical and aggressive posture against British rule and was opposed to moderate ways of thinking.
• One of the earliest proponents of Swaraj, or self-rule, was he. He coined the catchphrase: “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it.” Without self-rule, he thought, growth was impossible.
• He supported the boycott and Swadeshi campaigns and belonged to the INC’s hardline group.
• He released two papers: Mahratta in English and Kesari in Marathi. In these publications, he was unafraid to criticize the administration. He was found guilty of “incitation to murder” and given an 18-month prison term. Citing the Bhagavad Gita, he stated that those who killed oppressors could not be held accountable. In response to the ‘tyrannical’ actions adopted by the government during the bubonic plague episode in Bombay, two Indians later killed two British officials.
• He was part of the group of hardline leaders known as the “Lal-Bal-Pal” triad, together with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai.
• He was put on trial multiple times for sedition. He was imprisoned in Mandalay for six years (1908-1914) for essays he wrote defending Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose. Two English women were killed by rebels who threw bombs into the carriage the women were riding in, killing them. It was presumed to be Magistrate Douglas Kingsford by Chaki and Bose.
• Tilak split from the INC previously and rejoined it again in 1916.
• Along with G S Khaparde and Annie Besant, he helped form the All India Home Rule League.
• Tilak relied extensively upon the old Hindu scriptures for his political beliefs.
• He revolutionized the straightforward Ganesh Puja carried out at home into a communal and open Ganesh festival.
• He promoted togetherness and a sense of patriotism among the populace by utilizing the Ganesh Chaturthi and Shiv Jayanti (the anniversary of Shivaji’s birth) festivities. Unluckily, this action turned non-Hindus against him.
• He made the Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav popular, and it has been one of Maharashtra’s most important celebrations since 1894.
• He exhorted people to take pride in their history. He objected to society’s overt Westernization.

Social Opinions of Bal Gangadhar Tilak:

• Despite being a nationalist radical, Bal Gangadhar Tilak espoused conservative social ideas.
• He opposed modern education for Hindu women.
• Initially, he opposed the age of consent law that would have raised the marriage age for girls from 10 to 12.
• Although he supported the increase of the legal drinking age, he yet believed that the British were interfering with Indians’ social and religious lives.

Upshots of Facts Associated with Lokamanya Tilak:

• In 1879, Tilak graduated with a law degree from the Government’s Law College in Bombay (now Mumbai).
• Tilak established two publications, “Mahratta” in English and “Kesari” in Marathi. Both journals vigorously promoted national freedom while emphasizing the need to educate Indians about the importance of being self-sufficient.
• Tilak, along with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Vishnu Shastry Chiplunkar, founded the Deccan Educational Society to encourage nationalist education among Indian students. Tilak had harsh criticisms of the British education system that was used in India.
• To advance the Swadeshi initiative in India, Jamshedji Tata and Tilak founded Bombay Swadeshi Stores.
• Additionally, he established two major festivals that are now celebrated widely throughout Maharashtra and other states—the Ganesha celebration in 1893 and Shivaji Jayanti in 1895. The Ganesha festival is celebrated because Lord Ganesha is revered by all Hindus, and the Shivaji festival is observed since Shivaji was the first Hindu king to conquer India and build the Maratha Empire in the 17th century.
• In 1916, the All India Home Rule League was established by Tilak together with Annie Besant, Joseph Baptista, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He and Jinnah signed the Lucknow Pact that year, which called for Hindu-Muslim cooperation in the nationalist cause.
• His works include Srimad Bhagavad Gita Rahasya (1915) and The Arctic Home in the Vedas (1903), which depict the ancestry of the Aryans.
• In 2007, the Indian government issued a coin to mark the 150th anniversary of Tilak’s birth. Additionally, Lokmanya: Ek Yug Purush, which debuted on January 2, 2015, was directed by Om Raut.