Shri Khamliana from Mizoram and Shri Md. Abdul Bari of Odisha, have been jointly selected for the National Communal Harmony Award for the year 2011 in the individual category. The Jury headed by the Hon’ble Vice-President of  India made the  selection. The Jury did not find any organisation suitable for this award for the year 2011.

            Shri Khamliana, aged 56, is the Founder President of Mizoram Youth Club which was established in 1990. The Club is a well known voluntary organization rendering social service and strengthening national integration in Mizoram. Shri Khamliana is fully committed and dedicated to promote peace, communal harmony and national integration in the state. He organized musical concerts, essay competition and cultural exchange programmes, most of these under the banner of his organisation Mizoram Youth Club to promote unity and peaceful co-existence among diverse ethnic groups. He played an active part in organising a social function in 2000 in Army campus to build up a civilian-military relation in the state and received appreciation. He actively participated and organized national integration camps by affiliating with the Nehru Yuva Kendra. It is because of the efficient leadership, keen interest and efforts of Shri Khamliana that the Mizoram Youth Club has significantly contributed to promote peace and national integration.

            Shri Md. Abdul Bari, aged 72 from district Bhadrak of Odisha, is a well-respected people’s leader and social activist. He is associated with at least eight social organisations and has selflessly helped the police and local administration from time to time to maintain peace and communal harmony. Shri Bari reportedly played significant role in restoring peace and communal harmony at Bhadrak after the communal riots at Bhadrak (1991) and at the times of Babri Masjid demolition (1992), serial blasts at Mumbai (1993), burning of Sabarmati Express at Godhra (2002) and after the inhuman killing of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati at Kandhamal district (2008). Recently in 2011, he helped in nipping in bud the communally violent situations at Bhadrak town on the occasions of Id-Miladun-Nabi and Ram Navami festivals. He received Utkal Diwas Award (2002) by Bhadrak Rotary Club, Muralidhar Shruti Sanshada, Bhadrak Award (2005) and many other commendation certificates. For more than two decades, Shri Abdul Bari has significantly contributed to maintain peace and communal harmony in district Bhadrak and its nearby places in Odisha.

            The National Communal Harmony Awards were instituted in 1996 by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH), an autonomous organisation set up by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, for promoting communal harmony and national integration. The award has been instituted with a view to demonstrating due appreciation and recognition of the efforts of individuals and organisations for promotion of communal harmony and national integration in a sustained manner over a sufficiently long period of time. In addition to a citation in each category, the award carries a cash award of Rupees Two Lakh for the individual and Rupees Five Lakh for the organization category.

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RS/-