PRESS RELEASE from the Harmony Foundation
Mumbai, India – Each year, the Harmony Foundation identifies a theme for the Mother Teresa Memorial Awards that aligns with the need of the hour affecting humanity worldwide. The Awards is an annual event that celebrates and commemorates the legacy of Mother Teresa. Our past awardees include luminaries like Dr. Oby Esekwesili (Nigerian Presidential Candidate -2019 & Founder- Bring Back Our Girls), Nobel Laureates like H.H. Dalai Lama, Nation Premiers like Ghanaian President H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, and Prime Minister of Malaysia H.E. Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, H.H. Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs & Intl Cooperation), Baroness Caroline Cox (former Deputy Speaker of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords), Prominent Priyanka Chopra (UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador), among others.
This year we embark on the Awards’ 17th year of felicitating selfless individuals and organizations who work relentlessly in the realm of augmenting Environmental Sustainability.
A sustainable environment is monumental for the survival of humanity and other species of our planet. While humanity marches ahead in all spheres of what it terms progress, we forget our responsibility to its own future. After all, we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Unsustainable development practices have exerted traumatic pressure on the ecosystem and damaged it beyond repair.
The Harmony Foundation is proud to acknowledge the diversity of individuals from various walks of life, from students to corporates, who are no less than the warrior-visionaries of our times and have diligently worked towards the conservation and preservation of our planet.
Mother Teresa Memorial Awards for Social Justice 2021
Plastic Pollution Coalition is an extraordinary and prolific organization in the world with a monumental vision to eradicate serious threats to our environment. Harmony Foundation has awarded Plastic Pollution Coalition with the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for their role in leading a remarkable social movement that seeks to create a world free of plastic pollution, and its hazardous impact on the planet.
Plastic pollutes and leaches toxic chemicals into our food and beverages and into our bodies. Plastic production and pollution contribute to climate change, and to social and environmental injustice. The good news is that our collective voices, actions, and policies are making a difference.
Dianna Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO, Plastic Pollution Coalition
Plastic Pollution Coalition is the recipient of the award among others who have made notable achievements in Environmental Sustainability. Our other exceptional and inspiring awardees across the world this year are WeForest, Missio Munich, Paani Foundation, Padma Shri Ms. Tulsi Gowda, Padma Bhushan Dr. Anil Prakash Joshi, Padma Shri Ms. Jamuna Tudu, Mr. Vidyut Mohan, Mr. Subhajit Mukherjee, Ms. Aadya Joshi, Ms. Vinisha Umashankar, Ms. Ridhima Pandey, and the most prominent Hon. Prime Minister of Denmark H.E. Mette Frederiksen for her astounding vision to lead the nation along the path of sustainable development, and safeguarding of our planet.
Dr. Abraham Mathai
Founder Chairman – Harmony Foundation & Former Vice-Chairman – Minorities Commission
About Harmony Foundation: The Harmony Foundation was founded in October 2005 by Dr. Abraham Mathai to promote communal harmony and work towards the benefit of all the communities without any discrimination as to religion, caste, creed, gender or region. Considering this practical situation and to make this ideal into a concrete and tangible reality, the Harmony Foundation in association with prominent patrons like Baroness Caroline Cox (Member &; Former Dy. Speaker, House of Lords, UK), Mahesh Bhatt (eminent filmmaker and human rights activist), Tushar Gandhi (great grand-son of Mahatma Gandhi), Adv. Flavia Agnes (Leading Indian Women’s Rights Activist), and Shazia Ilmi (Journalist & Senior Political Spokesperson), host the Harmony International Conference and the Annual Mother Teresa Memorial Awards for Social Justice to highlight the current issues adversely affecting humanity worldwide.
