News18 India to host the 1st edition of the 'Amrit Ratna Samman' on the 2nd of August

To celebrate 75 years of India’s independence by honouring those who have made a seminal contribution to making the India of today.

As India celebrates its 75th year of independence this year, News18 India is all set to honour individuals, who with their path-breaking accomplishments have contributed immensely to the India story, with the Amrit Ratna Samman. The prestigious honour will be presented at a grand ceremony scheduled to be held on the 2nd of August at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. The channel aims to establish the Amrit Ratna Samman as an annual celebration of the achievements of Indian icons across different fields who made the country proud, and an occasion to express the nation’s gratitude towards these stalwarts.

The first edition of the Amrit Ratna Samman will see the honour being conferred on luminaries from diverse fields at a day-long, glittering ceremony – the list of honourees will include N R Narayana Murthy, Rajinikanth, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Dr. Naresh Trehan, Adar Poonawalla, PT Usha, Tesy Thomas, Bachendri Pal and Pankaj Tripathi. These individuals were selected through a rigorous process which included not only the channel’s editorial board but also an illustrious jury comprised of such eminent personalities as Ranjan Gogoi (Retd. Chief Justice of India), Gen (Retd.) VP Malik (former Chief of Army Staff), the legendary Dr. Sonal Mansingh, the first Indian to win an individual Olympics Gold Abhinav Bindra and Prakash Singh (former DG, BSF & DGP, UP and Assam)

The Amrit Ratna Samman aims to not only be amongst the most coveted honours to be conferred in the country but it also aspires to serve another objective – to become the nation’s biggest platform to reflect upon how India and Indians can continue to make giant strides across different fields. The ceremony hence will see top leaders attend the event and discuss vision for a bright and prosperous future India. Amongst those who will grace the occasion will be Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smt. Smriti Irani, Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minster for Railways Ashwani Vaishnav, Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minster for Health Mansukh Mandavya, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha.

Commenting on the Amrit Ratna Samman, Karan Abhishek Singh, CEO - Hindi News Cluster of News18 Network, said, " As India’s no. 1 Hindi news channel, we take great pride in contributing to the building of the India story. As the nation celebrates 75 years of Independence, it is our privilege to honour those men and women amongst us who are the true flag bearers of India’s emergence as a leader on the world stage. Amrit Ratna Samman is a humble attempt at our end to honour these giants and express the nation’s gratitude towards their contributions.”

Adding to the above Kishore Ajwani, managing editor, News18 India, said, “The idea behind Amrit Ratna was to partake in the momentous celebrations for 75 years of India’s independence. Hence, we have launched an equally momentous initiative to bring forth for our viewers key milestones in our country’s recent past through those personalities who have played a huge role in shaping the India of today. As the country’s most preferred news channel, we strongly believe that bringing such inspirational content to our viewers will allow us to create a huge positive impact and enable us to contribute to nation building.”

Amrit Ratna Samman will be broadcast live on News18 India on the 2nd of August as well as on the channel’s social / digital handles. Tune into this exclusive coverage to participate in this grand celebration of India’s independence and achievements.

(We got this information in a press release).