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Dr.Nitin Khot awarded AllAboutBelgaum.com’s Belgaumite of the Year 2013

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IMG_0420 IMG_0467Dr.Nitin Khot awarded AllAboutBelgaum.com’s Belgaumite of the Year 2013
Shri Shivaji Kagnikar gets Lifetime achievement award

AllAboutBelgaum.com has completed SIX successful years of educating, informing and keeping Belgaumites aware of Whats hot and Whats not across the Belgaum spectrum and beyond.

AllAboutBelgaum.com (AAB) is a premier website on the city of Belgaum. This is the FOURTH year of the Belgaumite (person) of the year 2013.

The response to the activity was overwhelming and a whole bundle of people spread across multiple

Geographies globally contributed their valuable votes.

Dr.Nitin Khot was declared winner of votes through online voting.

Anand Kinjawadekar, Sr.Vice president and Regional head was the keynote speaker on the occasion. The award was given away by Anand Kinjawadekar, Dr. Bung, Director IMER and Uday Kinjawadekar

The Nominees were: Deepak & Dinesh Dhadoti, Moin Junnedi, Umesh Kalghatgi, Ronit More, Anand Chitti.

From this year a lifetime achievement award was started and the same was awarded to Shivaji Kagnikar.

About the Winners:

Dr. Nitin Khot- Nitin Khot did his schooling  at King George’s School, Belgaum and got his to Mumbai to do his B.A. (Hons) in Economics . He was one of the two students to be awarded  Fellowship by the London School of Economics where he did his Masters in Economics. He went on to learn Chinese to work on his Ph.D on the Chinese Economy and then joined the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). His contributions to Belgaum city are not one or two but many and we are indebted to him.

1. Today when we see kotikere we owe the beauty to Dr Khot as it was his sheer dedication not to get the lake converted into bustand and vaccine depot converted into suvarna soudha.

2. Belgaum roads were free for usage untill when Army officers closed 16 roads in the cantonment area Dr Khot wrote over 100 letters to all the authority and registered PIL which was agrued in the high court all by himself and all the roads were free for usage.

3. He has also developed an interesting set of arguments to save the Belgaum Club, although it is on Cantonment land !

2013 saw Dr. Nitin Khot pitchforked into a series of struggles which have impacted, and will impact, the lives of all Belgaumites and others in the country. To name a few –  His relentless fight with Army which was claiming privileged access to 7000 acres. His campaign against Resumption ..His fight against declaring of  restricted areas on prohibition of photographyetc etc. If we, in Belgaum, move freely, without fee collections, without needless checks, without having to apply for passes on the roads of Belgaum, if we enjoy the lake or Vaccine Depot, much credit is due to a silent campaigner for human rights and Constitutional freedoms.

Shivaji Kagnikar: 

A shepherd by birth, a Gandhian by choice, a highly sensitive educator by default and a justice seeker by genetic compulsion, meet Shivaji Kagnikar the man who is spreading literacy and also empowered the citizens of Kattanbhavi village to sustain their lives being ecologically friendly. During his school days he was inspired by Sane Guruji, a great thinker and promoter of literacy and he decided he too will have to take this route at some point in life. The village well would go dry mid summer and people used to get water on the rationing basis. With no employment and little agricultural activity each one was depending on money lenders and the many were addicted to liquor.

At this time Shivaji Kagnikar along with Ram Apte, Sadashivrao Bhosle took meetings and explained to the villagers what can be done to get them out of this menace.  A few villagers were taken to  Anna Hazare’s (date needs to be inserted)village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmad Nagar by Jana Jagran the NGO which was helping him in this activity. Situation of Ralegan Siddhi was very similar to that of Kattanbhavi and hence if a model worked there, a similar model should work here as well was the thought.  About 1 lakh trees were planted in kattanbhavi & Ningenhatti .   With afforestation  many species of birds and even wild boars, peacocks, have made it their home. Nigenhatti which was more of a barren land a decade ago is now a completely full of trees of various fruits and agricultural. Be it afforestation, water management, co-operative societies for milk sector or eudcation and night school Shivaji Kagnikar has led it through from the very beginning and shown  nothing is impossible when u stoop to conqure with simple living and high thinking.

With simple thoughts and practices Shivaji Kagnikar has changed the fate of these villages and even today he is on the same mission telling the youngsters about why the conservation of environment is very important.

The Process:

Level – 1: Editorial Board draws the list of Nominees

Level – 2: More nominations are called from the public

Level – 3: ‘The Jury’ ratifies the list of Nominees

The AAB jury selected X persons. After receiving nominations, the jury evaluated and finalized the nominees. The jury consisted of people from various backgrounds and included professionals in the field of IT, recruitment, banking, academics, Painters, Photographers, Chartered Accountants, reporters, businessmen and senior citizens.

Level – 4: The Citizens Vote

Nomination Criteria:

Any individual who has contributed significantly to the welfare of Belgaum in the year 2013

Any individual from Belgaum who’s achieved a significant feat in the year 2013.

Any individual from Belgaum who’s brought laurels and fame to Belgaum in the year 2013

Any individual who has made Belgaum proud in the year 2013.

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