NEW DELHI: United Nations General Assembly honored the HelpAge India, a non-governmental organisaion with the ‘2020 UN Populations Award at a virtual ceremony held on December 10. The award is a recognition of the organization’s contribution towards serving the disadvantaged elderly and raising awareness on the cause of the elderly.
The NGO has its presence in over 20 states across the country since 1978 and runs numerous programmes to address the needs of elderly people such as age-care, healthcare, livelihood, pension etc. With this, HelpAge India became the first ever Indian organisation to receive the award in institutional category.
Kiran Karnik, Chairperson, HelpAge India, said that this recognition by the UN has not only made the organisation proud, but has inspired and motivated them further to continue doing what they know best, which is to help those in need. The committee which made the selection was composed of representatives of nine other UN member states and was chaired by Ion Jinga, Permanent Representative of Romania to the UN.