Krishna Mohanty, a prominent Gandhian Sarvodaya leader of Odisha and president of Utkal Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, will be honoured with the prestigious National Gandhi Award for the year 2023.
The Sarva Seva Sangh (Akhil Bharat Sarvodaya Mandal), the highest organisation of Gandhi and Sarvodaya fraternity, has unanimously decided to confer the honour to Mohanty at its national executive committee meeting at Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Mohanty will be awarded with a memento and one lakh rupees for his life-long activities, said Chandan Pal, national president of the Sangh in a Press release.
Krishna Mohanty is the youngest daughter of Odisha's former Chief Minister Nabkrushna Choudhury and Malati Devi and niece of Rama Devi and Gopabandhu Choudhury. During the Quit India Movement, while her entire family was in jail, little girl Krishna also spent some time in the Cuttack jail with her mother. After his release from jail, Mahatma Gandhi kept her in his Sevagram Ashram. Once while going for a morning walk, Gandhi put his hand on her shoulder. Krishna's uncle Gopabandhu Choudhury was the founder-secretary of Sarv Seva Sangh while elder brother Manmohan was the president of the Sangh. Eighty-four-year-old Krishna Mohanty is currently staying at the Baji Rout Chhatrabas in Angul.