Super 30 Founder Anand Kumar Honoured With Swami Brahmanand Award 2021

Mathematician Anand Kumar was Monday conferred with the Swami Brahmanand Award 2021 for his contribution in the field of education through his "Super 30" initiative, which prepares underprivileged students for the IIT entrance exam.

He received the award from professor Roop Kishore Shastri, the vice-chancellor of Haridwar"s Gurukula Kangri deemed university, at a function in the Rath area of Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

The award — carrying Rs 10,000 in cash, a bronze medal, a bronze statue of Swami Brahmanand and a certificate — is given every year to people who have done special work in the education sector or for the welfare of the cow.

It has been instituted in the name of Swami Brahmananda, a freedom fighter, former MP and a saint known for his sacrifices and his contribution in the field of education.

Friederike Irina Bruening, a German national, who has devoted her life to sick and abandoned cows in Mathura, received the first Swami Brahmanand Award for cow protection in 2019.

Bruening, who is also known as Sudevi Dasi, is also a recipient of Padma Shri.

In 2020, the award went to academician Dr Arun Kumar Pandey, who worked to strengthen India"s cultural and educational bonding in South Korea.

"Super 30" founder Anand Kumar said Monday he will hold a test in March 2022 in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh also to tap talent for the coaching programme.

"The children have evinced immense interest in studies. Next year by March, tests will be held so that talent could be tapped for Super 30," Anand Kumar told PTI.

"Super 30" is a coaching programme of Kumar"s Patna-based Ramanujan School of Mathematics.

According to its website, it hunts for 30 meritorious students from among economically backward sections of the society and shapes them to clear the test to get in to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).

(With inputs from PTI)