New Delhi: Senior journalist N. Ram and renowned economist Abusaleh Shariff have been declared the winners of the Quaide Milleth Award for Probity in Political/Public Life for the year 2023.

The award was instituted in 2015 after Quaide Milleth Mohamed Ismail Saheb, a popular South Indian leader, who was widely known as Quaide Milleth, which means leader of the Muslim community. He exercised tremendous influence in the formative years of Independent India, as the opposition leader in Madras Presidency, Member of the Constituent Assembly, Member of Rajya Sabha (1952-58), and was elected to Lok Sabha thrice. Since 2015, the award has been given to veterans in political/public life with a deep commitment to constitutional values, secularism, pluralism, inclusivity, and concern for marginalised people.  

Calling N. Ram, "a fearless independent journalist and a crusader for the preservation of secularism, rule of law and democracy", the Award committee said, "His outstanding contributions to all the parameters set for this Award led to the choice of the Award."

Shariff has been awarded for his role in the preparation of the Sachar Committee report as well as his contributions in various roles under the Government of India.

The Wire and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K. Veeramani were awarded the Quaide Milleth Award for Probity in Political/Public Life for the year 2022.

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