Ratan Tata receives Assam’s highest civilian honor

Industrialist Ratan Tata received Assam’s highest civilian honor on Wednesday.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma presented the award, called “Assam Baibhav”, to Tata at an event in Mumbai.

Tata, who is the chairman of Tata Trust, received the ‘Ássam Baibhav’ award for his outstanding contribution to improving cancer care in Assam, according to an official statement.

“Tata Sons and the government of Assam are together building a great cancer care network, in which Ratan Tata has a great contribution. So I have come to Mumbai to award Assam’s highest civilian honor to Ratan Tata “, said Himanta Biswa Sarma.

In 2018, the foundation stones of 19 modern cancer care facilities were unveiled. Of these, 12 were for comprehensive cancer care centers on the premises of state government medical schools.

This network was due to become operational from April 2019. It was designed to ensure that no patient would have to travel more than a few hours to access a full suite of cancer treatments.

At the 2018 event, Tata said, “Cancer care in India is hampered by lack of facilities, late diagnosis and high cost of treatment. The Tata Trusts have decided to tackle this problem by supporting the establishment of infrastructure throughout the country for high quality affordable care, and national screening and early detection programmes. With partners, if we can achieve this, India will be able to dramatically increase survival rates like in developed countries.

The award carries a citation, a medal and a cash amount of Rs 5 lakh. The award was supposed to be presented to Tata at a ceremony on January 24, but he was unable to attend the ceremony due to personal reasons.

Governor Jagdish Mukhi had awarded the other two state civil awards, “Assam Saurav” and “Assam Gaurav”, to 18 other eminent persons in different fields on January 24.