Jharkhand Ratna awardees in Ranchi on Sunday. (Hardeep Singh)

Ranchi, Jan. 16: What do chief minister’s wife Meera Munda, ace archer Deepika Kumari and director-general of police Neyaz Ahmed have in common? All three are recipients of the Jharkhand Ratna 2010 Award.

The awards, instituted by NGO Lok Seva Samiti, were given away to 17 people today.

As Meera Munda was away in Kharsawan, senior BJP leader Kamal Khan collected the award on her behalf. Similarly, Deepika’s father Shiv Narayan Mahto turned up in her place. DGP Neyaz Ahmed, too, could not make it to the function and instead sent deputy superintendent of police R.N. Singh.

While Meera was given the award for promoting Deepika as an archer, Deepika herself bagged the honour for her achievements in archery, which made Jharkhand proud. Ahmed was given the award for his dedicated service to the people as an upright police officer.

Others awardees included assistant director of art and culture department of the state government Harendra Prasad Singh, noted Nagpuri folk singer Madhu Mansari Hanshmukh, artist Ajay Malkani, young businessman Shyam Kishore Gupta, school teacher of Bundu who also worked for the promotion of classical music Paresh Dutt Dwari, poetess Surinder Kaur Nilam and student leader of minority community Najiya Tabassum.

International volleyball player Sekhar Bose, social activist from Jamshedpur Manoj Agarwal, an artist from Bokaro Mohan Ajad, Ranchi-based astrologer P.K. Gupta, secretary of Bharat Scout Guide Mohan Singh, too, got the awards.

The other awardees were a social activist from Daltonganj, Karyanand Tiwari, and Hazaribagh-based peace activist Lalan Prasad.

Ranchi University vice chancellor A.A. Khan was the chief guest on the occasion. He appreciated the efforts of Lok Seva Samiti.

“Through the awards, we have tried to recognise the contribution of individuals in different fields. It is an effort to encourage such good work in the society,” said president of Lok Seva Samiti Naushad Khan.