Death is just the beginning for this award winner
from the The Indian Express

19 January, 2002

Mr. Chandrakant Mehar (45) won the Gold Medal in the category of acts of social courage at the 10th Red & White Bravery Awards for the state of Maharashtra on Wednesday. It is Mehar's belief that dead bodies should be donated to medical college for the benefit of humanity. In his efforts to make a change, he has ceaselessly strived for 17 years to convince 200 persons to donate their bodies to the medical college of Nagpur, Maharashtra. Passionate about his work, this milk vendor's efforts at encouraging people to donate their bodies have constantly been stalled due to the lack of basic infrastructure needed for embalming the bodies. Spreading awareness through the media, Mehar has won over 1000 people, who have filled up forms to donate their bodies. The Silver Medal in the same category would be presented to Dr. Gorakhprasad Dhanjode (49) for helping disabled people, whereas the bronze medal would be conferred on Sampat Tukaram of Nagpur for his campaign to create awareness about sickle cell anemia in the backward areas of Nagpur.