Maharashtra-based Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS, Maharashtra Blind Faith Eradication Committee) gets the Praful Bidwai Memorial Award for 2017
Set up in 1989 by Narendra Dhabolkar, a medical doctor who was a rationalist and committed public intellectual, MANS has over the years involved itself in multiple social interventions, from battling superstition and caste to engaging with young students. The organisation’s prime focus has been to challenge blind faith and superstition and disseminate ideas of rationalism and secularism.