Senior journalist Ajay Mardikar was felicitated at the hands of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, as a part of the Centenary Year celebrations of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Deputy Chairperson of the Council Dr Neelam Gorhe, Leaders of Opposition in the Council Ambadas Danve, in Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar. Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil and others were present.
Mardikar entered the field of journalism and worked with Nagpur Times (now defunct) and then shifted to The Hitavada. As a degree holder in science, law and social work Mardikar was instrumental in raising the standard of science and social reporting. His articles on social issues fetched him the first Nasikhrao Tirpude Award for Social Journalism during the initial years of his reporting career in Tha Hitavada. His writing on social issues also was acknowledged by honouring him with an honorary doctorate by a private university in Pune. Arvindbabu Deshmukh Trust selected his report on the ASI site in Mansar for the Best Investigative Journalism award. He was also selected for the Nanekar Trust award for exposing Nagpur University’s bogus degree and marksheet scandal, popularly known as the Kohchade Scam.
As a coordinator of Nagpur University’s NSS Open Unit, Ajay Mardikar led a motorcycle rally from Nagpur to Goa and delivered several speeches in colleges with the basic theme of ‘Role of students in building university image’. He bagged two gold medals for his research papers published in a national journal. He delivered lectures at various social work colleges in the Vidarbha region during state and national seminars.
Ajay Mardikar was a member of the Board of Studies in Social Work of RTM Nagpur University, and the Board of Studies in Journalism of Gondwana University. He has more than 15 awards to his credit.
After retiring from The Hitavada as the Chief Reporter, he is working with news portal The Live Nagpur, and with news agency Hindusthan Samachar.
Other senior journalists were also honoured on the occasion.