Glowing tributes were paid to social worker and atheist leader Hemalatha Lavanam at a meeting that marked her 8{+t}{+h}death anniversary.
Atheist Centre Executive Director Vijayam said Hemalatha Lavanam was a multifaceted personality—an eminent social worker, poet and writer, all rolled in one. She put her ideals into practice with determination. She also fought superstition and blind beliefs and promoted social education in the interior villages where education became an instrument of social change later.
Hemalatha Lavanam’s commitment to upliftment of the poorest of the poor for an egalitarian society, were recalled.
The speakers recounted how she gave voice to the voiceless and people who lived in abject poverty and utter neglect.
She championed the cause of the ‘de-notified tribes’ in Andhra which resulted in a sea change in their outlook and encouraged them to move from the culture of crime to culture of civility.
