NEW DELHI (Press Trust of India), October 6, 2008

By Nikhil Agarwal

The couple has been working tirelessly from a small village in Tamil Nadu for the past forty years. And yet they want to do "more work" while old age is also "not a problem" for them even as the wife crossed 80 years and the husband nears 100.

Mr and Mrs Jagannathan from Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, who were recently awarded the 'Right Livelihood Award', have spent their lifetime working in Kuthur village having distributed land to over 13,000 poor Dalit women through their organization 'Land For the Tillers' Freedom' (LAFTI).

"We want to do more work. We find our work very interesting. Our good work gives us inner strength. And this is why age is not a problem for us, as we continue to do our good work," Krishnammal Jagannathan told PTI.

The Right Livelihood Award was constituted by Sweden born Jakob Von Uexkull in 1980 "to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges faced by us". This year, the award of SEK 2 Million (300,000 USD) will be shared by four recipients. It is also known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'.

The couple's journey began from 1952 when they became part of the Bhoodhan movement spearheaded by Vinoba Bhave, through which about 4 million acres of land were distributed to thousands of landless poor across several Indian states.

"We were fortunate enough to have worked under the guidance of Vinoba Bhave in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu", says Sankaralingam Jagannathan.

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