'The Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award is a tribute to this vision of a strong, self-confident and self-reliant India,' the prime minister added.

In conferring the award on Gautam Bhai, 'we commend his work in promoting these very values that were so dear to Rajivji', Manmohan Singh said.

Gautam Bhai is a descendant of freedom fighter Jamnalal Bajaj. At the age of 12, Gautam Bhai joined Acharya Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan movement to empower the landless.