For his outstanding and dedicated work in support of Sankara Nethralaya, through the Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust Inc, USA, Mr. S. V. Acharya was conferred with the Sankara Ratna award 2005.

The Sankara Ratna Award was instituted in 2002, the Silver Jubilee year of Sankara Nethralaya. This award recognizes and honors a distinguished individual or an institution supporting and contributing to Nethralaya’s cause and philosophy.

Mr. Acharya is currently working with the Government of the USA as in change of Budgetary Operations at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. He joined the Government Service almost a decade ago, initially serving as Fiscal Administrator for the state of Maryland, and then as Director of Accounting operations for peace Corps World headquarters DC for five years before moving to his current position.

Mr. Acharya served as editorial advisor for the prestigious American Institute of Certified Public Accountants publication “Journal of Accountancy” for six years and was awarded the “Distinguished Service Award”. He was also awarded “Meritorious Service Award” by the State of Maryland in recognition of his superior performance as Fiscal Administrator.

Mr. Acharya is the founder of the Saknara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust founded in 1988, an organization whose mission is to spread information about the work being done by Sankara Nethralaya, in the USA. Mr. Acharya has helped organize many fundraising events in the US to collect donations for Sankara Nethralaya. Besides his personal contribution to Sankara Nethralaya’ community services, he has motivated hundreds in the US to support our cause. He thus functions as the intermediary between the donors in the US and Sankara Nethralaya.