This is a traditional oil lamp that gets lighted in Hindu homes in front of images of deities at the time of sunrise and sunset. The jasmines add sweetness of smell to the light.

"Lighting a lamp" is the traditional way of opening anything auspicious, like a new institution, an educational program, etc.  The philosophy behind it is that the lamp lights up not only the area around it, but because someone lights another lamp from it, the light spreads far and wide - which is what Dame Cicely Saunders achieved.