Reviews
Reviews
Rajinder Singh
Inside Story of Nobel Peace Prize Award - Indian Contestants
Review
India is universally regarded as the country which has, for centuries, preached the message of peace and non-violence from the early days of Buddha. Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated non-violence as a viable political force. He coined the term Satyagraha in 1906 at South Africa. He said, “I (thus) began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence, and gave up the use of the phrase ‘passive resistance’.”
Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy had inspired pacifist leaders all over the world and was pursued by many. This includes US Civil Rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr. (1964 Peace Nobel), James Bevel, anti-apartheid movement leader Nelson Mandela (1993 Peace Nobel), Bishop Tutu (1984 Peace Nobel) and Dalai Lama ((1964 Peace Nobel).
Gandhiji was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize through 21 proposals. Among them there were 15 alone in 1948 after his assassination on 30 January 1948. There was very strong indication that Nobel Committee was serious to honour him through a possible posthumous Nobel. According to the information given in this book, this proposal did not go through because the Indian authorities could not convince that there is an organization in India which could receive the prize and utilize the prize money following the Gandhian philosophy. Note, in 1948 the Peace Nobel was not awarded to anybody.
India finally won Nobel Peace Prize four times- Mother Teresa (1979), Dalai Lama (1989), Pahauri (2007 as Head, IPCC) and Kailash Sathyarthi (2014). While awarding the Nobel Peace prize to Dalai Lama, the chairman of the committee noted that “ this is a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.”
Nehru received the maximum number of nominations for Nobel peace prize (65 spread in 7 years). This book describes how close he had gone to receive the Nobel and what are possible reasons for his not getting it. Radhakrishnan was nominated by ten nominators.
The inside story shows that how close and how far were the other 11 nominees (Aga Khan, Aurobindo Ghoshe, Vinoba Bhave, Mahesh Yogi and others).
This book is a must for all Indian libraries and all peace loving people inside and outside India.
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