New Delhi: The Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021 is being conferred on Gita Press, Gorakhpur, the Union Ministry of Culture said on Sunday. Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by the Government of India in 1995 on the occasion of 125th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as a tribute to the ideals espoused by Mahatma Gandhi. The award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed or gender.
The award carries an amount of Rs 1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item. The past awardees include organizations such as ISRO, Ramakrishna Mission, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, Akshaya Patra, Bengaluru, Ekal Abhiyan Trust, India and Sulabh International, New Delhi.
It has also been awarded to luminaries like Dr Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, Dr Julius Nyerere, Former President of Tanzania, Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, Founder President of Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, Sri Lanka, Dr. Gerhard Fischer, Federal Republic of Germany, Baba Amte, Dr. John Hume, Ireland, Vaclav Havel, former President of Czechoslovakia, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Yohei Sasakawa, Japan.
Recent awardees include Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said, Oman (2019) and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (2020), Bangladesh. The Jury headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after due deliberations on June 18 unanimously decided to select Gita Press, Gorakhpur as the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021, in recognition of its outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods, the ministry said in a statement.
Established in 1923, Gita Press is one of the world’s largest publishers, having published 41.7 crore books in 14 languages, including 16.21 crore Shrimad Bhagvad Gita. The institution has never relied on advertisement in its publications, for revenue generation. Gita Press along with its affiliated organizations, strives for the betterment of life and the well-being of all.
PM Modi recalled the contribution of Gita Press, in promoting the Gandhian ideals of peace and social harmony. He observed that the conferment of Gandhi Peace Prize on Gita Press, on completion of hundred years of its establishment, is a recognition of the work done by the institution in community service.
"Gandhi Peace Prize 2021, recognizes the important and unparalleled contribution of Gita Press, in contributing to collective upliftment of humanity, which personifies Gandhian living in true sense," read the official statement.
