Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi on Friday won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 for his work on promoting child rights in the sub-continent. 60-year-old Satyarthi, who gave up his job as an electrical engineer to run an NGO in India for rescuing children from forced labour shared the prize with Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai who stood up to the Taliban and survived a near-fatal shooting.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education,” the jury said while announcing the $1.1 million award to be given in December.
“Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. In the poor countries of the world, 60 per cent of the present population is under 25 years of age. It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected. In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation. Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” it added.
Satyarthi, who runs an NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan reacted to the announcement with elation saying the award would spur him into further action to try and eliminate child slavery in India. He dedicated the coveted award to the people of India and vowed to work with renewed vigour against exploitation of children and to ensure their welfare.
Satyarthi thanked the Nobel Committee for recognising the plight of millions of children and said the award will help bring global focus on the issue.Satyarthi, who is an avid follower of Gandhian philosophy, however, said he would have been happier if the award had gone to the Father of the Nation.
“I was born after the death of Mahatma Gandhi. If the prize had gone to Mahatma Gandhi before me I would have been more honoured. This award is for all the citizens of the country,” he said.
Satyarthi, who had founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan in 1980, has rescued around 80,000 children from bonded labour till date and developed a successful model for their rehabilitation and education. He has also played an important role in the movement for Right to Education law for free compulsory education to children.
Several prestigious awards have been conferred on him, including Defenders of Democracy Award (2009-US), Medal of the Italian Senate (2007-Italy), Robert F Kennedy International Human Rights Award (USA) and Fredric Ebert International Human Rights Award (Germany) etc.
He created the Global March Against Child labour, a movement that is active in many countries. He is also credited with establishing Rugmark, now known as Good Weave, in 1994. It is a kind of social certification for child labour free carpets in South Asia.
Satyarthi has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize many times in the past for his relentless crusade for defending child rights. Satyarthi is the first India-born person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the seventh Indian Nobel laureate. Mother Teresa, who was born in Albania, was the first Indian Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was honoured in 1979.
Satyarthi, also congratulated co-winner Malala. “I know her. I will call her and congratulate her. We have to go further and work for peace between the two nations (India, Pakistan).”
A host of leaders including President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi congratulated both the winners.
Modi said, “The entire nation is proud of his momentous achievement. Kailash Satyarthi has devoted his life to a cause that is extremely relevant to entire humankind. I salute his determined efforts.”
Expressing happiness over the honour for Satyarthi and Malala, Gandhi said the awards have brought “glory to the entire South Asia”.
Minutes after Kailash Satyarthi’s name was announced as the winner of Nobel Peace Prize, the website of his NGO crashed due to heavy traffic while his name immediately started to trend on Twitter worldwide. Followers of his Twitter handle, @k_satyarthi, also swelled remarkably after he won the coveted prize.
The activist had just 200-odd followers before the announcement which soared to 6,820 by late evening with the number growing exponentially.The Nobel Committee said Satyarthi has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, “focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain”.
This year’s record number of 278 nominees included Pope Francis and Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, although the full list was kept a secret.
In 1993, F W de Klerk, the last president of South Africa in the apartheid regime, and Nelson Mandela were named for the award for their work for ending the apartheid regime. Next year, Israeli leaders Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin shared the honours with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for their work in reducing tensions in the Middle East.
While in 1997 John Hume (Northern Ireland) and David Trimble (Britain) won the peace prize for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Nobel, a wealthy Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite, provided few directions for how to select winners, except that the prize committees should reward those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind”.