NEW DELHI: The Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2021 will be conferred on Gita Press, Gorakhpur. The Jury headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after due deliberations on June 18, 2023, unanimously decided to select Gita Press as the recipient of the award for its outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods, stated a press statement issued by the cultural ministry on Sunday.
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 Bhagavad 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,” stated the ministry.
Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by the Government in 1995, on the occasion of the 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 `1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft or handloom item.
The past awardees include organisations such as the Indian Space Research Organisation (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 such as Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, Julius Nyerere, Former President of Tanzania, AT Ariyaratne, Founder President of Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, Sri Lanka, Gerhard Fischer, Federal Republic of Germany, Baba Amte, 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.