Global Spiritual Leader And Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh Awarded Annual Gandhi Mandela Peace Medal 2019
The initiative is the brainchild of partners Dr Annurag Batra of Media Baron and founder Believe Foundation (India), Tarina Patel of Dr Ramanbhai Patel Foundation (South Africa) and Kartikeya Sharma of the Sunday Guardian Foundation and is slated to be an annual event,
After addresses by the organisers and partners, the event was kicked off by a spectacular performance by environmental activist and Grammy Award Winner Ricky Kej. He is also well known for his work in human animal conflict reduction.
In the spirit of solidarity and inclusion, Sufi Gospel singer Sonam Kalra performed soulful renditions of her compositions.
Sufi gospel project is her attempt to merge many religions through a universal voice with an underlying faith in the truth.
She is against any kind of labelling which is exactly what the two great leaders Mandela and Gandhi fought against.
Dr Annurag Batra spoke of how Gandhi has the possibility of being the tallest leader in the world and that Nelson looked up to Gandhi for his struggle against Apartheid. "The two individuals were epitome of sacrifice, forgiveness - whom we all can look up to," Batra added.
Throughout her speech, Tarina focused on the importance of Gandhian and Mandela’s values of giving, sharing, and helping society. She also spoke on the importance of the dialogue in accepting willingness and diversity through which we can construct harmony in the world. A learning which she attributes hugely to her father Dr Ramanbhai Patel.
Kartikeya Sharma highlighted through his speech that although the world might be celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and 100th birth anniversary of Nelson Mandela, the focus should be on their doctrine of peace.
The event took place at three different locations on consecutive days; New Delhi on the 11th July, Mumbai on the 12th July and Ahmedabad on the 13th.
The idea of the events is to have meaningful discussions to make Mandela and Gandhi's teaching relevant across domains.
There were panel discussions on topics of Global Peace for youth, women, environment, health, gender sensitivity, arts and cinema coupled with keynotes by powerhouses of knowledge like Shashi Tharoor, Dr Karan Singh, Adi Godrej, Justice Sikri and many more accomplished people.
Tara Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi a treasure trove of stories shared many a story.
The maiden Gandhi Mandela Peace Initiative Awards were conferred on Global Leaders.
The awards were arrived at by an eclectic jury comprosing of Arif Mohammed Khan former Cabinet Minsiter, Filmmaker Savita Hiremath, actor Tarina Patel, Media Baron Dr Annurag Batra, Author Bhuvan Lall and Journalist Manoharan Moses.
Thich Nhat Hanh, global spiritual leader, peace activist, poet, author and father of mindfulness was awarded the Annual Gandhi Mandela Peace Medal 2019.
He is the man Martin Luther King called 'An Apostle of peace and nonviolence.'
Three special awards were announced for outstanding influencers for contributions in the social and environmental sector:
Gandhi Mandela Award 2019 for Social Impact: Dr Achyuta Samanta - Founder of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS)
Gandhi Mandela Award 2019 for Environment: Mahendra Modi, DGP, IPS, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Gandhi Mandela Award 2019 or Young Social Change: Shabana Khan, Sneha and Suman, Action India, Hapur district, Uttar Pradesh, India.
What started on one summer morning in July promises to be an awaited annual intellectual extravaganza.
