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Jawaharlal Nehru Award Ceremony
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This news is typing byt the NCGUB (India) &FTUB (WB)
There is no easy walk-over to freedom anywhere and many of us will have
to pass through the valley of the shadow again and before we reach the
mountain tops of our desire. (Jawaharlal Nehru)
The procedures of the Jury for awarding the Prize are also mentioned on
a page the same pamphlet distributed as follow:
As a tribute to the memory of the late Prime Minister Shri Jawaharlal
Nehru and to his lifelong dedication to the cause of world peace and
international understanding, the Government of India Instituted the
Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding to be given
annually for outstanding contribution to the promotion of international
understanding, goodwill and friendship among people of the world. The
Award is made by a jury of appointed by the Government of India for this
purpose. The jury consists of seven eminent Indians including the Vice-
President of India and the Chief Justice of India ex-officio members. The
other five members are nominated in the following manner: (1) one Chief
Justice of a State High Court; (2) one Vice-Chancellor of a university;
(3) one person representing the press; (4) two eminent persons from public
life.
The Award carries an amount of Rupees fifteen lakhs in cash (convertible
into foreign currency) and a Citation. The Award may be divided between
persons who are considered by the Jury to be equally deserving of
recognition in a given year. It is open to all persons regarding of nationality,
race, creed or sex, but an association, institution or organization is not
eligible for the Award. To be considered for the Award it would ordinarily
be necessary that a person is recommended in writing by someone with the
competence thereof, such as former members of the Jury; Members Parliament
of India; the Secretary-General of United Nations and others leaders in
international organizations whose objectives are promotion of peace,
international understanding and emancipation of mankind; Vice-Chancellor
and university professors; heads of Indian mission abroad; and other person
whom the jury may wish to invite to submit proposals for the Award.
Ordinarily, only proposals coming from competent persons invited to
nominate shall be considered. However, a proposal shall not be invalid
for consideration by the Jury merely on the ground of not having emanated
from competent persons. In all such cases the decision of the Jury is final.
Personal applications for the Award are not considered.
The Award is made annually starting with the year 1965. If it is considered,
however, that none of the proposals that have been made merit recognition,
the Jury is free to withhold the Award for that year.
Only recent work achieved within five years immediately preceding the
nomination is to be considered for the Award. An older work may, however,
be considered if its significance has not become apparent until recently.
A written work, in order to be eligible for consideration, should have
been published.
The ward need not go only to a person holding public office. A person who
has quietly worked for peace and international understanding and friendship
between peoples of different countries may well be deserving of the Award.
The proposals received by the Secretariat and discussions, deliberations and
proceedings the Jury in connection with the Award are not to be made public
or otherwise revealed. Decisions of the Jury are not subject to confirmation
by any other authority and no appeal or protest can be made against them.
The list of persons who had been award the Prize in fore-year is also mentioned as:
U Thant 1965
Martin Luther King Jr. (posthumous) 1966
Khan Abudul Ghaffar Khan 1967
Yehudi Menuhin 1968
Mother Tresa 1969
Keneth D. Kaunda 1970
Josip Broz Tito 1971
Andre Malraux 1972
Julius K. Nyerere 1973
Raul Prebish 1974
Jonas Salk 1975
Guiseppe Tucci 1976
Tulsi Meherji Sherestha 1977
Nichidastsu Fujii 1978
Nelson Mandela 1929
Barbara Ward 1980
Alva and Gunnar Myrdal 1981
Leopold Sedar Senghor 1982
Bruno Kreisky 1983
Indira Gandhi (posthumous) 1984
Olof Palme (posthumous) 1985
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Javier Perez de Cuellar 1987
Yassir Arafat 1988
Robert Gabriel Mugabe 1989
Helmut Kohl 1990
Aruna Asaf Ali 1991
Maurice F. Strong 1992
Aung San Suu Kyi 1993
The Jawaharlal Nehru Award is administered by the Indian Council for
Cultural for Relations, Azad Bhavan, New Delhi.
CITATION
The compassion, courage and integrity of Aung San Suu Kyi have given
her a unique position in her country and its history and made her a worldwide
symbol of human dignity and worth.
Born into the family of General Aung San, the great liberator of Burma,
and Daw Khin Kyi, Aung San Suu Kyi has personified steadfastness to a
cause and has found a place in the hearts of not only the people of her
country but of peoples around the world.
Aung San Suu Kyi lived for many years in India with her mother Daw
Khin Kyi who was Burma's Ambassador to India from 1960 to 1967.
>From her parents she imbibed the deep and ageless values of Buddhism,
and its message of tolerance and esquire. She has always carried with
grace the legacy of her father who waged an unrelenting struggle for, and
became martyr to, the cause of his country's independence.
Her sojourn in India, where she completes school and understood her
college education, brought her many formative experiences. It was here
that she first came in touch with Indian leaders and the philosophy of India's
freedom struggle. It was here, again, that she learnt of Mahatma Gandhi's
belief in truth and non-violence as instrument of social reform and
political change.
Faith in human destiny and a sense of duty towards fellow humanity have
always animated her. While in Algeria, she joined in the work of constructing
dwellings for widows of freedom-fighters. When she was with the United
Nations in New York, she found time to engage in voluntary work for poorest
in that city. Her courage, internationalism and sense of duty bring to mind the
words of Jawaharlal Nehru who said: "In a world which id full of conflicts
and hatred and violence, it becomes even more necessary than at any other
time for us to have some anchor to our faith in human destiny." Aung San
Suu Kyi symbloizes the quest for such an anchor.
The ideals of peace ad non-violence were sanctified centuries ago in India's
by Buddha. Mahatma Gandhi invoked these ideals in India for struggle for
liberation from imperial rule. Amid the turbulence of an era in transition,
Aung San Suu Kyi adhered strictly to a peaceful struggle in her espousal of
democracy in her country Myanmar.
By conferring the Jawaharlal Nehru Award on Aung San Suu Kyi, India
pays tribute to courageous torchbearer of this traditional of peace and non-
violence; and to a luminous example of the indomitable human spirit that
can change the course of history.
ACCEPTANCE ADDRESS OF DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Mr. President, Mr. Vice-President, Mr. Prime Minister, Member of the
Nehru Award Committee, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests and
Dear Friends:
This is an occasion for mixed emotions. There are strong ties of friendship
and shared political ideals that bind me to so many people in India. I do
not remember a time when I did not know about India and "Panditji" as we
always referred to Pandit Nehru in our family. To be awarded a prize for
international understanding established in his memory is a matter of pride
and joy for me.
On the other hand I am well aware that the prize comes to me not as an
individual but as a n individual but as a representative of the democracy
movement in Burma. And that fills me with a sense of humanity and
gratitude, as is always the case when I am chosen to be the recipient of
honours that are awarded to those who have rendered outstanding service
to the cause of human dignity the world over. In my own country there are
large numbers of men and women who do not enjoy the protection of
international recognition, daily risking their well-being, their liberty and
even their lives, for the sake of principles and rights that will guarantee our
people a secure and dignified existence. I am thankful for the opportunity to
draw attention to the struggles of these brave men and women and to accept,
in all humanity, the Nehru Memorial Prize for International Understanding
in their name.
It is as much the desire to pay tribute to those who have sacrifice so much
in pursuit of a free and democratic Burma, as to re-establish and straighten
my ties with India that I so much circumstances could have allowed to me to
receive this honor in thin person today. However, as that could not be, I
have chosen as my worthy representative a much loved family friend and
"honorary" aunt, the first Burmese to become a member of the United
Nations Secretariat, she has been an ardent advocate and a practitioner of
international understanding. I know that she will accept the prize on my
behalf with all the grace and dignity the occasion merits.
Pandit Nehru's contributions to international understanding go beyond the
part he played on the world stage during his lifetime to narrow the gap
between diverse culture and differing ideologies. His spirit contribute to
reach out to people struggling to establish universal human values in a
world increasingly preoccupied with material power.
During my years of detention the words and works of Mahatma Gandhi and
Pandit Nehru were a constant source of inspiration and support. I count
these two great Indians among my most revered guides, mentors and friends.
Throughout the six years that U was cut off from the world outside I had
hanging in the front hall of my house a scroll on which I had copied
extracts from Panditji's immoral words, to be found in his autobiography,
made such a profound impression on me I would like to quote the passage in
its entirety:
Law and order, we are told, are among the proud achievements of British
rule in India. My own instincts are entirely in favour of them. I like
discipline in life, and dislike anarchy and disorder and inefficiency. But
bitter experience has made me doubt the value of the law and order are the
states and governments impose on people. Sometimes price on pay for them
is excessive, and the law is but the will of the dominant faction and the
order is the reflex of an all-pervading fear. Sometimes, indeed, the so-called
law and order might be more justly called the absence of law and order.
Any achievement that is based on widespread fear can hardly be a desirable
one, and an 'order' that has for its basis the coercive apparatus of the State,
and cannot exist without it, is more like military occupation than civil
rule. I find in the Rajatarangini, the thousand-year-old Kasmiri historic
epic of the poet Kalhana, that the phrase which is repeatedly used in the
sense of law and order, sometime that it was the duty of the ruler and the
state to preserve, is dharma and abhaya - righteousness and absence of
fear. Law was something more than mere law, and order was the
fearlessness of the people. How much more desirable is this idea of
inculcating fearlessness than of enforcing 'order' on a frightened populace!
The sentiments expressed by Pandit Nehru in the above passage are exactly
my
own. Often I have felt that we shared much in common and regretted not
having taken the opportunity to get to know hi better during the years I was
in India with my mother. At that time I look upon him simply as a friend of
my parents and never imagined I would one day come to look upon him as
my own friend.
Pandit Nehru often broke through the barriers of race and generation by his
warm humanity. On his way to London for talks on independence for
Burma my father made a stop in Delhi to have talks with Pandit Nehru and
other Indian leaders. Panditji immediately showed a fatherly concern for
my father, twenty-six his junior. He cast a critical but kindly eye over the
younger man's shabby, thin cotton uniform and decided id would not do. He
arranged for several smart, warm woolen uniforms to be run up hastily by
his tailors. Hearing that England was suffering from one of the coldest
winters in living memory Panditji also commandeered a greatcoat: a well
known photograph of my father shows hi looking somewhat swamped in
this greatcoat which is rather too large for him.
When my mother was appointed Burmese ambassador to Indian in 1960
Pandit Nehru cast over her the warm protection of his friendship, also
making a point of singling her out at public occasions to enquire after her
well-being. It was with such gestures of human warmth that Pandit Nehru
won the hearts of peoples of all races and creeds. And his intellect and
integrity won him the respect even of those who did not share his
commitment to democracy and internationalism.
For us who believe that a democratic political system offers the best
solutions to the myriad problems that beset our imperfect world, the
achievements of Pandit Nehru and India provide strong encouragement.
This sub-continent of many races, languages and creeds; this nation that
stepped forward proudly to keep its tryst with destiny only months after its
fabric had been rent by horrifying communal strife; extremism and violence;
this, the largest democracy in the world, is proof supreme that there is no
problem beyond the control of a system that respects the inherent dignity of
man and honors him as a being fit for freedom and self-rule. It is the
heartfelt hope of the vast majority of the people of Burma that our country
too, on a day not too far away, will become a democratic nation guided by
the will of the people and ruled by dhama and abhaya.
India and Burma share more than common frontier. Buddhism which is the
backbone of Burmese culture sprang from Indian soil. The tolerance, loving
kindness, compassion and self-control that Buddhism teaches are qualities
that are in valuable in a world made smaller but more complex and
potentially very dangerous by the immense technological advances of our
age. More than even there is a need to recognize that all peoples are bound
by a common humanity, to cultivate those traits that help us to understand
one another better. More that ever there is a need for magnificent like
Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru who could reach out to win alien
hearts with their breath of vision.
India today continues in the tradition of its great leaders. It is indeed an
honour to have been chosen to receive a prize for International
Understanding from this nation that is so close to my heart.
Mr. President and members of the Nehru Award Committee, may I thank
you for the honour you have done my country, my people and myself.
Thank you
President Dr. Shankar Daya Sharma present to the Ms. Suu Kyi's family
close friend Ms. Than E'.
President Dr. Sharma speaking at the occasion said the supporting
democratic movement is apart of the firming commitment in democratic
cretinous.
Vice-President who is also chairman of the jury of the award Ms. Suu Kyi
is living testimony of democratic aspiration and peace.
Exclusive conversion over phone
Ms. Suu Kyi spoke to Mr. A. Goswamy and said the award made had feel
even closer to India. "I am very grateful for the prize. I have explained how
exactly I feel in my speech. It makes me feel closer to India. I've always
felts close to India anyway. I was not released under any restrictions on my
release was unconditional. I do not think there are any restrictions. In any
case, I would not accept any such restrictions. The movement is reviving
very nicely it carries on till we get to democracy.