Archbishop Tutu to get Gandhi Peace Prize

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who played a key role in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, has been selected for the prestigious Gandhi Peace Prize.

The award, carrying Rs 1 crore and a citation, will be conferred by the President A P J Kalam at a special ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 31.

Archbishop Tutu, a South African cleric and activist, rose to worldwide fame as an opponent of apartheid. He consistently worked for reconciliation among all parties involved in apartheid through his writings and lectures at home and abroad.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October, 1984, for his role as a unifying figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa. After the fall of apartheid, he headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for which he was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999.

Past recipients of the Gandhi Peace included Julius Nyerere, former president of Tanzania, A T Ariyaratne, founder of Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka, former German chancellor Gerhard Fischer, Ramakrishna Mission (India), environmentalist Baba Amte, former South African president Nelson Mandela, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, John Hume (Ireland), Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and Vaclav Havel, former president of Czechoslovakia.