Context
The Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2019 and 2020 are being conferred.
About Gandhi Peace Prize
- It is an annual award instituted by the Government of India since 1995, the 125th Birth Anniversary commemoration year of Mahatma Gandhi.
- The award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed, or sex.
- It is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic, and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.
- The award is not given posthumously.
- The award carries an amount of 1 crore, a citation, a plaque, andan exquisite traditional handicraft/ handloom item.
- Selection committee: The Jury for Gandhi Peace Prize is chaired by the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, Leader of the single largest Opposition Party in LokSabha, the Speaker of the LokSabha, and one other eminent person.
Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2019 and 2020
The Union government conferred Gandhi Peace Prize to-
- (Late) His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman for the year 2019
- Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for the year 2020
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
- Popularly referred to as ''Bangabandhu'' or the 'friend of Bangladesh', Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was one of the tallest leaders of Bangladesh.
- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birth anniversary is celebrated as the National Children's Day in the country.
- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on March 17, 1920.
- He is considered as the "architect of independent Bangladesh" and the 'father of Bangladesh".
- In 1949, he joined the Awami League, a political party which advocated greater autonomy for East Pakistan.
- Rahman played an important role in the six-point movement and the Anti-Ayub movement.
- In 1970, his party secured an absolute majority in the Pakistani general elections.
- The election results were not honoured, leading to a bloody civil war, and Sheikh Mujib declared Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan on March 26, 1971.
- India under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi provided full support to Rahman and Bangladesh’s independence movement, resulting in the creation of a sovereign government at Dhaka in January 1971.
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