Ranjit Mahanti
KAILASH Satyarthi an Indian and Malala Yousafzai a Pakistani national were awarded jointly the Nobel peace prize for 2014, media reports. Child labour activist Satyarthi became India’s 8th Nobel laureate while the champion for children’s education Malala became her country’s second citizen to be given the most coveted prize.
According to media reports, the Nobel Institute in Oslo, saw a record 278 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014. Around 47 of these were organizations. The Committee had said that 278 is the highest number of candidates ever. The previous record was 259 from 2013.
President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso congratulated the newly crowned Nobel laureates. The two will split the £690,000 ($1.11m) prize announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Who is Satyarthi?
60-year-old Satyarthi is a native of Vidhisha in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He studied engineering at the Government Engineering College, Vidisha. He started his career as an electrical engineer over three decades ago to start Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save the Childhood Movement. The organisation has been working towards rescuing trafficked children for over 30 years. It receives information from a large network of volunteers.