Martin Luther King III to get Priyadarshani Award

MUMBAI - Eminent human rights activist Martin Luther King III, nuclear expert Anil Kakodkar and Bollywood actress Vidya Balan will be conferred the biennial awards of the Priyadarshani Academy, an official said Monday.

The awards were announced by the academy chairman Nanik Rupani and scientist R.A Mashelkar, the chairman of its global awards advisory committee.

The awards will be presented by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan at a ceremony scheduled here Sep 19, Rupani said.

The other prominent awardees in different categories this year are doctor S. S. Badrinath (Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai), Anil K. Gupta (National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad), Ole Johansson (president, Warstila Corporation, Finland), A. M. Naik (chairman, Larsen & Toubro), Yoshihiro Nishida (vice-chairman, Yokohama India Centre) and Raul Diez Canseco Terry (president, Universidad San Ignacio De Loyola, Peru).

Martin Luther King III, the president and chief executive officer of King Centre for Non-Violent Social Change, Atlanta (GA), US, will be conferred the first Ramkrishna Bajaj Memorial Global Award for Outstanding Contribution for the Promotion of Human Rights.

“The Priyadarshni Academy Global Awards are often referred to as the Nobel Prize of India, and people look forward eagerly to witnessing this event. The awards are held biennially without a change of date and people block off this date every time far in advance,” Rupani told media persons.