The Hindu : Front Page : 91 Indian women in race for Peace Nobel

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Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

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91 Indian women in race for Peace Nobel

Special Correspondent

The largest number of Nobel Prize nominations, 157, has gone from South Asia Among nominees are Kiran Bedi, Nirmala Deshpande, Capt. Lakshmi Sehgal and Teesta Setalvad

NEW DELHI: : Ninety-one women from India figure in the list of 1,000 women who have been nominated globally for the Nobel Peace Prize-2005.

The largest number of nominations — 157 — has gone from South Asia, including 29 from Pakistan, 16 from Bangladesh, 12 from Sri Lanka and nine from Nepal. "The number of nominees from India is the highest from any country and the figure shows the immense contribution of women towards peace, justice, human rights and sustainable livelihoods," said Kamla Bhasin, South Asia project coordinator of "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize" group, here on Wednesday while announcing the names of Indian nominees.

Some of the nominees are Mahashweta Verma, Kiran Bedi, Sharda and Shanta (both social activists), Shahjahan and Ruth Manorama (women's rights activist), Dilafroz Qazi, Abha Bhayya, Ajit Kaur (writer), Krishna Kumar, Maninder Meenu Sodhi, Veena Mzumdar, Shobha Barve, Shabnam Hashmi, Nandita Haksar, Sheila, Nirmala Deshpande, Anjali Gopalan, Aruna Roy, Capt. Lakshmi Sehgal, Teesta Setalvad, Vandana Shiva, Rashida Bi and Champa Devi Shukla.

The names of nominees were announced at 20 places across the world. In South Asia there were 13 press conferences, including eight in India where some of the nominees were also present. In Delhi, as many 15 nominees attended the meeting. The project of nominating women began in 2003 under the conviction that the commitment of women working for peace should be acknowledged and made publicly known. It began as a Swiss initiative, but has become a globally supported project. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is expected to announce the winner on October 14.

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