Matter of great honour to be conferred Gandhi Peace Prize: Gita Press
Gorakhpur (UP), Jun 19: Gita Press on Monday said it was a matter of great honour to be conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize, but the publisher would not accept the cash component of the award keeping with its tradition of not receiving any kind of donations.
The trustee board of the press met here late on Sunday after the award was announced and decided not to receive the cash component of Rs 1 crore.
The publisher thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Culture Ministry for conferring the prestigious award on it.
"It is a matter of great honour for us. It is our principle not to accept any kind of donations, so the trustee board has decided not to take the award in any monetary form. However, we will certainly accept the award for the honour of it," Gita Press manager Lalmani Tripathi told reporters Monday.
Trustee board chairman Keshav Ram Agarwal, general secretary Vishnu Prasad Chandgotia and trustee Devi Dayal look after the management of the press, Tripathi said.
A wave of happiness prevailed in Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the press is located, as soon as the news came that it will be conferred the prize for 2021.
Gita Press is the world's largest publisher of Hindu religious texts and it was founded in 1923 by Jaya Dayal Goyanka and Ghanshyam Das Jalan for promoting the principles of Sanatan Dharma.
The press has published more than 93 crore books so far and all the publishing work of the press is done in Gorakhpur.
Tripathi said they publish 1,800 types of books in 15 languages.
"In the financial year 2022-23, we provided 2 crore 40 lakh books to our readers and despite its low cost, the monetary value of the books is Rs 111 crore. The demand of the books is very high and despite all efforts, we are not able to meet the demand for the books," Tripathi said.
The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 will be conferred on Gita Press, Gorakhpur, in recognition of its "outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods", the Ministry of Culture announced on Sunday.
The jury headed by the prime minister unanimously decided to select Gita Press as the recipient of the prize, the ministry said in a statement.
"Gandhi Peace Prize 2021 recognises the important and unparalleled contribution of Gita Press, in contributing to collective upliftment of humanity, which personifies Gandhian living in true sense," the statement said.
Prime Minister Modi has congratulated Gita Press for winning the prize and commended their contribution in the field.
The Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by the government in 1995, on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as a tribute to the ideals espoused by Mahatma Gandhi.
The award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed or gender. The award carries an amount of Rs 1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item, the ministry said.
Recent awardees include Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said, Oman (2019) and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (2020), Bangladesh.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
