The General Council of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) has decided to institute the Nirmala Deshpande South Asian Peace and Justice Award for individuals and institutions of South Asia that are working for peace.
At a meeting held at the PILER Centre, the General Council of PILER was informed that as a mark of abiding respect for Nirmala Deshpande and a permanent tribute to her services for humanity, the Pakistan Labour Trust (PLT), an associate of PILER, has instituted the award, which carries an amount of Rs 1 million.
PILER Executive Director Karamat Ali informed the members of the General Council that an independent jury, selected from all eight member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), would decide the award recipients and every year on October 17, which is birthday of the late Deshpande, and the award would be given in the country of the recipient.
He said there would be no other better method to recognise the services of Deshpande. Popularly known throughout South and Central Asia as “Didi”, Dr Deshpande, whose exclusive mission in life was to work for humanity, died on May 1, 2008 and her love for people of Pakistan was proved by her last wish to have her ashes immersed in the Indus River. Karamat Ali and BM Kutty, who attended Didi’s funeral in Delhi, had brought the urn containing her ashes and PILER, along with other civil society organizations, arranged a peace caravan in May 2008 that travelled from Karachi to Sadhu Bela, where the ashes were immersed in the river.
At people-to-people level, the contribution of Deshpande as a crusader for peace and friendship between Pakistan and India is unmatched. Never did she hesitate to use her influence as a renowned Gandhian, peace activist and parliamentarian to persuade the governments of India and Pakistan at the highest level, to help promote the peace process.
As a member of India’s Rajya Sabha, she was known never to miss a debate in the House, relating to any aspect of Pakistan-India relations. She always passionately pleaded for friendship and dialogue with Pakistan, even at the height of tension between the two countries.
Born on October 17, 1929 in Nagpur in the Indian State of Maharashtra, Didi, after obtaining her Master’s degree in Political Science from Nagpur University, served as a lecturer in Political Science in Morris College Nagpur. An enlightened soul, Didi began her tryst with destiny in 1952 when she joined the land donation ‘bhoodan’ movement led by the renowned Gandhian Acharya Vinobha Bhave and traveled more than 40,000 kilometers on foot, covering the length and breadth of India, asking for land donations. In the process she acquired a deep insight into the miserable conditions of the rural poor and the myriad problems they faced. This experience later on led her to establish the Akhil Bharat Rachnatmak Samaj – a Federation of Gandhian Institutions and Social Workers – and dedicate her entire life to the service of the poverty-stricken and the most deprived and marginalized sections of society, without distinction of caste, creed, religion, race, colour or gender.
