Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation received the 22nd Nikkei Asian Award in Tokyo in recognition of foundation’s longstanding social and welfare activities for the general public.
An Indian IT entrepreneur and Taiwanese Virologist were also among the recipients of the award for achievements in their respective fields.
Now in the 22nd year, the awards are given to individuals and groups in Asia that have made significant contributions to the region’s development.
Founded by Abdul Sattar Edhi in 1951, what started as a small free clinic is now the world’s biggest non-governmental welfare organisation, the organisers of the Nikkei Asia Prizes noted.
Speaking at the award ceremony, “We are proud to run all of these activities with the local support of the Pakistani people,” said Faisal Edhi, the son of Abdul Sattar and current head of the foundation. The foundation does not accept government’s funding to avoid political influence.
Faisal Edhi said that India’s piling up of weapons is fueling the arms race in the region and emphasised that countries of the region must cooperate and contribute towards the solution of common problems of poverty, education, health, social insecurity and availability of basic amenities of life.
He added that peace and harmony in the region could bring vital changes in the lives of masses as more resources might be dedicated to social welfare.
He thanked Nikkei for recognising the contribution of Edhi Foundation towards welfare activities aimed at needy people.
Nandan Nilekani, former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, was awarded the economic and business innovation prize for his achievement in leading the development of the country’s biometric identification system Aadhaar, in which every citizen there is given an ID number tied to a photo, fingerprint and iris scan.
Michael Ming-Chiao Lai, distinguished research fellow at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, won the science and technology prize. Lai’s research on SARS coronavirus — the cause of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) — helped explain much of the mechanism and develop control measures for disease, which sent Asia into a panic in 2003.