Address At The Presentation Of The Indira Gandhi Prize For Peace, Disarmament And Development 2004, New Delhi

Development for Peace and Prosperity

When I am giving this award, I would like to recall the famous statement of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, when she was the chairperson of the Non-Aligned movement, "Born of the universe, we cannot narrow our loyalties. Belonging to humankind, nothing human can be alien to us." The award reflects the borderless attributes needed in today's modern world, an ideal for which Mrs. Indira Gandhi stood.

Development concepts of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand has been responsible for cultural preservation, through revival and fostering of handicraft skills, shadow plays and classical works of music recorded for posterity. By singing and performing in public with Thais of all walks of life, she has helped spur an unprecedented revival of traditional music. We greatly admire the participation of Her Highness in the sustainable development work initiated by the King of Thailand in alleviating poverty in the country. Our late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi was strongly committed for pursuing an agenda of development and poverty alleviation which while ensuring growth also focused on bridging the gap between the wealthy and the economically deprived. Her commitment to the promotion of science and technology and marshalling their application to the development of the nation particularly the rural areas was a deep and abiding one. I am delighted to confer the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand for the great services rendered by her for the humankind. The bi-lateral ties between India and Thailand have been built on a strong foundation of ancient, historical, religious and commercial links. Many of the experiences of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn have direct relevance in the Indian context where rural development has become one of the key issues and a critical component for national development. To translate this concept of uplifting the rural citizens, India now has planned a programme called PURA meaning Providing Urban amenities in the Rural Areas. PURA envisages providing physical connectivity, electronic connectivity and knowledge connectivity to a cluster of villages leading to sustainable economic growth. For developing nations PURA will be the instrument for development. Hence, I would like to share some of the Indian experiences.

Periyar PURA

I would like to describe one of the PURA complexes, which has been developed in Vallam, Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu involving 60 villages with a population of 3 lakhs. This PURA complex has all the three connectivities - physical, electronic and knowledge - leading to economic connectivity. The centre of activity emanates from the women engineering college that provides the electronic and knowledge connectivity. Periyar PURA has health care centres, primary to post graduate level education and vocational training centres. This has resulted in large scale employment generation and creation of number of entrepreneurs with the active support of 850 self-help groups. Two hundreds acres of waste land has been developed into a cultivable land with innovative water management schemes such as contour ponds and water sheds for storing and irrigating the fields. All the villagers are busy in either cultivation, planting Jatropha, herbal and medicinal plants, power generation using bio-mass, food processing and above all running marketing centres. This model has emanated independent of any government initiative. The committed leadership has been provided by the Engineering institution. This gives me the confidence that PURA is a realizable proposition and this movement can be multiplied by thousands of entrepreneurs, educational administrators, small scale industrialists and bankers with the support of the government agencies. I have also seen similar PURA complexes in Loni, Maharashtra and Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh. Learning from the work of Her Royal Highness we feel that PURA should also have a cultural connectivity. This model of rural development is applicable to many countries in the developing world. India has taken this as a mission and many organizations are working in collaboration with the local government. Many people may wonder about the link between peace, disarmament and development which Indira Gandhi Prize symbolizes. One of the main causes of disruption of peace is terrorism. The answer to prevention of terrorism lies in creating a prosperous, happy and peaceful society. Here I find the work of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand very useful for promoting the cause of the poor and women empowerment.

Princess Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhom of Thailand, is no stranger either to India or Indology. She herself is a great scholar in Sanskrit and Indology. May be this combination and her frequent visits to India and her in depth study of many parts of India, would have fueled her urge to find peace in the world through rural development and culture.

Conclusion

We are indeed happy that Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has been chosen by the jury for the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for the great services rendered by her for humankind. I congratulate Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and wish her all success in her mission of promoting development and peace to the humankind.

May God bless you.