New Delhi: India's Ruth Manorama, a prominent women's rights activist, has been named the joint winner of the Right Livelihood Awards, alternative Nobels', for her crusade to achieve equality for Dalit women.
The jury honoured Manorama, a Dalit herself, ''for her commitment over decades to achieving equality for Dalit women, building effective and committed women's organisations and working for their rights at national and international levels,'' the official website of the Sweden-based awards said.
Manorama will share the prize money of $270,000 US with two other recipients – Daniel Ellsberg (USA) and the Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medellin (Colombia).
While Daniel Ellsberg's 'whistle blowing' helped end the Vietnam War, the Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medellin, a unique poetry festival, helped build peace in one of the most violent cities in the world.
Founded in 1980, the annual Right Livelihood Awards are presented in the Swedish Parliament and this year, the ceremony will be held on December 8.
Jakob von Uexkull, a Swedish-German professional philatelist, sold his business to provide the original funding for the award. Since then the Award has been supported by individual donors.
They were introduced ''to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today''.
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