19 Nov : President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday led the nation in paying homage to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 91st birth anniversary.
Patil visited Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust to pay floral tributes to the late Prime Minister.Ansari and Singh paid floral tributes to the former premier at her memorial ‘Shakti Sthal’in New Delhi.
Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi led other parliamentarians in paying tribute to Gandhi in the Central Hall of Parliament.
Members of the union council of ministers who paid tributes to the late Gandhi include Shivraj Patil, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Vyalar Ravi, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Jitin Prasada.
Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, K Rahman Khan and several members of both Houses of Parliament also offered their tribute to Gandhi.
Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna, Union Minister Ajay Maken, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leaders Motilal Vohra and Mohsina Kidwai were the other leaders to pay their respects
IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei chosen for Indira Gandhi Peace Prize
Mohammad ElBaradei, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been chosen for the 2008 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development.
The International Jury of the Prize, at a recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to confer the honour on ElBaradei for "his impassioned opposition to the use of nuclear energy for military purposes and his steadfast espousal of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, sustained over many years."
"As Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Dr ElBaradei has been outspoken on nuclear proliferation and international security issues," a statement from the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, which gives away the Prize, said.
He has led the IAEA in carving out an independent approach free from bias and reflective of a wider balanced perspective in tune with today’s world, it said.
ElBaradei played an important role in India clinching the Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, a prerequisite for New Delhi’s re-entry in international nuclear commerce.
A lawyer by training, ElBaradei began his career in the Egyptian Diplomatic Service in 1964 and served in the UN both in New York and Geneva.
Between 1974 and 1978, he was a Special Assistant to the Foreign Minister of Egypt and since then has been participating in the activities of international organisations within and outside the UN systems.
ElBaradei has held his present position at the IAEA since 1997, having been re-appointed for a third term in September 2005.