Satyarthi presents Nobel medal to Prez

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 7

Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2014 Kailash Satyarthi on Wednesday presented his award medal to President Pranab Mukherjee, dedicating it to the nation.

With this gesture, Satyarthi became the first Indian-origin Nobel winner to present his medal to the nation through the President. Winners in the past have kept the Nobel awards within their institutions.

The Nobel won by Satyarthi will now be displayed at Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum for people to see.

This will be the first ever time that the general public will have an occasion to view the Nobel award. It will go on display at the museum beginning this weekend.

The President while receiving Satyarthi's Nobel recalled that Dr CV Raman was the only other Indian Nobel winner who had received his award on the behalf of the nation. He mentioned how former winners had kept their awards in their respective institutions, including Rabindra Nath Tagore, whose medal was housed in Viswa Bharati at Santiniketan till it was stolen.

"The President told me that he had requested Stockholm for a replica of the Tagore medal when he was foreign minister. Viswa Bharati has a replica on display today. So India technically has no Nobel medal as of date. I feel proud to have dedicated mine to the nation," Satyarthi said.