Congratulations winners!

Thank you for your patience.

The Hindu announced a national essay contest for young people titled "Why did Gandhi die?" on the 55th anniversary of Gandhi's martydom (January 30, 2003).

An exclusive opportunity for this generation, it enabled those in the age group of 17 to 23 years to express their views on the founding principles of this nation and on what India is all about.

As the response was overwhelming, with entries from across India and the rest of the world, the jury had to take a while in shortlisting a number of essays that had quality and displayed an original thought process.

The Hindu NATIONAL ESSAY CONTEST


"Why did Gandhi die?"


We thank the eminent members of our jury, and Mr.P. Sainath, development journalist, for their cooperation in selecting the winners.
To quote some of our judges:

"It has not been easy to pick out only some"

L. C. Jain

"I have enjoyed reading all the essays you sent me. It has been very difficult to choose the first ten. These essays will provoke interest and debate about one of India's greatest social and political heritage in the last hundred years..."

Aruna Roy

"While the set of entries is good and it has not been easy to grade them inter se, I must say that I did not find any entry to be totally outstanding as to be worth publishing in itself"

Gopal Gandhi

The results:

First prize:
Swara Bhaskar
University of Delhi,
Delhi 		Second prize:
Mayukh Chatterjee
St.Stephen's College,
Delhi 		Third prize:
Umang Bhaskar
Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad
Consolation prizes:
Pawas Bisht
Hindu College,
Delhi 		Vibha Iyer
Asian College of Journalism,
Chennai 		Nasruddin Khan
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 		Keerthi
Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi 		Madhulika Reddy
Vivekananda School of P.G. Studies, Hyderabad 		Jessica Paul
St. Stephen's College, Delhi 		Ajit Kumar Rao,
Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Mangalore

Jury:

L.C. Jain, Chairman Eminent Gandhian, economist and Magsaysay Award winner Romila Thapar
Leading Historian, Emeritus Professor of History of Jawarharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi

Jagdish Pradhan
Leading social activist and development worker

Mushiril Hasan
Noted historian and academican

Usha Rai
Pioneer of development journalism in India

Ramachandra Guha
Historian and columinist

Aruna Roy
Leading social activist,
Magsaysay Award winner

Gopal Guru
Professor of Indian Politics,
Delhi Univeristy

Gopal Gandhi
Ambassador of India in Norway

The winners have been informed by post.

Magazine