Dr. Martin Luther King, the assassinated Negro leader, has been posthumously awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding for 1966. This was announced by the Education Minister, Dr. Triguna Sen here [New Delhi] to-day [May 27]. The announcement of the award coincided with the fourth death anniversary of Nehru. It carries a sum of one lakh of rupees, convertible, into foreign currency and a citation. Dr. Sen said that after careful consideration of the many nominations received from all over the world, the jury had decided that the award should go to Dr. King. Dr. King, he said, was a valiant fighter for the emancipation of all people, in particular his own, and had made it his life’s mission to work through peaceful and non-violent means for the removal of racial discrimination. His outstanding contribution to the extension of human rights had done much to create the necessary conditions, for promoting greater international understanding and goodwill among the peoples of the world. Since the time his name was proposed for the award, Dr. King had laid down his life fighting for this noble cause. “It is but right that the second Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, for the year 1966, should go to him even though he is no longer with us to receive it,” Dr. Sen said.
