Monday, May 20th 12:38 PM IST

Vandana Shiva to get top Japan prize

Jul 23, 2012

New Delhi:  Veteran environmental philosopher and activist Vandana Shiva has been chosen for this year’s Fukuoka Prize, a prestigious award being bestowed by Fukuoka city government in Japan on people who contribute to academia, arts, and culture in Asia.

Shiva was presented with the official notification of the award at a ceremony here on Monday. She will travel to Japan in September to receive the award at a function.

Vandana Shiva. Getty Images

Japanese Ambassador to India Akitaka Saiki congratulated Shiva for being bestowed with the honour and said her contributions to protecting the environment are valuable.

Shiva is the seventh Indian to receive the award after personalities like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Padma Subrahmanyam, Romila Thapar and Ashis Nandy.

Accepting the award, the activist accused governments of forcing people to commit suicide as they follow an economy based on greed.

“The recent incident at Maruti Suzuki factory is a classic example of what an economy of greed leads to,” she said.

PTI

Firstpost encourages open discussion and debate, but please adhere to the rules below, before posting. Comments that are found to be in violation of any one or more of the guidelines will be automatically deleted:

Personal attacks/name calling will not be tolerated. This applies to comments directed at the author, other commenters and other politicians/public figures

Please do not post comments that target a specific community, caste, nationality or religion.

While you do not have to use your real name, any commenters using any Firstpost writer's name will be deleted, and the commenter banned from participating in any future discussions.

Comments will be moderated for abusive and offensive language.

Please read our comments and moderation policy before posting