India's Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai have been awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in fighting child labour and promoting education.
In his first reaction to being awarded prestigious award, Kailash Satyarthi told news channel Times Now that "the award was an honour for my fellow Indians and for all those children whose voice has never been heard before in the country".
Indian Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi. AFP
Here are some key details about him:
* Born on 11 January, 1954 Kailash Satyarthi is a renowned activist working in the area of child labour. Satyarthi heads the Global March Against Child Labour, and through his movements have rescued over 80,000 children.
* Kailash was born in Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. He holds a degree in electrical engineering as well as a post-graduate diploma in high-voltage engineering. He is married with a son and a daughter.
* He played an important role in spearheading 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan' a movement against child labour that eventually led to a Constitutional amendment paving the way for the Right to Education act, ensuring compulsory education for all children in India.
* Bachpan Bachao Andolan is reportedly India's largest grassroots movement for the protection of children, ensuring their quality education. He has rescued over 80,000 students since the foundation of the organisation in 1980.
* Kailash has also fought for consumer resistance to products that have been made by bonded children across the globe, campaigning for the rights of children who have been subjected to bonded labour
* Kailash runs the Global March Against Child Labor (GMACL), a worldwide coalition of NGOs, Teachers' Union and Trade Unions, and the Global Campaign for Education.
* He is now reportedly working on bringing child labour and slavery into the post-2015 development agenda for the United Nation's Millenium Development Goals.
*Satyarthi serves on the board and committee of several international organisations including the Center for Victims of Torture (USA), the International Labor Rights Fund (USA), and the International Cocoa Foundation.
* The rights' activist has been honored by former US President Bill Clinton and has been featured in Human Rights' activist Kerry Kennedy's Book ‘Speak Truth to Power', where his life and work is featured among the top 50 human rights defenders in the world including Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wessel, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
* In an interview to The Times of India, he said: I want to level the playing field where I can learn from the children. Something I can learn from children is transparency. They are innocent, straightforward, and have no biases.
* You can congratulate him by tweeting to him @k_satyarthi
Updated Date: Oct 10, 2014 19:33 PM
