When
he presented the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award to Swami Agnivesh in 2004,
India's Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh said, "There is no endeavour to
enlarge social justice within the country and in the wider world in which he is
not in the forefront, be it the ending of bonded labour and child labour of all
kinds, or the enforcement of equal rights for women. He has been an eloquent champion
of the poorer peoples rights in this age of rapid globalisation and also of environmental
protection. But above all it is in the fight against religious fundamentalism
and the growth of communal hatred that Swami Agnivesh has made his greatest contribution."
That same year Swami Agnivesh received the Right Livelihood Award for his life's
dedication to promoting values of cooperation, tolerance and understanding. Swami
Agnivesh first gained attention in the early 1970s when he formed a new political
party in India which renounced both communism and capitalism in favor of "social
spirituality." After being jailed for over a year during Indira Gandhi's
administration, he entered politics briefly before devoting himself completely
to social justice movements in India. Although he continues to be involved in
many movements for change, Swami Agnivesh is best known for his work to stop "bonded
labor" -- more than 65 million children are forced to work in India. The
organization he founded in 1981, the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, has helped
free more than 172,000 Indian workers. Swami Agnivesh has also worked internationally
with the United Nations to end slavery -- he has been elected 3 times to chair
the UN Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery.
