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Politics of Noble Prize

Is the formidable institution of the Nobel, which seems to glory in human endeavour, governed by a Eurocentric vision or by extra-meritorious considerations? Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was never awarded a Nobel, nor did he ever lobby for it. But the omission pales other peacenik laureates into insignificance and puts into question the very authority, worldview and rationale behind these prizes.

The charge of politicking, a flair for political correctness, clings to the Norwegian authority despite its much-touted observance of fair play. Vinay Lal, in an article titled Gandhi & the Nobel Peace Prize, says that had Gandhiji been a Nobel winner, he would have been defiled by a pantheon peopled by the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, a "naked imperialist"; a self-avowed terrorist such as Menachem Begin; and Henry Kissinger, the "architect" of the secret bombing of Cambodia, a warmonger and war criminal "for whose arrest a warrant should be put out if there was any respect for the tens of thousands of the victims of Kissinger's policies in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Chile, and elsewhere".

And so it is that Gandhi was never conferred the Nobel Peace Prize. But why should this be a matter of misgiving and regret, and why should we strive for such accolades? Anyone familiar with Gandhi’s life would at once recognize that Gandhi scarcely cared a jot for such forms of recognition, and it is in the fitness of thinking that Gandhi, who left this world with very little on him, and almost made a virtue of nakedness, should have been unadorned by any titles, awards, formal designations, and the like.

There is a sulphurous debate because the second category includes C V Raman, who in 1930 was the first non-white, Asian and Indian to receive the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the scattering of light and the "Raman Effect". Several questions have been asked about Raman not sharing the prize with others who worked with on the subject.

Hargittai points out that until 1921, German scientists accounted for almost 50 per cent of the awards. Up to 1945, Swedish science enjoyed stronger ties with German as opposed to American and British science.

Well look like Gandhi nobler without a Nobel

Posted by Ramdhan Yadav at November 23, 2004 02:56 PM Perma Link