Zee News: San Francisco: Tuesday,
April 29, 2014.
Indian environment activist Ramesh Agrawal has won
the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize that honours heroic grassroot
environmentalists around the world for their achievements.
The Goldman Prize, in its 25th year, is the
largest award for grassroots environmental activism given annually by Goldman
Environmental Foundation based in San Francisco, the foundation said in a
statement Monday.
Agrawal, who ran a small internet cafe in Raigarh
city in India's Chhattisgarh state, has been awarded for his contribution to
control the unchecked industrial development throughout India.
"Agrawal succeeded in shutting down a
proposed coal mine by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd.(JSPL), one of the largest in
Chhattisgarh," the statement said.
The social worker is among six global recipients
of the award this year and each of them will be given an individual cash prize
of $175,000. The other winners hail from Indonesia, Peru, Russia, South Africa
and the US.
Agrawal founded Jan Chetana, a grassroots movement
to protect people and the environment from rampant industrialisation.
He organised local villagers in the state for
environmental violations and filed Right to Information (RTI) applications on
their behalf.
The foundation's website said: "Starting in
2008, Agrawal organised residents to voice their opposition and filed numerous
petitions highlighting JSPL's failure to hold mandatory public meetings and
obtain environmental clearance for the project."
Agarwal acted as a watchdog for rural communities
who did not have access to computers.
Commenting on the honoured environmental heroes,
David Gordon, executive director the of Goldman Environmental Prize said:
"From fracking to palm oil development, the 2014 Goldman Prize recipients
are not only tackling some of the world most pressing environmental problems;
they are also achieving impressive environmental victories and inspiring others
to do the same." The winners will be awarded at a ceremony Monday at the
San Francisco Opera House.
The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in
1989 by late San Francisco civic leaders and philanthropists Richard and Rhoda
Goldman.
The prize is awarded to environmental heroes from
each of the world's six inhabited continental regions.
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