Mahatma Gandhi is a name that resonates with peace, non-violence, and the struggle for justice. Yet, there’s a surprising fact that many people find perplexing. Mahatma Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, despite, receiving five nominations. This omission remains a topic of discussion and debate, sparking questions about the criteria for the prestigious award and its relevance to Gandhi’s philosophy. In this article, iLovePhD explores the complex reasons why Mahatma Gandhi did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Why did Mahatma Gandhi never Won the Nobel Prize for Peace?

Over the years, these questions have been asked frequently:

• Did the Norwegian Nobel Committee have a limited perspective?
• Did the committee members fail to recognize the fight for freedom in non-European people?
• Were the Norwegian committee members concerned about potentially harming their country’s relationship with Great Britain when considering prize awards?

Gandhi’s Legacy of Non-Violence

• One of the most significant reasons Gandhi didn’t receive the Nobel Peace Prize is rooted in his commitment to non-violence.
• The Nobel Committee traditionally recognized individuals and organizations that actively promoted peace through political negotiations, disarmament, or humanitarian efforts.
• Gandhi’s approach, centered on non-violent resistance and civil disobedience, was seen as unconventional and out of line with the mainstream understanding of “peace”.
• In South Africa Gandhi worked to improve living conditions for the Indians.
• This work directed against increasingly racist legislation, made him develop a strong Indian and religious commitment, and a will to self-sacrifice.
• With a great deal of success, he introduced a method of non-violence in the Indian struggle for basic human rights.
• The method, Satyagraha – “truth force” – was highly idealistic; without rejecting the rule of law as a principle.
• Gandhi’s non-violence made people respect him regardless of their attitude towards Indian nationalism or religion.
• Even the British judges who sentenced him to imprisonment recognized Gandhi as an exceptional personality.

First nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize

• In 1937, Ole Colbjornsen, a member of the Norwegian Parliament nominated Gandhi for that year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
• He was duly selected as one of thirteen candidates on the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s shortlist.
• The committee’s adviser, Professor Jacob Worm-Muller, who wrote a report on Gandhi, was more critical.
• The adviser’s report on Gandhi was “He is, undoubtedly, a good, noble and ascetic person – a prominent man who is deservedly honored and loved by the masses of India. Sharp turns in his policies, which can hardly be satisfactorily explained by his followers. He is a freedom fighter and a dictator, an idealist and a nationalist. He is frequently a Christ, but then, suddenly, an ordinary politician.”
• Gandhi had many critics in the international peace movement.
• The Nobel Committee adviser referred to these critics in maintaining that he was not consistently pacifist and that he should have known that some of his non-violent campaigns towards the British would degenerate into violence and terror. 
• Example: In 1921, a crowd in Chauri Chaura, the United Provinces, attacked a police station, killed many of the policemen, and then set fire to the police station.
• Professor Worm-Muller expressed his own doubts as to whether Gandhi’s ideals were meant to be universal or primarily Indian: “One might say that it is significant that his well-known struggle in South Africa was on behalf of the Indians only, and not of the blacks whose living conditions were even worse.”

1947 – Greatest Victory and Worst Defeat

• In 1947 the nominations of Gandhi came by telegram from India.
• The nominators were B.G. Kher, Prime Minister of Bombay, Govindh Bhallabh Panth, Premier of United Provinces, and Mavalankar, the President of the Indian Legislative Assembly.
• There were six names in the Nobel Committee’s shortlist; Mohandas Gandhi was one of them.
• Then, the Nobel Committee’s adviser, the historian Jens Arup Seip, wrote a new report which is primarily an account of Gandhi’s role in Indian political history after 1937.
• The adviser wrote, “From 1937 to 1947, led to the event which for Gandhi and his movement was at the same time the greatest victory and the worst defeat – India’s independence and India’s partition”.
• The report describes how Gandhi acted in three different, but mutually related conflicts before independence. The struggle between the Indians and the British; the question of India’s participation in the Second World War; and, finally, the conflict between Hindu and Muslim communities.
• In all these three matters, Gandhi consistently followed his own principles of non-violence.
• Seip’s report on Gandhi was not the same as the report written by Worm-Müller ten years earlier.
• However, the Nobel Peace Prize has never been awarded for that sort of struggle.
• The committee members also had to consider the following issues: Should they select Gandhi for being a symbol of non-violence, and what political effects they could expect if they awarded the Peace Prize to the most prominent Indian leader – relations between India and Pakistan were far from developing peacefully during the autumn of 1947?

1948 – Posthumous award

• Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948, two days before the closing date for that year’s Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
• The Committee received six letters of nomination naming Gandhi.
• The nominators were the Quakers and Emily Greene Balch, former Laureates.
• For the third time Gandhi came on the Committee’s shortlist – this time the list only included three names.
• The committee’s adviser Seip wrote a report on Gandhi’s activities during the last five months of his life.
• He concluded that Gandhi, through his course of life, had put his profound mark on an ethical and political attitude that would prevail as a norm for a large number of people both inside and outside India: “In this respect Gandhi can only be compared to the founders of religion”.
• Nobody had ever been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously.
• But according to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation in force at that time, the Nobel Prizes could, under certain circumstances, be awarded posthumously.
• Thus it was possible to give Gandhi the prize. However, Gandhi did not belong to an organization, he left no property behind and no will; who should receive the Prize money?
• The Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, August Schou, asked the committee advisers and the Swedish prize-awarding institutions for their opinion.
• The answers were negative; posthumous awards, they thought, should not take place unless the laureate died after the Committee’s decision had been made.
• On 18 November 1948, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to make no award that year on the grounds that “there was no suitable living candidate”.
• Chairman Gunnar Jahn wrote in his diary: “To me it seems beyond doubt that a posthumous award would be contrary to the intentions of the testator”.
• Thus it seems reasonable to assume that Gandhi would have been invited to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, if he had been alive one more year.

Mahatma Gandhi – The Missing Laureate

• Until 1960, the Nobel Peace Prize predominantly recognized individuals from Europe and the United States.
• Looking back, it appears that the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s scope was rather limited.
• Gandhi stood out starkly from the previous Laureates; he wasn’t a conventional politician, advocate of international law, foremost a humanitarian aid worker, or an organizer of international peace conferences.
• He would have represented a unique category of Nobel Laureates.
• There is no hint that the Norwegian Nobel Committee ever took into consideration the possibility of an adverse British reaction to an award to Gandhi.
• Thus it seems that the hypothesis that the Committee’s omission of Gandhi did due to its members’ not want to provoke British authorities, may be rejected.
• During the last months of his life, Gandhi tried really hard to stop violence between Hindus and Muslims after India’s division.
• Much information was not known about what the Norwegian Nobel Committee while considering giving Gandhi an award in 1948, except for a diary entry from November 18 by Gunnar Jahn.
• It seems like they were seriously thinking about giving him an award after his death.
• But because of some formal rules, the committee didn’t end up giving him the award.
• Instead, they decided to keep the prize money and, one year later, they decided not to use it for 1948.
• What many thought should have been Mahatma Gandhi’s place on the list of Laureates was silently but respectfully left open.

Members of the Nobel Committee nominated Gandhi in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, and finally, a few days before his assassination in January 1948. Later members of the Nobel Committee publicly regretted the omission of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Mahatma Gandhi. In 1989, when the Dalai Lama received the Peace Prize, the Chairman of the Nobel Committee stated that it was ‘in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.’ However, the committee has never provided an explanation for why Gandhi was not awarded the prize, and until recently, the sources that could shed light on this matter were unavailable.

Reference:

1. Mahatma Gandhi, the missing laureate. www.NobelPrize.org

The post Why Mahatma Gandhi never Won the Nobel Prize for Peace? appeared first on iLovePhD.

The Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, administers the international award known as the Nobel Prize, which is based on the fortune of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor and entrepreneur. Each prize selection involves awarding a medal, a personal diploma, and a cash award. From 1901 to 2022, they awarded the Nobel Prizes and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences 621 times to 1,000 people and 27 organizations.

Alfred Nobel’s Will on Nobel Prize

The statutes of the Nobel Foundation state, “A prize amount may equally divide between two works, each of which merits a prize. If two or three persons produce a rewarded work, they shall jointly receive the prize. A prize amount may not be divided between more than three persons in any case.”

In this article, iLovePhD presents you with the fullest details of the nomination and selection process involved in receiving the Nobel Prize.

Table of contents

1. Who selects the Nobel Prize laureates?
2. Who can nominate?
3. Nomination and Selection Process

3.1    Qualified nominators of Physics and Chemistry

3.1.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Physics and Chemistry

3.2    Qualified Nominators of Physiology or Medicine

3.2.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Physiology or Medicine

3.3    Qualified Nominators of Literature

3.3.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature

3.4    Qualified Nominators of Peace          

3.4.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Peace

3.5    Qualified Nominators of Economic Science    

3.5.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Economic Science

• Who is eligible for the Nobel Prize?
• How are the Nobel Prize laureates selected?
• Are the nominations made public?

Nomination and Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates

1. Who selects the Nobel Prize laureates?

In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established:

1. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry.
2. Karolinska Institute for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
3. The Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
4. A Committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament for the Nobel Peace Prize.
5. The Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1968.

2. Who can nominate?

• Every year, thousands of academicians, university professors, scientists, past Nobel Prize laureates, members of parliamentary assemblies, and others invite candidates for the upcoming year’s Nobel Prizes.
• We select these nominators to ensure that as many countries and universities as possible have representation over time.
• After receiving all nominations, the Nobel Committees of the four prize-awarding institutions are responsible for the selection of the candidates.
• The nomination process starts in September each year.
• No person can nominate herself/himself for a Nobel Prize.
• The names of the nominees cannot be revealed until 50 years later.

3. Nomination and Selection Process

• Nomination to the Nobel Prize is by invitation only.
• The committee cannot reveal the names of the nominees and other nomination information until 50 years later.
• The Nobel Committee sends confidential forms to persons who are competent and qualified to nominate.

3.1 Qualified nominators of Physics and Chemistry

The right to submit proposals for the award of a Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry shall be:

1. Swedish and foreign members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences;
2. Members of the Nobel Committee for Physics and Chemistry;
3. Nobel Prize laureates in physics and Chemistry;
4. Permanent  professors in the sciences of Physics and Chemistry at the universities and institutes of technology of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway, and Karolinska Institute, Stockholm;
5. Holders of corresponding chairs in at least six universities or university colleges; and
6. Other scientists from whom the Academy may see fit to invite proposals.

Decisions as to the selection of scientific scholars shall be taken each year before the end of the month of September.

3.1.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Physics and Chemistry

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is responsible for the selection of the Nobel Prize laureates in Physics and Chemistry.
• The Academy appoints a working body, the Nobel Committee for Physics and Chemistry, which screens the nominations and presents a proposal for final candidates.
• The committee consists of five voting members.
• The larger body discusses the Committee’s proposal, which may suggest a modification or forward the proposal to the Academy.
• Finally, the final Academy meeting may raise additional proposals.
• In principle, it is possible to suggest that the current year be given no Prize, but that choice is seldom used.

3.2 Qualified Nominators of Physiology or Medicine

The right to submit proposals for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is laid down in the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation. No self-nominations are considered. Those entitled to nominate are:

1. Members of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm;
2. Swedish and foreign members of the Medicine and Biology classes of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences;
3. Nobel Prize laureates in physiology or medicine and chemistry;
4. Members of the Nobel Committee;
5. Holders of established posts as full professors at the faculties of medicine in Sweden and holders of similar posts at the faculties of medicine or similar institutions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway;
6. Holders of similar posts at no fewer than six other faculties of medicine at universities around the world, selected by the Nobel Assembly; and
7. Scientists whom the Nobel Assembly may otherwise see fit to approach.

3.2.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Physiology or Medicine

• The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute is responsible for the selection of the Nobel Prize laureates in physiology or medicine.
• The Nobel Assembly has 50 members.
• The Nobel Committee is the working body that reviews the nominations and selects the candidates.
• It consists of five members and the Secretary of the Nobel Committee and Nobel Assembly.

3.3 Qualified Nominators of Literature

The right to submit proposals for the award of a Nobel Prize in Literature shall be:

1. Members of the Swedish Academy and of other academies, institutions and societies that are similar to it in construction and purpose;
2. Professors of literature and of linguistics at universities and university colleges;
3. Previous Nobel Prize laureates in literature;
4. Presidents of those societies of authors that are representative of the literary production in their respective countries.

3.3.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature

• The Swedish Academy is responsible for the selection of the Nobel Prize laureates in literature and has 18 members.
• The Nobel Committee for Literature is the working body that evaluates the nominations and presents its recommendations to the Swedish Academy and comprises four to five members.

3.4 Qualified Nominators of Peace

According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, only a person who meets certain criteria can submit a valid nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize will not be considered valid if it is a personal application for an award.

1. Members of national assemblies and national governments of sovereign states as well as current heads of state.
2. Members of The International Court of Justice in The Hague and The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
3. Members of l’Institut de Droit International.
4. Members of the International Board of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
5. University professors, professors emeriti and associate professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology, and religion; university rectors and university directors (or their equivalents); directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes.
6. Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
7. Members of the main board of directors or its equivalent of organizations that have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
8. Current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (proposals by current members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after 1 February).
9. Former advisers to the Norwegian Nobel Committee

3.4.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Peace

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is responsible for the selection of eligible candidates and the choice of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates. The Norwegian parliament appoints five members to compose the Committee. They award the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, not in Stockholm, Sweden, where they award the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and the prize in economic sciences.

• After receiving the nominations, the Nobel Committee holds its first meeting.
• The Committee’s Permanent Secretary presents the list of candidates for the year.
• At this meeting, the Committee can add more names to the list if deemed necessary.
• Once this meeting is concluded, the nomination process is closed.
• The Committee then begins discussions about the specific candidates.
• Following this initial review, the Committee creates a “short list” of candidates for further consideration.
• The shortlist usually consists of 20 to 30 candidates.
• These short-listed candidates are evaluated by the Nobel Institute’s permanent advisers.
• The advisers include the Institute’s Director, Research Director, and Norwegian university professors with relevant expertise.
• The Committee strives for unanimity in selecting the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, resorting to a majority vote only in rare cases when consensus cannot be reached.
•  The final decision is typically made just before the Prize’s announcement in early October.

3.5 Qualified Nominators of Economic Science

The Economic Sciences Prize Committee sends confidential forms to persons who are competent and qualified to nominate. The right to submit proposals for the award of a Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel shall be:

1. Swedish and foreign members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences;
2. Members of the Prize Committee for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences;
3. Persons who have been awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences;
4. Permanent professors in relevant subjects at the universities and colleges in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway;
5. Holders of corresponding chairs in at least six universities or colleges, selected for the relevant year by the Academy of Sciences; and
6. Other scientists from whom the Academy may see fit to invite proposals.

3.5.1 Selection of Nobel Prize Laureates in Economic Science

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is responsible for the selection of the economic sciences laureates from among the candidates recommended by the Economic Sciences Prize Committee.
• The Committee is the working body that screens the nominations and selects the final candidates and it consists of five members.

Not a Nobel Prize

• The prize in economic sciences is not a Nobel Prize.
• In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) instituted “The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel”.
• It has since been awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences according to the same principles as for the Nobel Prizes that have been awarded since 1901.
• The first prize in economic sciences was awarded to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen in 1969.

4. Who is eligible for the Nobel Prize?

• The candidates eligible for the Nobel Prize are those nominated by qualified persons who have received an invitation from the Nobel Committee to submit names for consideration.
• No one can nominate himself or herself.

5. How are the Nobel Prize laureates selected?

(Source: The Nobel Prize Official Website)

Below is a brief description of the process involved in selecting the Nobel Prize laureates.

September – Nomination forms are sent out. The Nobel Committee sends out confidential forms to around 3,000 people – selected professors at universities around the world, Nobel Prize laureates, and members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, among others.

February – Deadline for submission. The completed nomination forms must reach the Nobel Committee no longer than 31^st January of the following year. The Committee screens the nominations and selects the preliminary candidates. About 250–350 names are nominated as several nominators often submit the same name.

March-May – Consultation with experts. The Nobel Committee sends the names of the preliminary candidates to specially appointed experts for their assessment of the candidates’ work.

June-August – Writing of the report. The Nobel Committee puts together the report with recommendations to be submitted to the Academy. The report is signed by all members of the Committee.

September – Committee submits recommendations. The Nobel Committee submits its report with recommendations on the final candidates to the members of the Academy.

October – Nobel Prize laureates are chosen. In early October, the Academy selects the Nobel Prize laureates through a majority vote. The decision is final and without appeal. The names of the Nobel Laureates are then announced.

December – Nobel Prize laureates receive their prize. The Nobel Prize award ceremony takes place on 10^th December in Stockholm, where the Nobel Prize laureates receive their Nobel Prize, which consists of a Nobel Prize medal and diploma, and a document confirming the prize amount.

6. Are the nominations made public?

• The statutes of the Nobel Foundation restrict the disclosure of information about the nominations, whether publicly or privately, for 50 years.
• The restriction concerns the nominees and nominators, as well as investigations and opinions related to the award of a prize.

Reference

1. www.NobelPrize.org

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