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1997 Indira Gandhi prize for Jimmy Carter

Former US president Jimmy Carter has been chosen for the 1997 Indira Gandhi prize for peace, disarmament and development.

K Natwar Singh, vice-chairman of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, announced this in presence of the trust's international jury at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The 1996 prize was presented to a representative of Medicins Sans Frontieres, a Barcelona-based voluntary organisation. The award carries a cash of Rs 2.5 million and a citation.

Giving away the award, President K R Narayanan deplored the tendencies of some members of the medical profession to become greedy for wealth. Illness has become an industry, he said.

The president said that by serving the people of the world who are urgently in need of medical care and assistance, Medicins Sans Frontierers has demonstrated that human compassion and succour knew no frontiers.

Since its inception in 1986, the Indira Gandhi prize has been won by then Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, Namibian President Sam Nujoma and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

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