Ever since he became the Prime Minister of India in 2014, Modi has been the recipient of many foreign government honours, awards by prestigious global organisations and recognitions by international magazines.
PM Modi receives Seoul Peace Prize in South Korea. (Photo: Twitter/@MEAIndia)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday received the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize at a ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, in the presence of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The Indian PM was conferred the honour – counted among the topmost in its field – in October last year by the Seoul Peace Prize Foundation.
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Including PM Modi, the biennial honour has been conferred on 14 individuals or organisations since 1990. Four of its recipients – Médecins Sans Frontières, Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus and Denis Mukwege – went on to win the Nobel Prize for Peace.
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PM Modi is the third head of the state or government after late Václav Havel, the first President of Czech Republic, and current German Chancellor Angela Merkel to have been honoured with the Seoul Peace Prize.
Ever since he became the Prime Minister of India in 2014, Modi has been the recipient of many foreign government honours, awards by prestigious global organisations and recognitions by international magazines.
Here is a look at the awards and recognitions PM Modi received since 2014:
PM Modi was named among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World three times –2014, 2015 and 2017. Also known as Time 100, the annual list contains the names of some of the most influential persons from politics to entertainment from around the world. It includes world leaders, celebrities, activists, artists, business tycoons and anyone who has left an indelible impact on the world through their actions.
Modi is the second Indian PM since the first publication of the list in 1999 to have made it to the list. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was named in the list in 2005. PM Modi is among the 24 people listed three times.
PM Modi has twice won the Time magazine reader’s poll for Person of the Year – in 2014 and in 2016. The reader’s poll is different from the Time Person of the Year in that the latter is picked by the editors of the magazine and is featured in the cover of the international edition. Thus in 2014 and 2016, the Time Person of the Year honour went to Ebola fighters and US President Donald Trump, respectively.
On 3 April 2016, PM Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to be honoured with the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud – the highest civilian award of Saudi Arabia. PM Modi was awarded in the Member Special Class category of the award, which is the highest among its six classes.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia conferred the award on PM Modi in a special ceremony during the latter’s visit to the Kingdom in 2016. Under the award, a sash with a pendant is worn on the right shoulder along with a star on the left chest.
PM Modi is the only Indian honoured with the Amir Amanullah Khan Award – Afghanistan’s highest civilian honour. He was conferred the award on 4 June 2016 during his working visit to the country. Instituted in 2006, the Amir Amanullah Khan Award is named after Amanullah Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1929. Instituted in 2006, it is given to both Afghan and foreign nationals for their services to Afghanistan.
Besides Modi, some other heads of state or government who have received the award are former US President George W Bush, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Palestine in 2018 conferred the Grand Collar of The State of Palestine, its highest civilian honour for foreign dignitaries, on PM Modi during the latter’s visit to Palestine on 10 February 2018.
Modi, who was the first Indian PM to visit Palestine, was honoured for his contribution to promote the relations between India and Palestine. He was conferred the award by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The previous three recipients of the honour were King Salman of Saudi Arabia (2015), Bahrain’s King Hamad (2017), and Chinese President Xi Jinping (2017).
PM Modi was in October 2018 given the UN’s Champions of the Earth award jointly with French President Emmanuel Macron. The UN conferred its highest environmental award on the two for “their pioneering work in championing the International Solar Alliance and promoting new areas of levels of cooperation on environmental action”.
Initiated and led by India, the International Solar Alliance is a global organisation of 122 nations who seek to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and increase the efficient use of solar energy.
The award for Modi and Macron was announced on 26 September on the sidelines of 73rd UN General Assembly in New York. The Indian PM received it from the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres. In a statement, the UN also recognised Modi’s pledge to end single-use plastic in India by 2022.
In January 2019, the PM was honoured with the first Philip Kotler Presidential Award. Named after famed marketing guru Dr Philip Kotler, the award will be given every year to a head of the state or government for their work covering the “the triple bottom-line of People, Profit and Planet”.
The citation of the award given to PM Modi recognised him as a leader under whom India has become “a Centre for Innovation and Value Added Manufacturing (Make in India), as well as a global hub for professional services such as Information Technology, Accounting and Finance.”
On 4 April 2019, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Shaikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that PM Modi will be honoured with UAE’s highest civilian award, the Zayed Medal. He said that the honour for PM Modi’s pivotal role in giving the relations between India and UAE a “big boost”.
PM Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to be honoured with Zayed Medal.
(This story was updated on 4 April 2019 with the news of the UAE conferring its highest civilian honour on PM Modi.)
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