UPSC Prelims 2025 Q93: Gandhi Peace Prize Jury — Explained

Who amongst the following are members of the Jury to select the recipient of 'Gandhi Peace Prize'?

I. The President of India

II. The Prime Minister of India

III. The Chief Justice of India

IV. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

II and IV only
I, II and III
II, III and IV
I and III only

Answer: (c) II, III and IV

Statement-wise explanation

I: incorrect — The President of India is not on the jury. The President's role is ceremonial: the President presents the prize after the jury has chosen the winner. For example, the President presented the prizes for 2015–2018 on 26 February 2019.
II: correct — The Prime Minister chairs the jury. PIB's release of 22 March 2021 says the jury "is chaired by Hon'ble Prime Minister". The Gita Press award for 2021 was decided on 18 June 2023 by a jury "headed by the Prime Minister".
III: correct — The Chief Justice of India is one of the jury's two ex-officio members. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, then CJI, sat on the jury that met on 16 January 2019 and picked the winners for 2015–2018.
IV: correct — The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is the second ex-officio member. If no one is recognised as LoP, the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha takes the seat. Mallikarjun Kharge sat on the 2019 jury in that capacity.

How to eliminate

You need one fact to solve this: the jury is chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha as members. Structure can still narrow the options. Every option except one includes the Prime Minister, so treat the PM as almost certain. The real test is the President. Indian practice keeps the President out of selection panels for national awards and appointments. The President confers the award, as with the Padma awards and the Bharat Ratna. Once you remove the President, only one option is left. A second clue: a panel with the PM, the CJI and the LoP is the usual 'executive, judiciary, opposition' pattern behind the committees that select the CBI Director and the Lokpal. If you know that pattern, you can rebuild this answer.

Know more

Gandhi Peace Prize: the essentials

Instituted: 1995 by the Government of India (Ministry of Culture), during the commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi's 125th birth anniversary.
Purpose: To honour contributions to social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods.
Eligibility: Open to all, regardless of nationality, race, language, caste, creed or gender. Organisations can also win.
Prize: ₹1 crore, a citation, a plaque and a traditional handicraft or handloom item.
Presented by: The President of India.

Jury composition

Member	Status
Prime Minister	Chairperson
Chief Justice of India	Ex-officio member
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha (or leader of the single largest opposition party if there is no recognised LoP)	Ex-officio member
Two eminent persons	Nominated (in 2021: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Sulabh founder Bindeshwar Pathak)

Notable recipients

Year	Recipient
2014	ISRO
2015	Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari
2016	Akshaya Patra Foundation and Sulabh International (joint)
2017	Ekal Abhiyan Trust
2018	Yohei Sasakawa (Japan), for leprosy eradication
2019	Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said (Oman)
2020	Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangladesh)
2021	Gita Press, Gorakhpur

Earlier winners include Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Baba Amte, Václav Havel, Desmond Tutu and Chandi Prasad Bhatt.

Same pattern elsewhere: A PM + CJI + LoP panel also selects the CBI Director and the Lokpal. Exam traps usually add the President, the Speaker or the Vice-President to these lists.

In the news

In June 2024 the Lok Sabha recognised Rahul Gandhi as Leader of the Opposition, the first recognised LoP since 2014. That put the LoP's ex-officio seats on panels such as the CBI Director committee and the Gandhi Peace Prize jury in the news. The June 2023 award to Gita Press, decided by the PM-led jury, had also drawn public debate.

NCERT Concepts to Revise

Leader of the Opposition: Statement IV depends on who counts as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and what happens when no LoP is recognised.
Chief Justice of India: Statement III asks whether the head of the Supreme Court sits on an executive award jury.
Appointment of the CBI Director: The CBI Director selection panel uses a similar mix of executive, judiciary and opposition, which helps you check this jury's members.