“My lifetime goal of contributing for a peaceful society through alleviation of hunger and poverty”

I feel it an honour and privilege to be selected for the first Sunhak Peace Prize.

Peace whether it be at the family level or national level cannot be achieved on a hungry stomach. I am glad that the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee recognizes the importance of food security, environmental integrity and overall socioeconomic development as essential pre-requisites for a peaceful society and acknowledges individuals that have contributed to this goal. This becomes much more important in the present context of increasing global population leading to more demand for food from declining natural resources and the looming impact of global warming threatening the fragile ecosystem if appropriate actions are not taken.

This award gives me added energy to pursue my lifetime goal of contributing toward a peaceful society through alleviation of hunger and poverty. I am grateful to all those in different parts of the world who helped me in my work.

June 8, 2015

Modadugu Vijay Gupta