Dalveer Bhandari gets Nagendra Singh international peace award

Vice President Hamid Ansari today conferred on former Supreme Court judge and a member of the International Court of Justice, Dalveer Bhandari, the first Justice Nagendra Singh International Peace Award.
The award was instituted by the International Goodwill Society of India (IGSI), a non-political, cultural and academic organisation, which claims its objective is to float a global movement and awakening for a total nuclear ban and revival of ancient Indian cultural heritage.
Accepting the award, which comprised a citation and shawl, Bhandari said he was "overwhelmed and felt very humbled" to receive the award in the birth centenary of Singh and especially from an eminent and erudite person like Ansari.

Bhandari pointed out that Singh, in whose memory the International Peace Award has been instituted, was the only person from India who got full tenure at the International Court of Justice in Hague and served as its President. Singh was also founder President of the IGS.
Congratulating Bhandari for "the well deserved award" the Vice President said "Justice Bhandari is a deserving torch bearer of Dr Nagendra Singh's rich legacy."
"His work, as part of the higher judiciary in our country for over two decades, speaks for itself. However, a few of our judges have had the opportunity to make their mark in the international arena. Justice Bhandari is amongst the selected few. His presence on the ICJ is a matter of pride for all of us," Ansari said.

Bhandari cited a few judgements he had sat upon at the ICJ, to which he was elected member in 2012. These include a pending 200 year-old boundary dispute, a temple dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, a maritime dispute between Peru and Chile and a recent settlement between Australia and Japan on the issue of whaling.
"Such is the role of the ICJ in building and maintaining peace and justice in the world. The threat to peace is so imminent that UN agencies alone cannot ensure peace and security.
"Efforts has to be made by all individuals and countries together. Some countries now have nuclear weapons and we have to be extremely vigilant to ensure peace is maintained all over the world," Bhandari said.