Geetakshi Arora wins inaugural Noor Inayat Khan Prize

An Indian student Geetakshi Arora has been awarded the inaugural Noor Inayat Khan Prize for her excellent dissertation on “Goddess Myths in Graphic Novels: Reimagining Indian Feminity”.
Currently, Geetakshi is a post-graduate student of the South Asia Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

About Noor Inayat Khan Prize

• The award has been instituted in the memory of Noor Inayat Khan, famous World War II heroine.
• The award was established by Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust that promote the message of peace, non-violence and religious and racial harmony
• The award consists of 1,000 pounds and certificate.

About Noor Inayat Khan

• Noor Inayat Khan (also known as “Nora Baker” and “Madeleine”) was of Indian Sufi origin and believed in non-violence and religious harmony.
• Born in Moscow to an Indian father, Hazrat Inayat Khan and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker. Her father was great-grandson of Tipu Sultan.
• Thus, she was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan, the e 18th century ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore who had refused to submit to British rule and was killed in battle in 1799.
• During the Second World War, she had worked as British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent. She was famously known as Spy Princess.
• She was the first female radio operator to be sent into occupied France to aid the French Resistance to the Nazis.
• She was eventually betrayed, captured and killed in Dachau Concentration Camp by the Gestapo at the age of 30. Her last word was “Liberte”

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2016