According to unofficial shortlists, Indian novelist Harsh Mander, co-founders of the fact-checking website AltNews Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair, and Pratik Sinha are among the favourites to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
According to unofficial shortlists posted ahead of the announcement on Friday, Indian novelist Harsh Mander, Pratik Sinha, Mohammed Zubair, and co-founders of the fact-checking website AltNews are among the favourites to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
On October 7, Oslo, Norway, will reveal the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Predictions are being made regarding who and which organisations are the front-runners and favourites to win one of the most coveted worldwide honours prior to the announcement.
According to a report from Time magazine, “some of the favourites to win” were chosen based on nominations that were made public by Norwegian MPs, forecasts from bookmakers, and selections by the Oslo-based Peace Research Institute.
Journalists Sinha and Zubair, who “have tenaciously been combating misinformation in India,” are on the list. According to the Time article, the pair has “methodologically refuted rumours and false information spreading on social media and exposed hate speech.
On June 27, the Delhi Police detained Zubair for allegedly injuring religious emotions in his tweets.
According to the Time report, journalists from all over the world who “argued it was revenge for his fact-checking work” denounced Zubair’s imprisonment.
The World Health Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the UN Refugee Agency, jailed Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny, and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg are also on Time’s list of favourites.
Henrik Urdal, the director of Oslo’s Peace Research Institute (PRIO), also presented his annual selection of potential Nobel laureates. Mander and the “Karwan-e-Mohabbat” campaign, which he started in 2017, are on his list. As “other deserving contenders for a prize focused on countering religious extremism and intolerance” in India, Urdal also mentions Sinha and Zubair.
“Religious extremism fuels tensions between groups that may lead to armed conflict and serves as a justification for prejudice and violence.
Therefore, a persuasive argument for receiving a Nobel Peace Prize is making a significant contribution to battling religious extremism and fostering interreligious understanding. According to Urdal’s shortlist, Harsh Mander and the 2017 campaign he started, Karwan-e-Mohabbat (“Caravan of Love”), are deserving recipients of such a medal.
“Mander is a crucial voice for religious dialogue and tolerance, and his campaign is a crucial focal point for individuals who oppose violence and strife between religions,”