Rights lawyer wins 'Alternative Nobel'

Hours after receiving news that he won the Right Livelihood Award 2017 — also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize — Mumbai-born senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, founder of the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), was back at work, nose to the grindstone. Hidden behind a mountain of files at his desk, his work was punctuated by congratulatory calls that kept pouring in.

The Stockholm-based award foundation, which made the announcement on Tuesday said, that Gonsalves had earned the honour "for his tireless and innovative use of public interest litigation over three decades to secure fundamental human rights for India's most marginalized and vulnerable citizens." Gonsalves has spearheaded the Right to Food movement in India.

Gonsalves is the first Indian rights lawyer to be conferred with this award. He has also broken the eight year lull where no Indian was accorded this title. The IIT-graduate shares this honour with three others: Azerbaijan journalist Khadija Ismayilova, Ethiopian lawyer Yetnebersh Nigussie and USA's Robert Bilott.

Reacting to the news, Gonsalves said: "I am both humbled and privileged by the award. It comes at a time when India is going through a dark period and human rights activists are under attack."