Madanjeet Singh (16 April 1924 – 6 January 2013) was an Indian diplomat, painter, photographer, and writer.

Biography

Madanjeet Singh was born on 16 April 1924 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. During

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

's "

Quit India The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule i ...

" movement in 1942 against colonial rule, Madanjeet Singh was imprisoned. He later migrated to newly partitioned India in 1947 and worked as a volunteer in the refugee camps in Delhi, where those uprooted by partition found temporary refuge. He later joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1953 and served various countries like Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Laos, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, USSR, Consul General in South Vietnam. He served with distinction as Ambassador of India in Asia, South America, Africa and Europe before joining

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in 1982, based in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1995, in recognition of his lifelong devotion to the cause of communal harmony and peace, the UNESCO Executive Board created the biennial �
UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence
��. The decision was adopted at meetings in Paris and Fez (16 May to 4 June), to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. In 2000, he was designated a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador on the United Nations’ International Day of Tolerance. Singh became known internationally with his first book, ''Indian Sculpture in Bronze and Stone'', which was published in Rome by the Institute of the Middle and Far East in 1952. At that time he was a student of the orientalist Giuseppe Tucci, and also studied European art history under Lionelllo Venturi at Rome University. ''Indian Sculpture in Bronze and Stone'' was followed in 1954 by India, the first volume in the UNESCO world art series published by New York Graphic Society. He want on to write several more books including '' AJANTA, Paintings of the Sacred and the Secular'' (1964); ''Himalayan Art'' (1968); ''The White Horse'' (1976); ''This, My People'' (1989); ''The Sun in Myth and Art'' (1993); ''Renewable Energy of the Sun'' (1996); ''The Time-less Energy of the Sun'' (1998); ''The Time-less Energy of the Sun'' (1998); ''The Sasia Story'' (2005); ''The Oral and Intangible Heritage of South Asia'' (2007); and ''Kashmiriyat'' (2009). In 2000, he was designated as a

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. UNESCO goodwill ambassad ...

on the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

’ International Day of Tolerance, a post he held until his death. He founded the South Asia Foundation in 2000 as a regional youth movement and it has now grown to have chapters in eight SAARC countries. He was praised as a "freedom fighter. He is a Secular Humanist. The South Asia Foundation (SAF) has offered scholarships to South Asian students under various disciplines in its 8 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institutions of Excellence set up by Madanjeet Singh. The UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-violence was created in 1995 to mark the United Nations Year for Tolerance, proclaimed at the initiative of UNESCO, and the 125th anniversary of the birth of the Mahatma Gandhi. In recognition of a lifelong devotion to communal harmony and peace, the Prize bears the name of its benefactor Madanjeet Singh, who was a

, Indian Artist, Writer and Diplomat. The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence is aimed at advancing the spirit of tolerance in the arts, culture, education, science and communication.

Death

On January 6, 2013, Singh died in

Beaulieu-sur-Mer Beaulieu-sur-Mer (; oc, Bèuluec de Mar; it, Belluogo; "Beautiful Place on the Sea"), commonly referred to simply as Beaulieu, is a seaside commune on the French Riviera between Nice and the Principality of Monaco. Located in the Alpes-Marit ...

, France, at the age of 88 from a stroke.

Books

His many publications include: *
Culture of the Sepulchre
' (2012) (his experiences as Indian Ambassador to Uganda at the time of

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

), * ''Kashmiriyat - The pluralistic Sufi-Bhakti-Rishi Culture'', South Asia Foundation (2009) * ''SASIA Story'' UNESCO (2005) * ''Himalayan Art'' (UNESCO art books series), New York Graphic Society/UNESCO (1968) - revised edition Macmillan (1971), ''Perilous Pilgrimage'' (book review), Time magazine, Feb 14, 1969
/ref> * ''Ajanta, painting of the sacred and the secular'', Edita Lausanne, 1965

References

External links

Bio details, South Asia Foundation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Madanjeet 1924 births 2013 deaths Indian Sikhs Indian diplomats People from Lahore UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors 20th-century Indian philanthropists Government College University, Lahore alumni