Mr. Nanik Rupani, Chairman, Priyadarshni Academy, has announced that its biennial Global Award will be bestowed on Martin Luther King, III, Chairman & CEO, Realizing the Dream, Inc., for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of human rights.

The Award will be presented at Priyadarshni Academy 26th Anniversary Global Awards function on September 19, 2010 at The Trident, Mumbai at 2:30 PM. Shri Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Government of India will be the Chief Guest. Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited, and Mr. Anand G. Mahindra, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, will be the Guests of Honour at the Awards function.

Priyadarshni Academy is a prominent NGO engaged in socio-cultural and educational activities and has been holding the biennial Awards function since its inception in 1984. The Awards function is a unique event, which has been undertaken to put India on the global cultural map. Several internationally and nationally renowned dignitaries also will be honoured on the occasion for their outstanding contribution in various spheres of activities on a global scale.

Martin Luther King, III, the second oldest child of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has motivated audiences around the world with his insightful message of hope and civility for nearly twenty years. He has taken up the torch lit by his father and continued the quest for equality and justice for all people. From Mozambique to Mississippi, Israel to Indiana, his message has touched thousands.

A human rights advocate, community activist and a political leader, Mr. King has been actively involved in significant policy initiatives to maintain the fair and equitable treatment of all peoples, at home and abroad. His missions have taken him to numerous nations throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. His messages and initiatives are all rooted within the tenets of nonviolent conflict resolution.

In 1986, Mr. King was elected to political office as an at-large representative of over 700,000 residents of Fulton County, Georgia. On January 19, 2004 Mr. King assumed the position as CEO and President of the King Center after a unanimous vote by the Board.

Today, he serves as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Realizing the Dream, Inc., a national nonprofit organization with an international vision to carry on the important work embodied in the legacies of his parents. Through Realizing the Dream Mr. King has launched Poverty in America, a national initiative rooted in the legacy of his father’s Poor People’s Campaign. The initiative consists of a national poverty tour of 50 communities across the nation, including American Indian reservations, Appalachia, rural America and the nation’s urban core communities. His international program, the Second Generation Global Peace Initiative, brings together the heirs of 20th century peace makers to address some of the world’s most compelling crises, including Darfur, the Middle East, and Burma. Under his leadership the Gen II initiative, as it has become known, includes the heirs of such names as Chavez, Gandhi, Gemayel, Kennedy, Rabin, Trudeau, and Tutu.

Mr. Martin Luther King, III, was nurtured among individuals deeply committed to the struggle for human rights and a nonviolent society. He has assimilated and utilized those values in his personal and public life. Most recently Mr. King delivered an address to the 2008 Democratic National Committee, honoring the 45th Anniversary of the “I Have a Dream Speech” and calling for the nation to take steps towards realizing that dream.

Mr. King received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College, in Political Science. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and daughter.