Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama being conferred with the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace by South Africa-based Gandhi Development Trust by Ela Gandhi, grand daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, at Bodhgaya in eastern India on Wednesday. Seen standing at right is Lobsang Sangay, prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile. The Dalai Lama is now in Bodhgaya conducting a 10-day long Kalachakra ritual of Buddhism. The award was to have been originally given to the Dalai Lama in Durban in October 2011 during a visit of the spiritual leader to South Africa to celebrate the 80th birthday of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the trip was cancelled due to the South African authorities dragging their feet in granting a visa. The Dalai Lama had then participating in the award function by video link from his base in Dharmashala, India, and his representative in South Africa, Sonam Tenzing, had accepted the award symbolically. Trust Chairman Paddy Kearsney had also then said that there would be a formal presentation by Ela Gandhi to the leader in India if the Dalai Lama did not make it to South Africa. PTI Photo