Indian non-profit 'Educate Girls' wins the Ramon Magsaysay Award for its work in educating out-of-school girls in remote villages. The award recognizes selfless service to the peoples of Asia.
In electing Kumar to receive the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognises his unfaltering commitment to a professional, ethical journalism of the highest standards; his moral courage in standing up for truth, integrity, and independence; and his principled belief that it is in giving full and respectful voice to the voiceless, in speaking truth bravely yet soberly to power, that journalism fulfills its noblest aims to advance democracy, the award citation said.
Meet the winners of the prestigious awards, given away in Manila.
Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and former Kerala health minister K K Shailaja has declined to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award as it was instituted in the name of late President of the Philippines, who was known allegedly for his brutality against the Communists.
Kumar was among five individuals who were declared winners of the award, which is Asia's premier prize and highest honour and celebrates greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in Asia.
Arvind Kejriwal is the founder of Delhi-based organisation Parivartan
Prakash Amte, son of well-known social activist Baba Amte and his Mandakini Amte have been awarded the 2008 Ramon Magasaysau Award for community leadership.
The 70-year-old L Ramdas bagged the award for peace and international understanding.
The two are among six individuals declared winners on Thursday.
Born in Chennai in 1957, Sainath completed a master's degree in history before turning to a life of journalism. At Blitz, a Mumbai tabloid, he rose to be deputy chief editor and became a popular columnist. In 1993, he changed course.
Joshi is being recognised for 'his vision and leadership in bringing professionalism to the NGO movement in India, by effectively combining 'head' and 'heart' in the transformative development of rural communities', the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said in a press statement from its headquarters in Manila.
Nileema Mishra, who works with the poorest villagers in Maharashtra, and United States-trained Indian engineer Harish Hande, who revolutionised the use of solar lights, are among five people who have been honoured with this year's prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award. "The two had helped to harness technologies to empower their countrymen and created waves of progressive change across Asia," award foundation president Carmencita T Abella announced.
Magsaysay award-winner ' Rajendra Singh and two others on Saturday quit the National Ganga River Basin Authority, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, protesting the government's "negligence" of the river. Besides Singh, two other NGRBA members -- Ravi Chopra and R H Siddiqi -- also submitted their resignation letters to Dr Singh, expressing solidarity with noted environmentalist G D Agrawal, who is on a fast-unto-death to press for the cleansing of Ganga.
Apart from the two Indians, four others have been selected for the award -- Conchita Carpio-Morales of the Philippines, Dompet Dhuafa of Indonesia, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and 'Vientiane Rescue' of Laos
Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation president Susanna B Afan and foundation trustee Emily A Abrera met with the Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace laureate, to personally present the 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award after 64 years.
Water conservationist Rajendra Singh blames corruption and faulty infrastructure for the contaminated water crisis in Indore, which led to multiple deaths. He criticizes the city's reliance on the Narmada River and the lack of responsible water management.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Angmo challenged authorities to an open debate on the allegations, including those suggesting links to Pakistan, and said neither she has been able to contact Wangchuk nor has she been provided with formal documents detailing the charges against him by the administration.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, claims his speeches were quoted out of context and wrongly translated to support an 'anti-national narrative' in his detention order. She asserts the charges are frivolous and will be challenged in court.
He has been working for the last 33 years with the tribals living in the remotest parts of Tamil Nadu and later with the underprivileged women in some of the villages in Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Vellore districts, making them self sufficient.
'This is not China. There is freedom of movement in Kashmir, even in Sikkim. I can go anywhere. But in the SEZs created in my own hinterland I can only enter if I have a pass issued by a civil servant who is appointed as the caretaker of that SEZ,' says Magsaysay Award winner Aruna Roy.
Anushu Gupta is being recognised for "his creative vision in transforming the culture of giving" in India and Sanjiv Chaturvedi for 'Emergent Leadership'
'The government only wakes up after devastation.' 'The government does not understand the gravity of the situation nor they do not want to understand the gravity of the situation.'
Irom Sharmila with Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey.
Life has come full circle for Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus, who faced persecution during Sheikh Hasina's regime for embezzlement, is now all set to head of the interim government in Bangladesh after she resigned and fled the country.
Magsaysay Award winner and social activist Sandeep Pandey on Wednesday rued continued imposition of 'draconian' Armed Forces Special Powers Act and other 'black laws' in conflict-ridden north-east India and Jammu and Kashmir.
In Rajasthan's Karauli district, a decade ago, rampant drought and dwindling water sources forced many men into a life of dacoity, leaving their families in fear. However, the women of Karauli, tired of the despair, took matters into their own hands. They persuaded their husbands to give up their lives of crime and together they began reviving old water bodies and constructing new ones with the help of a local NGO. This community-led effort, which included building pokhars (water bodies) and reviving the Serni River, resulted in a remarkable transformation, bringing stability and hope to the region, and turning former dacoits into thriving farmers.
In his Manila speech, Kumar spoke about the current 'testing times' for journalists and common citizens.
'There are 7,000 guns which are in the hands of the armed militia of the Kuki and Meitei communities.'
The winners of the Ramon Magsaysay 2009 awards applaud during the awarding ceremony at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in Manila on August 31.
Whistle-blower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who has been selected for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award, expressed disappointment over the functioning of the Prime Minister's Office and said he was able to "survive" only because of an "independent judiciary".
Sanjeev Chaturvedi said though he had investigated "hundreds" of corruption cases, never did his "very appointment to probe a case evoke the kind of nervousness, fear, confusion and apprehension as in this case".
'This award is funded by American money so I took this decision.'
Rediff.com takes a look at all the Ramon Magsaysay awardees who have made India proud since 1958.
As an NGO, IVDP has facilitated loans totalling Rs 2,406 crore.
'This is leading to anarchy.'
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