Magsaysay award

·         On July 31, 2008 philanthropist doctor couple, Prakash (son of Baba Amte) and Mandakini Amte, were declared winners of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for the community leadership award

·         Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation acknowledged their contribution towards improving the lives of tribals in a remote Maharashtra village.

·         “They are being recognised for enhancing the capacity of the Madia Gonds (tribals) to adapt positively in today’s India, through healing, teaching and other compassionate interventions”

·         The husband-wife duo run a school and a hospital at Hemalkasa village in the underprivileged district of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.

Mission IAS’2009

·         Prakash’s father Baba Amte, who died in February 2008, had received the Ramon Magsaysay award for public service in 1985.

·         Baba Amte had spent much of his life in the rehabilitation and care of leprosy patients at his Anandwan ashram in one of the poorest tribal areas in Maharashtra.

·         Other winners of this year’s Magsaysay award include :

o        Grace Padaca (Philippines) in the field of government service,

o        Therdchai Jivacate (Thailand) in the public service category,

o        Ahmad Syafii Maarif (Indonesia) for promoting peace and international understanding,

o        Akio Ishii (Japan) in the field of journalism, literature, and creative communication arts, and

o        Ananda Galappatti (Sri Lanka) in emergent leadership category.

·         The awards, named after a popular Philippines President killed in a plane crash, were set up in 1957 and over 250 persons have been honoured so far.

·         Magsaysay Award is regarded as Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel prize.