Know the Indian Ramon Magsaysay award winners

Two Indians, Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk have joined the distinguished community of 330 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees as they were named among the six winners in 2018.

The Ramon Magsaysay award, widely known as Asia's Nobel, is now in its 60th year of 'honouring greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in selfless service to the peoples of Asia.'

In electing Vatwani, the board of trustees recognised 'his tremendous courage and healing compassion in embracing India's mentally-afflicted destitute, and his steadfast and magnanimous dedication to the work of restoring and affirming the human dignity of even the most ostracized in our midst.'

Sonam Wangchuk, whose life story inspired the Rajkumar Hirani film 'Three Idiots', was recognised for '”his uniquely systematic, collaborative and community-driven reform of learning systems in remote northern India, thus improving the life opportunities of Ladakhi youth”.

Wangchuk's constructive engagement of all sectors in local society to harness science and culture creatively for economic progress, set an example, the citation said.

The innovator engineer and a group of friends founded Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), to promote creative and friendly alternative education systems.

He is also credited with Operation New Hope in 1994 that was aimed to improve pass percentages in schools. His innovative technical interventions have contributed immensely to the ecological conservation of Ladakh.

His solar powered mud huts with natural warming in the freezing cold winters are an innovation that even the India Army has adopted.

As a child he found the formal education system alien to his taste and finally ended up doing engineering degrees from the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar and premier institutions in France, funding himself.

Wangchuk's Ice Stupa project ensured water supply to farmers in spring and he also made extensive creative contribution to designing an effective education policy for Ladakh. He was also instrumental in setting up the Farmstays project to promote homestay tourism in Ladakh.

In 1988, psychiatrist couple Dr Bharat and Smitha Vatwani founded the Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation for mentally-ill people living in the streets. Based in Karjat, Maharashtra, the foundation aims to find, restore and reunite, the mentally ill destitutes with their families.

Assisted by the police, social workers and referrals from other doctors, the Shraddha Foundation has provided free medical treatment and shelter to several vulnerable citizens.

Dr Watwani is credited with reuniting 2000 destitutes with their families since the inception of their foundation.