2 Indians win Ramon Magsaysay Award
posted on Jul 27, 2016 @ 3:10PM
The prestigeous Ramon Magsaysay Award was given to two Indians today. Human rights activist Bezwada Wilson and south Indian classical musician TM Krishna, have been conferred with the award. Karnataka-born Bezwada Wilson is a prolific campaigner for eradication of manual scavenging in India. Wilson, the national convener of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), has been named as an awardee for "asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity". Fifty-year-old Wilson, born into a dalit family involved in manual scavenging in Kolar Gold Fields township in Karnataka, was the first in his family to pursue a higher education. "Manual scavenging is blight on humanity in India. Consigned by structural inequality to the dalits,India's 'untouchables', manual scavenging is the work of removing by hand human excrement from dry latrines and carrying on the head the baskets of excrement to designated disposal sites" was what Wilson cites.
While Krishna was chosen for the award under the 'Emergent Leadership' category for bringing "social inclusiveness in culture". 40-year-old Krishna has been hailed in the citation as "showing that music can indeed be a deeply transformative force in personal lives and society itself." Krishna, born to a privileged, Brahmin family in Chennai, was trained from the age of six in the aristocratic Carnatic music, under masters of the form.