Indian activist Deep Joshi chosen for Ramon Magsaysay Award

Kuala Lumpur/New Delhi, Aug 3 (PTI) Prominent Indian
social activist Deep Joshi, who has done pioneering work for
"development of rural communities", was Monday named along
with five others for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for
2009, considered as Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

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.

"I am delighted to get this honour. But the award is not
for an individual, it is for an idea, for the development of
rural population. We need the educated people to go to rural
areas and work for their welfare," 62-year-old Joshi told PTI.

A masters in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) and a Masters in Management from the Sloan
School, MIT, Joshi worked with the Systems Research Institute,
the Ford Foundation and has nearly 30 years of experience in
the field of rural development and livelihood promotion. He
also advises the government on poverty alleviation strategies.

Joshi was the co-founder of Professional Assistance for
Development Action (PRADAN) and now works as an independent
consultant for the NGO which works for rural poor, promoting
self-help groups, developing locally suitable economic
activities, mobilising finances and introducing systems to
improve livelihoods of rural people.

Thai researcher Krisana Kraisintu, who was working to
develop generic drugs for fighting HIV/AIDS and Ka Hsaw Wa, an
activist from military-ruled Myanmar who has documented human
rights and environmental abuses, were among others to be
selected for the honour, named after a popular Philippines
President who died in a plane crash in 1957.

Other winners were Ma Jun, a former journalist who
launched the first public database on water pollution in
China, Yu Xiaogang, founder of the a nonprofit group which
helped communities flooded by a dam project in Yunnan province
and Filipino lawyer-environmentalist Antonio Oposa Jr.

"The Magsaysay awardees of 2009," said Foundation
President Carmencita T Abella, "are true Asian Heroes, putting
their advanced knowledge and skills at the service of critical
needs of their people."

The six awardees join 271 other laureates who have
received the honour to date. They will be conferred the award
at a function in Manila on August 31.

Vinoba Bhave, Kiran Bedi, P Sainath, Aruna Roy, Prakash
and Mandakini Amte and Rajendra Singh were among the Indians
who have received the honour in the past. PTI SDG
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