Bezwada Wilson and TM Krishna win Ramon Magsaysay Award

Two Indians — Carnatic singer T.M. Krishna and prolific campaigner for eradication of manual scavenging Bezwada Wilson — were on Wednesday chosen for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award this year, along with four others.

Mr Wilson, the national convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), has been named as an awardee for “asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity” while Mr Krishna was chosen for the award under the “Emergent Leadership” category for “showing that music can indeed be a deeply transformative force in personal lives and society itself.”

Mr Krishna (40) was born to a privileged Brahmin family in Chennai and was trained from the age of six in the aristocratic Carnatic music.

Mr Wilson (50) was born into a dalit family involved in manual scavenging in Karnataka. He was the first in his family to pursue a higher education.

Wilson has spent 32 years on his “crusade, leading not only with a sense of moral outrage but also with remarkable skills in mass organising, and working within India’s complex legal system.”

The Ramon Magsaysay Award is considered Asia’s highest honour. Four others selected for the award are — Conchita Carpio-Morales of the Philippines, Dompet Dhuafa of Indonesia, Japan Overseas Co-operation Volunteers and “Vientiane Rescue” of Laos.

“In electing Bezwada Wilson to receive the 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognises his moral energy and prodigious skill in leading a grassroots movement to eradicate the degrading servitude of manual scavenging in India, reclaiming for the dalits the human dignity that is their natural birthright,” the citation said.

Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is considered Asia’s highest honour.

It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine President after whom the award is named, and is given every year to individuals or organisations in Asia who manifest the same selfless service and transformative influence that ruled the life of the late Filipino leader.