Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk wins 2018 Ramon Magsaysay Award

Two Indians, Dr. Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk are named among the six winners of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for the year 2018. The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation stated in its citation that Vatwani is being recognised for his tremendous courage and healing compassion in embracing India’s mentally-afflicted destitutes. Wangchuk has been recognised for his uniquely systematic, collaborative and community-driven reform of learning systems in remote northern India, improving the life opportunities of Ladakhi youth in Jammu and Kashmir. The others award winners are from Cambodia, East Timor, Philippines and Vietnam. The Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the image of the late Filipino leader Ramon Magsaysay, and a cash prize. They will be conferred with the Magsaysay Award during a formal presentation ceremony at the Cultural Centre in the Philippines on August 31, 2018. The award is often referred to as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize.