Nileema, Harish do India proud
Mishra had launched an organisation - Bhagini Nivedita Gramin Vigyan Niketan - in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra in
1995. The organisation works on each issue that women come to them with, be it illness, food or education. Mishra
realised that all these issues pertain to poverty and, as such, there is a need to generate employment. The 39-year-old
social activist, thus, has empowered the women by training them to produce export-quality quilts. The award has come Hande's way in recognition of his "passionate and pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology
in the hands of the poor, through a social enterprise that brings customized, affordable, and sustainable electricity to
India's vast rural populace, encouraging the poor to become asset creators." Hande is a graduate from IIT Kharagpur and has obtained his PhD from the University of Massachusetts. The 44-year-old
rural energy entrepreneur established the social enterprise, Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) in Bangalore
in 1995 to provide heating, lighting and cooking solutions based on solar energy. The other four awardees are: Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc (AIDFI) from the
Philippines for "their collective vision, technological innovations, and partnership practices to make appropriate
technologies improve the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor in upland Philippine communities and elsewhere in
Asia"; Hasanain Juaini from Indonesia for his "holistic, community-based approach to pesantren education in Indonesia,
creatively promoting values of gender equality, religious harmony, environmental preservation, individual achievement,
and civic engagement among young students and their communities"; Koul Panha from Cambodia for his "determined and
courageous leadership of the sustained campaign to build an enlightened, organized and vigilant citizenry who
will ensure fair and free elections - as well as demand accountable governance by their elected officials - in
Cambodia's nascent democracy"; and Tri Mumpuni from Indonesia for her "determined and collaborative efforts to promote
micro hydropower technology, catalyze needed policy changes, and ensure full community participation, in bringing
electricity and the fruits of development to the rural areas of Indonesia". Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is given away in memory and leadership example of the third Philippine
President and is given every year to individuals or organisations in Asia. The six 2011 Magsaysay awardees join 284
other laureates who have received the honour to date. This year's Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate,
a medallion, and a cash prize at a ceremony to be held on August 31 in the Philippines.