Manila, July 30: CEC J M Lyngdoh, social worker Shantha Sinha are among seven people to be honoured this year with the Ramon Magsaysay award, Asia`s version of the Nobel prize. Lyngdoh will receive the government service award for "his convincing validation of free and fair elections as the foundation and best hope of secular democracy in India." Shantha Sinha was honoured for her work to help children in Andhra Pradesh. She will receive the community leadership award for "guiding the people of Andhra Pradesh to end the scourge of child labour and send all of their children to school."
Among the Indians who have been given the awards so far are Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie (Journalism), Kiran Bedi (Government Service), Jayaprakash Narayan (Public Service) and Mother Teresa (International Understanding).
The annual awards, named after late Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay, will be presented tomorrow, organizers said. The awards were established by the trustees of the New York-based Rockefeller brothers` fund to perpetuate Magsaysay`s example of government integrity and pragmatic idealism in a democratic society.
Magsaysay died in a plane crash in 1957.
This year`s winners include Dr. Gao Yaojie, a retired Chinese gynecologist, who received the public service award ``for her fervent personal crusade to confront the aids crisis in China and to address it humanely,`` the Ramon Magsaysay award foundation said.
Japanese physician Tetsu Nakamura, a leading volunteer health worker in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is being honored with the Peace and International Understanding Award for ``his passionate commitment to ease the pains of war, disease and calamity among refugees and the mountain poor of the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands.``
Aniceto Guterres Lopes, chairman of East Timor`s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, will receive the Emergent Leadership Award for ``his courageous stand for justice and the rule of law during East Timor`s turbulent passage to nationhood.``
Filipino journalist Sheila Coronel, founder and executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, will receive the award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts for ``leading a groundbreaking collaborative effort to develop investigative journalism as a critical component of democratic discourse in the Philippines.``
Japanese soil agriculturist and environmentalist Seiei Toyama will receive the Peace and International Understanding Award for ``his twenty-year crusade to green the deserts of China in a spirit of solidarity and peace.``
The winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late president, and a cash prize. Bureau Report