Why in the News?
The Ramon Magsaysay Award 2025 has been awarded to Educate Girls, an Indian NGO working to promote girls’ education in rural and disadvantaged regions.
Other winners include:
- Shaahina Ali (Maldives): A noted environmental activist.
- Fr. Flaviano Antonio L. Villanueva (Philippines): A human rights defender, critic of Duterte’s drug war.
About Educate Girls:
- Founded as: Foundation to Educate Girls Globally; CEO: Gayatri Nair Lobo.
- Mission: Address gender inequality in education and uplift rural communities through girls’ schooling.
- Impact:
- Operates in India’s most rural and remote regions.
- Employs community workers (preraks, team balikas) to mobilise enrollment and retention.
- Creates ripple effects: education empowers girls → uplifts families → strengthens communities.
- Significance: It is the first Indian organisation to win the award since its inception in 1958.
About Ramon Magsaysay Award:
- “Nobel Prize of Asia”: Awarded annually since 1958.
- Purpose: Celebrate “greatness of spirit and transformative leadership” in Asia.
- Recognition: Individuals/organisations showing integrity in governance, service, and idealism in democracy.
- Origin:
- Established April 1957 by Rockefeller Brothers Fund trustees with support of the Philippines govt.
- Named in honour of Ramon Magsaysay, former Philippine President (1953–57), noted for administrative and military leadership.
- Original Categories (1958–2008): Govt Service, Public Service, Community Leadership, Journalism & Arts, Peace & International Understanding, and later Emergent Leadership (2001).
- Since 2009: Fixed categories dropped (except Emergent Leadership), award now honours diverse forms of excellence.
- Notable Indian Recipients:
- Vinoba Bhave (1958): Bhoodan movement.
- Mother Teresa (1962): humanitarian service.
- Satyajit Ray (1967): cinema.
- M.S. Subbulakshmi (1974): music.
- Arvind Kejriwal (2006): anti-corruption work.
- Ravish Kumar (2019): journalism.
- Sonam Wangchuk (2018): educational innovation.
- Educate Girls (2025): first Indian organisation to be honoured.
| [UPSC 2004] Sandeep Pandey, the winner of Ramon Magsaysay Award, is mainly an activist in:
Options: (a) a campaigner for urban sanitation (b) an anti-child labour activist (c) Environmental protection (d) Education and livelihood projects for Dalits* |
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