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| Harish Hande |
Nileema Mishra, 39, was recognised for “her purpose-driven zeal to work tirelessly with villagers in Maharashtra, organising them to successfully address both their aspirations and their adversities through collective action and heightened confidence in their potential to improve their own lives”.
Harish Hande, 44, won the award for “his passionate and pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology in the hands of the poor, through a social enterprise that brings customised, affordable, and sustainable electricity to vast rural populace, encouraging the poor to become asset creators”.
The awards, considered the Asian version of the Nobel Prize, were announced by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation on Wednesday.
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| Neelima Mishra |
Hande has a PhD in energy engineering from the University of Massachusetts. He previously studied at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.
He is the managing director and the co-founder of the SELCO Solar Light Private Ltd in Bangalore. The other awardees are Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc (AIDFI) from the Philippines, Hasanain Juaini from Indonesia, Koul Panha from Cambodia and Tri Mumpuni from Indonesia.
Established in 1957, the Magsaysay Award celebrates the memory and leadership of the third Philippine president, and is given every year to individuals or organisations in Asia who manifest the same sense of selfless service of the late Filipino leader.
Foundation president Carmencita T Abella said the awardees of 2011 were “five remarkable individuals and an exceptional organisation”, all deeply involved in harnessing technologies that can “genuinely empower their countrymen and create waves of progressive change” in Asia.
The six awardees will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late president, and a cash prize.
They will be formally conferred the award during a ceremony to be held August 31 in Manila.