Indian campaigner against caste prejudice wins ‘Asia’s Nobel’

AFP, MANILA: An activist who campaigned to restore the dignity of India’s low-caste Dalits was among six winners of Asia’s Magsaysay awards on Wednesday.
The Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award, named after a Filipino president killed in a plane crash, was established in 1957 to honour people and groups tackling development problems. It is often described as Asia’s Nobel Prize.
Bezwada Wilson, 50, founded a grassroots movement to stop “manual scavenging”—in which Dalits, mostly women and girls, remove by hand human waste from latrines and carry away baskets of excrement on their heads.
Wilson, born to a Dalit family, was honoured for his “moral outrage” and organising skills in his efforts to ban the demeaning work, judges said. His group has successfully lobbied for laws supporting scavengers and conducted training to move them to better jobs.

Indian campaigner against caste prejudice wins Asias Nobel

AFP, MANILA: An activist who campaigned to restore the dignity of Indias low-caste Dalits was among six winners of Asias Magsaysay awards on Wednesday. The Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award, named after a Filipino president killed in a plane crash, was established in 1957 to honour people and groups tackling development problems. It is often described as Asias Nobel Prize. Bezwada Wilson, 50, founded a grassroots movement to stop manual scavengingin which Dalits, mostly women and girls, remove by hand human waste from latrines and carry away baskets of excrement on their heads. Wilson, born to a Dalit family, was honoured for his moral outrage and organising skills in his efforts to ban the demeaning work, judges said. His group has successfully lobbied for laws supporting scavengers and conducted training to move them to better jobs.