HEROES OF HOPE We proudly present to the world the latest recipients of Asia's Premier Prize and Highest Honor: th… https://t.co/Yjbaz5nRyI — RamonMagsaysayAward (@rmafoundation) 1532574244000

(With inputs from AP)

MANILA: Two Indians are among this year's Ramon Magsaysay award , regarded as an Asian version of the Nobel Prize. The list also includes a Cambodian genocide survivor who helped document the Khmer Rouge atrocities.India's Bharat Vatwani was awarded for leading the rescue of thousands of mentally ill street paupers to treat and reunite them with their families. Sonam Wangchuk won the award for his contribution in harnessing nature, culture and education for community progress.The other recipients named Thursday are a Filipino who led peace talks with communist insurgents, a polio-stricken Vietnamese who fought discrimination against the disabled, an East Timorese who built care centers for the poor amid civil strife.Dr. Bharat Vatwani and his wife started an informal operation of bringing mentally-ill street persons to their private clinic for treatment, leading them to establish Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation in 1988, aimed at rescuing mentally-ill persons living on the streets; providing free shelter, food, and psychiatric treatment; and reuniting them with their families.Their rescue work has been aided by the police, social workers, and referrals. Shraddha’s free custodial care and treatment ranges from personal hygiene, medical check-ups, psychiatric treatment, to appropriate medication.Sonam Wangchuk, after after earning his engineering degree in 1988, founded Students’ Education and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) and started coaching Ladakhi student, 95% of whom used to fail the government exams.In 1994, with Wangchuk in the lead, “Operation New Hope” (ONH) was launched to expand and consolidate the partnership-driven educational reform program. Taking a life of its own, to date ONH has trained 700 teachers, 1000 VEC leaders, and dramatically increased the success rate of students in matriculation exams from just 5% in 1996 to 75% by 2015.The awards, named after a Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash, are to be presented in Manila on August 31.