Forty five-year-old Harish Hande, the 2011 winner, claims the laureates together have centuries of experience in working on issues haunting humanity.
For the first time since it was instituted in 1957, fifteen Ramon Magsaysay laureates from different Asian countries have come together in Chennai to chalk out an action plan and road map to solve issues like poverty, sanitation, unemployment and gender bias. “Our objective is to make Asia the capital of global innovation. It is the kind of innovative works we do in our countries which prompted the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation to honour us. Now we want our expertise and experience to be used for the whole world,” said Ela Bhat, founder, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and winner of the 1977 Magsaysay Award.
Forty five-year-old Harish Hande, the 2011 winner, claims the laureates together have centuries of experience in working on issues haunting humanity. “All of us have gained hands-on experience to address these issues. During the next three days, we will draw a blueprint to address the issues faced by billions of people across the world so that we ourselves can be the global problem solvers,” said Hande.
They have been brought together by Chennai-based M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and Magsaysay Institute for Transformative Leadership, Manila. “This is the first ever initiative of this kind by the MITL. We hope to make Asia the hub of development and problem solving,” said Carmencita T Abella, president, RMAF.
Among others who have gathered in Chennai are A T Ariyaratne from Sri Lanka who was honoured in 1969 for his Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, Mumbai based Jockin Arputham, who won the Magsaysay Award in 2000 for his relentless fight for the dignity and rights of millions of slum dwellers.
“The kind of work like constructing toilets for slum dwellers should be taken up on a war footing by the government as well as the corporate. Toilet is a big industry,” said Arputham, who hogged the limelight by his blunt speaking. “He is held in high respect not only in India, but in countries like South Africa, Kenya and East Africa for his single-minded pursuit to spread the message of hygiene and sanitation among the poor,” said Dr Ajay Parida, convener of the conclave.
By Sunday evening, the laureates will formulate a blueprint for Green Economy and Sustainable Growth to be presented in next month’s Rio De Janeiro session of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
“We will tell the world how we solved our local issues, and these are solutions which could be replicated anywhere with some modifications to suit the local conditions,” said Prof M S Swaminathan, one of the founding fathers of the country’s Green Revolution.
Participants, including Angel Alcala, Philippines, Tri Mumpuni, Indonesia and Yu Xiaogang from China are confident that the Chennai Declaration would be a game changer in saving the world from exploitation of natural resources and sustainable development.
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