They will be formally conferred the Magsaysay Award during formal Presentation Ceremonies to be held on November 28 at the Ramon Magsaysay Center in Manila.
Bangladeshi vaccine scientist, Pakistani microfinanceer among this year's Ramon Magsaysay awardees
Vartha Bharati | 02-09-2021 | 00:12:00 IST
Islamabad/Dhaka: A Bangladeshi vaccine scientist and a microfinance pioneer from Pakistan were the among the five recipients of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award -- regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize announced on Tuesday.
Apart from Dr Firdausi Qadri from Bangladesh and Muhammad Amjad Saqib from Pakistan, the other winners are Filipino fisher and community environmentalist Roberto Ballon, American Steven Muncy for humanitarian work and refugee assistance and Indonesian torch bearer for investigative journalism, Watchdoc.
Qadri, 70, who has a doctorate from Liverpool University, UK, joined International Centre For Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, (an international health research institute based in Dhaka) in 1988.
Today she is credited with developing affordable oral cholera vaccine and the typhoid conjugate vaccine for adults, children, and infants. Most of her work is focused in congested slum areas of developing countries.
She is being recognised for “her passion and life-long devotion to the scientific profession; her vision of building the human and physical infrastructure that will benefit the coming generation of Bangladeshi scientists, women scientists in particular, and her untiring contributions to vaccine development, advanced biotechnological therapeutics and critical research that has been saving millions of precious lives,” the award citation said.
Pakistani development worker Muhammad Amjad Saqib, 64, has developed the "first-of-its-kind" interest-and-collateral-free microfinance programme, Akhuwat, which uses places of worship to disburse zero-interest loans, recording a phenomenal loan repayment rate of 99.9 per cent.
Akhuwat has taken up a vast array of social support programmes in education, health services, “clothes bank”, anti-social discrimination and COVID-19 emergency aid.
Saqib is being recognised for “his intelligence and compassion that enabled him to create the largest microfinance institution in Pakistan; his inspiring belief that human goodness and solidarity will find ways to eradicate poverty; and his determination to stay with a mission that has already helped millions of Pakistani families”, read the citation.
Steven Muncy, 64, from the US, is being recognised for “his unshakable belief in the goodness of man that inspires in others the desire to serve; his life-long dedication to humanitarian work, refugee assistance, and peace building; and his unstinting pursuit of dignity, peace, and harmony for people in exceptionally difficult circumstances in Asia.”
Fifty-three year old environmentalist, Roberto Ballon from the Philippines is being recognised for “his inspiring determination in leading his fellow fisherfolk to revive a dying fishing industry by creating a sustainable marine environment for this generation and generations to come, and his shining example of how everyday acts of heroism can truly be extraordinary and transformative,” the official award statement read.
Watchdoc, Indonesia, is lauded for its emerging leadership in "its highly principled crusade for an independent media organisation, its energetic use of investigative journalism, documentary filmmaking, and digital technology in its effort to transform Indonesia’s media landscape, and its commitment to a vision of the people themselves as makers of media and shapers of their own world.”
Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia's highest honour.
It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine president after whom the award is named, and is given every year to individuals or organisations in Asia who manifest the same selfless service and transformative influence that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader.
This year’s Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President, and a cash prize.
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21 hours raid fetch nothing for ED, claims Karnataka Cong MLA’s son
21-04-2026 ¦
21-04-2026 IST
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris' son Mohammed Haris Nalapad on Tuesday claimed that the 21 hours of search by the ED in his house and other locations did not fetch anything.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday raided the premises of the two sons of Haris (Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad), Aqeeb Khan, grandson of ex-Union cabinet minister K Rahman Khan and an alleged crypto hacker named Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki in a crypto currency-linked money laundering case.
More than a dozen premises in the city have been covered as part of the action executed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"My grandfather is 89-year-old. There is not a single bad mark. My father (N A Haris) is a four-time MLA. There is not a single accusation against him. Their only intention was to target myself and my brother. As simple as that," Mohammed Nalapad, who is a former Karnataka Youth Congress president, told reporters.
According to him, the ED officials carried out raids for 21 hours.
"After 21 hours of search, they took away only two mobile phones from our house. They did not get a single paisa. The ED will testify it," the Congress leader said.
Exuding faith in the law, he said he is ready to fight the case in court.
"Me and my father have opted for politics and we are in public life. You can call me whatever you want but I have not done anything wrong," Mohammed Nalapad said.
Regarding his relationship with Sriki, he said he knew him but had no clue what he was doing.
"I have never said that either me or my brother do not know Sriki. But how will I know what he does in his house? Can his crimes be linked to us," he asked.
The money laundering case stems from some Karnataka Police FIRs and chargesheets filed in a 2017 case of hacking of national and international websites, stealing of bitcoins and sale of these 'stolen' virtual digital assets (VDA) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
The Nalapad brothers and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this alleged crypto-linked crime, the ED said.
