Human rights activist Bezwada Wilson and Carnatic singer TM Krishna will be conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award this year. The final list of awardees was released on the Magsaysay site on July 27. Wilson will receive the award for “asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity”, while Krishna will receive it for “ensuring social inclusiveness in culture.”

Wilson is the national convenor of Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), a national campaign committed to eradicate manual scavenging. Born in a Dalit family which engaged in manual scavenging for generations, Wilson went on to be the first person from his family to receive higher education and grew up being acutely aware of his conditions. In 2003, he filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court in which he named all states and union territories as violators of the 1993 Prohibition Act (which bans dry latrines and the employment of manual scavengers across the country). Under his leadership, SKA carried out a country-wide Bhim Yatra from 10th December 2015 to 13th April 2016 commemorating Dr. B R Ambedkar’s 125th birthday. His citation states that the award is to recognise “his moral energy and prodigious skill in leading a grassroots movement to eradicate the degrading servitude of manual scavenging in India, reclaiming for the dalits the human dignity that is their natural birthright.”

Krishna is an economics graduate who chose to be a classical Carnatic music artist. Krishna has been trained in Carnatic music since the age of six and grew up questioning the social bias of this art form performed and patronised exclusively by the upper castes. As a performer, he refused to perform at ticketed events at the annual music festival December Sabha in Chennai to protest the lack of inclusiveness in the art form. His citation states that this award is in recognition of his “forceful commitment as artist and advocate to art’s power to heal India’s deep social divisions, breaking barriers of caste and class to unleash what music has to offer not just for some but for all.”

Apart from Wilson and Krishna, four others – Philippine ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Indonesian charity organisation Dompet Dhuafa, Laos’ free ambulance service Vientiane Rescue and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers – will also receive the award.