Prakash Amte

Prakash Baba Amte
Mandakini Amte and Prakash Amte during the interactive session at MIT college.
Born (1948-12-26) 26 December 1948 (age 75)
NationalityIndian
EducationMBBS Former Surgical Registrar IGMC, Nagpur
Alma materGovernment Medical College (Nagpur)
OccupationSocial worker
Years active1973 - present
Known forLok Biradari Prakalp
SpouseMandakini Amte
Children3
ParentBaba Amte (Father)
AwardsPadma Shri (2002)
Ramon Magsaysay Award (2008)
Websitewww.lokbiradariprakalp.org www.lbphemalkasa.org.in

Prakash Baba Amte is a social worker from Maharashtra, India. Amte and his wife, Mandakini Amte, were awarded the Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership'[1] in 2008 for their philanthropic work[2] in the form of the Lok Biradari Prakalp amongst the Madia Gonds in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the neighbouring states of Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. In November 2019 he was awarded with the ICMR Lifetime Achievement Award by Bill Gates.[3]

Early life

Prakash Amte is the second son[2] of Magsaysay awardee Baba Amte. He obtained a medical degree from Government Medical College (GMC), Nagpur,[2] and he met his wife Mandakini during their post graduation studies at Government Medical College (GMC), Nagpur.[2] Prakash and Mandakini joined Baba Amte and helped her father and others overcome the taboo and fear of leprosy.[2]

Lok Biradari Prakalp

In 1973, Amte moved to Hemalkasa to start the Lok Biradari Prakalp,[2] a project for the development of tribal people, most of whom were the Madia Gond in the forests of Gadchiroli district.[4] He lived and worked there for almost twenty years performing emergency surgical procedures without electricity. The project transformed into a hospital, Lok Biradari Prakalp Davakhana, a residential school, Lok Biradari Prakalp Ashram Shala, and an orphanage for injured wild animals, the Amte's Animal Park.[5] The project provides health care to about 40,000 individuals annually. The Lok Biradari Prakalp Ashram School has over 600 students, residents and day scholars.[6] Work of Amte's for Gond tribals and their philanthropic work in the form of the Lok Biradari Prakalp amongst the Madia Gonds in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also won them recognition.[2] Dr Prakash and his family also run a large animal conservation facility in Hemalkasa in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra where rare, protected, and endangered animals are cared and have freedom to roam.[2] The family's legacy in philanthropy and animal conservation is now carried over by their sons Digant and Aniket and their respective families who are helping their parents now.[2]

Bibliography

Amte has published two autobiographies, Prakashvata (Pathways to Light), originally written in Marathi and now translated into English, Gujarati and Kannada, Sanskrit, Hindi and Raanmitra (Jungle Friends).[7]

Awards

Amte has received many national and international awards,[8] which include:

Citation: "In electing Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte to receive the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the board of trustees recognizes their enhancing the capacity of the Madia Gonds to adapt positively in today's India, through healing and teaching and other compassionate interventions."

The biographical film Dr Prakash Baba Amte : The Real Hero starring Nana Patekar as Prakash Amte and Sonali Kulkarni as Mandakini Amte[2] was released on 10 October 2014.[15] The film has been released in three languages, Hindi, Marathi and English.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Citation Archived 27 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine from the website of Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Archived 31 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pandey, Kirti (1 December 2020). "Family tree of Baba Amte: Sons Prakash and Vikas Amte; who was Sheetal Amte and her role at Anandwan". www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  3. ^ FIT (18 November 2019). "Bill Gates Awards Lifetime Achievement Award to Health Heroes". TheQuint. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. ^ Deshmukh, A (2002) Letter from Nagpur, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics10(2)Available online
  5. ^ "Amte's Animal Ark".
  6. ^ "Website of the Maharogi Sewa Samiti". Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Publications | Lok Biradari Prakalp". lokbiradariprakalp.org. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013.
  8. ^ "List of Awards".
  9. ^ "Bill Gates Awards Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Amte". ICA. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Dr. Prakash and Dr. Mrs. Mandakini Amte - International Awards - Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services - 2009-2010". Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  11. ^ "Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice held on Sunday". dna. Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  12. ^ "Lokmanya Tilak Award".
  13. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  14. ^ "Magsaysay for another generation of Amtes". www.dnaindia.com. Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. August 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  15. ^ "Biopic on Dr Prakash Amte to be released in three languages". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Biopic on Dr Prakash Amte to be released in three languages". The Times of India. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2021.