Dharamsala: Dalai Lama gets 1959 Magsaysay Award in person after 64 years

Dharamsala : Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was on Wednesday presented the 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award personally by the members of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation after 64 years at his residence in the hill town of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was on Wednesday presented the 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award personally by the members of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation after 64 years at his residence in the hill town of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.

The Dalai Lama's office said this was the first international award given to His Holiness "for Community Leadership in recognition of his leadership of the Tibetan community's gallant struggle in defense of the sacred religion that is the inspiration of their life and culture" by the Foundation in the Philippines in August 1959. According to the Tibetan spiritual leader's office, his elder brother Gyalo Thonden had received the Magsaysay Award on his behalf in Manila, the Philippines in August 1959. The Ramon Magsaysay Award, often called the "Nobel Prize of Asia", is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society, the Dalai Lama's office said.

The prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund based in New York City with the concurrence of the Philippine government.