Mandakini Amte popularly known as Manda Amte is a medical doctor and social worker from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She along with her husband, Prakash Amte were awarded the Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership'Citation
from th
website of Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation
/ref> in 2008 for their

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

work in the form of the Lok Biradari Prakalp amongst the Madia Gonds in Gadchiroli district of

and the neighbouring states of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

. She is the daughter-in-law of Baba Amte.

Early life, education and career

Amte was born as Mandakini Deshpande. She had completed her MBBS from Nagpur and later decided to do her post-graduation in

Anesthesia Anesthesia (American English) or anaesthesia (British English) is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prev ...

in Government Medical College(GMC),Nagpur. Prakash, her future husband, was a surgeon and that's how they met. They worked together in the same operation theatre. Her father was opposed to her marriage with Prakash Amte as he feared that it meant she would have to live among lepers, which was a taboo then.

Magsaysay award

Amte & her husband were jointly awarded the Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2008, her citation reads as follows:

Commemorative stamp

The

Principality of Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a semi-enclave borde ...

brought out a postage stamp in honour of the life and work of Prakash Mandakini in 1995 - just as they had done for

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...

in 1955. This was only the second time that the Kingdom of Monaco brought out a stamp to honour a foreigner for their humanitarian work. A French couple, Guy and Greet Barthelemy, who had worked with Schweitzer in the early fifties, visited the project in 1992. They were moved to see the similarity of conditions at Hemalkasa and those in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

where Schweitzer worked. This French couple went back and appealed to Prince Rainier III of Monaco to publish a postal stamp to honour the Amtes, which was done in 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amte, Prakash Indian women activists Living people Ramon Magsaysay Award winners People from Chandrapur district People from Gadchiroli district Social workers from Maharashtra Women educators from Maharashtra Educators from Maharashtra Year of birth missing (living people)