Mandakini Amte

Mandakini Amte popularly known as Manda Amte is a medical doctor and social worker from Maharashtra, India. She along with her husband, Dr. Prakash Amte were awarded the Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership' in 2008 for 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. She is the daughter-in-law of Baba Amtec.
Early life, education and career.
Mandakini Amte was born as Mandakini Deshpande. She had completed her MBBS from Nagpur and later decided to do her post-graduation in Anesthesia 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. Their values matched and they gelled well.
Her father was dead opposed to her marriage with Dr. Prakash Amte as he feared that it meant she would have to live among lepers, which was a taboo then. Baba Amte called her over to Anandwan and asked if she was ready to live with Dr. Prakash in a jungle for the rest of her life. When she assured Baba Amte, consent to marriage was given and they got married.
Magsaysay award.
Dr. Mandakini Amte & her husband Dr. Prakash were jointly awarded the Magsaysay Award for community leadership for 2008, her citation reads as follows:
Commemorative stamp.
The Principality of Monaco brought out a postage stamp in honour of the life and work of Dr. Prakash and Dr. Mandakini in 1995 - just as they had done for Dr. Albert Schweitzer 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, Mr. Guy and Dr. Greet Barthelemy, who had worked with Dr. 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 where Dr. 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.