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Mr. GK Swamy  

Mr. Swamy is a very well known name not only in Dehradun but in the entire country. He is the founder of a unique school - Purkal Youth Development Society, this school was started for the underprivileged people and it began under a cowshed when Mr. Swamy and his wife Mrs. Chinni Swamy decided to do something for the poor people living in the village Purkul. Now they possess a fully furnished building and they have affiliation from the CBSE board to conduct classes till 12th std. Mr. Swamy provides free education to all his students which also includes their meals and stationary. His wife Mrs. Chinni Swami has done exceptional work to provide employment to the women living in the village. She is running Stree Shakti which provides engagement and employment to the women while their children study in Purkal Youth Development Learning Academy. Only the have-nots of the society are able to get admission in this school. Apart from excellent English medium education, the students of this school also get opportunities to participate in international youth exchange programs, where they get chance to visit and interact with students and people from different countries. Most students of the school are very well behaved and are great role models for the society.

Mr. Popuri Purnachandra Rao  

A champion of underprivileged children and fund-raiser extraordinaire, Popuri Purnachandra Rao is founder-secretary of the Guntur (Andhra Pradesh)-based NICE (Needy Illiterate Children Education) Society (estb. 2002), which runs a free-of-charge residential English-medium school in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh for 140 boys, 70 percent of whom are orphans, and a similar boarding school with 60 girl children. Although promoting a free school for orphans was a lifelong dream, it became reality only after he worked for 12 years and saved the amount required to start the school. Over the past decade, Purnachandra Rao has single-handedly raised over Rs.6 crore to fund the NICE schools for boys and girls. The 25,000 sq.ft school comprises ten classrooms, a library, science and maths labs and a sports ground, apart from separate hostels.

Mrs. Shukla Bose  

Former chief executive of Resort Condominiums India (the country’s first holiday time share company), Shukla Bose quit the corporate world at the peak of her career to promote the Parikrma Humanity Foundation (PHF) in 2003 to offer quality education to slum children in Bangalore. Currently, PHF runs four free-of-charge English-medium K-12 schools and one junior college with an aggregate enrolment of 1,600 students. Over the past decade, Parikrma has enabled 146 slum children to enter university and placed 52 alumni in well-paid jobs. All Parikrma learning centres provide free tuition, uniforms, stationery, textbooks and nutritive meals and diet supplements to children. For her extraordinary fund-raising capabilities and her project conceptualisation and implementation skills and determination to provide employment-oriented English-medium education to bottom-of-the- pyramid children, we are proud to unanimously confer the Gold Karmaveer Chakra upon Shukla Bose, an unrelenting champion of quality education for all.

Mrs. Neelima Sharma  

Neelima is the founder of Saksham Bal Vikas Sanstha (Saksham). Saksham is a charitable organization committed to providing education – academic and vocational, to the underprivileged children. They run a school in Gurgaon, educating over 230 students, from ages 4 to 18. The school is run free of cost to the children. Under her guidance Saksham arranged various camps for the Parents of these under privileged children. The parents included daily wage laborers, vegetable sellers, masons, etc. The attendance, feedback and learning at these camps were phenomenal. The camps organized imparted financial knowledge, informed and educated them about savings, insurance, and other financial products. Information imparted at the camps included Aadhaar related information, Jan-Dhan Yojana, Affordable Insurance covers like Personal Accidents, Mediclaim, simple life covers, saving products, etc. She has also worked with various colleges to get interns who would then guide and further educate the parents of children having finance related queries.

Mr. Jagdish Kumar Goddanti  

Mr. Jagdish has formed the organization ‘Telgu Network people living with HIV/AIDS’ in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS who need care and support services is continuously increasing in Andhra Pradesh. Given the chronic but clinically manageable nature of HIV and the number of new infections, demand for care and support at institutional, community and family levels will only increase in the foreseeable future. A family of 7 members in 2003 has spread to 2.5 lakhs today. The organization provides free lifelong nutrition & educational support for 1000 infected families of Guntur district. 3000 women living with HIV/AIDS are roped in to support groups and every month they are holding support group meetings. Mutual sharing, learning and up gradation of knowledge levels, information of available services /resources are some of the activities in the agenda. 500 people living with HIV/AIDS are employed in different projects directly and indirectly their families are leading dignified quality of life.

Mr. Prakash Lokhande  

Prakash was trained by the Art of living as a volunteer. He was trained by the organization in various capabilities like development works in villages, selfless seva for the village and for the nation. He was provided with the information education and the communication materials. In total he was capacitated by the organization as a youth leader. After he became the youth leader and the faculty he capacitated many youths as youth leaders those who are working in their own village. There are 4 beggar’s homes in Ahmednagar, each beggar home has 80-90 inmates. Prakash and team under the banner of Art of living has reached and taught them the skills development programs and personality development programs. He has touched around 400 inmates in these 4 beggar’s home in Ahmednagar. 150 youngsters from these inmates have undergone Art of living’s youth leadership training program. 12 inmates have been 100% rehabilitated. The Organisation has promised to give jobs to the physically fit, young beggars, at Rs 6,000 per month, after they complete their imprisonment. The handicap beggars are entitled to get a pension of Rs 1,000 per month from the Government. The Art of living team helped them to get it. Today more than 60 beggars are earning well and living a gracious life under his guidance.

Mr. Nagraj Gangolli  

Nagraj has over 12 years of experience in the field of social service and reformation across various areas of service including rehabilitation, training, counselling and community development. He has constructed more than 180 toilets and still work is in progress for constructing more toilets. He has trained and built team of many volunteers/ workers to carry out services undertaken which paved way for formation Divine Karnataka Project (DKP) team. DKP has been working currently in 80 slums and 150 villages in northern districts of Karnataka. The vision is to empower these communities across these areas and build self-reliant and self-sustaining growth socially and economically. Nagaraj has taught various programs of Art of living to 1200+ inmates, 12 of them have become the trainers and train other co-inmates in the jails of Karnataka. He has also planted more than a lakh of tree in the districts of Raichur and Koppal. He has conducted awareness camps and Programs on the Environment, Global warning, Medical Camps and awareness programs on the food and nutritional values. He has also undertaken Water conservation project at Lakshmipura village in Karnataka. He has rejuvenated two rivers benefitting more than 160+ villages through Kumudvathi river and 49 villages benefiting by Vedavathi river. He has been working on the injection wells to preserve the water. More than 20 wells have been done and still work to build more wells is in progress.

Ms. Smita Bharti  

Having lived through a difficult life personally, Smita now works to give voice to many who yet struggle for their sense of self and right to their body through the medium of theatre and film. She is a seasoned creative educator on subjects ranging from Equality, Gender, Peace and Conflict Resolution to Sexuality and Leadership. She uses theatre to develop emotional competencies and correlates them to personal, relational and professional enhancement of both, the overall quality of life and performance within the work place and helps people arrive at action points that lead to sustainable peace building. She has worked extensively with survivors of domestic violence and child sexual abuse, using storytelling and theatre as the medium of interaction. She has also worked in prisons with under trials and convicts. Her ability to rise from the ashes, create a life of meaning for herself and use the learning from her own sorrow to benefit others is what makes her a true Woman of the Elements.

Ms. Laila Saein  

Laila Saein, a journalist and teacher chose to work for the underprivileged children/ youth in Wayanad. Laila works selflessly to support minorities, tribes and farmers. She founded the ambitious project Leadership Village YLP in 2009, to identify and train potential leaders. She established a Living Library for the children and youth and regularly volunteers her time there. Laila actively participated in the Literacy program of Kerala to make the state 100 percent literate during 1990s. She also introduced the Peace Gong children`s newspaper to Kerala. She founded Wayanad Shishu Panchayat and represented India in the International Human Rights Conference, Taiwan, 2013. TOASMASTERS International awarded her for leadership and education. To inspire innovations among students she started the annual Back Benchers conference in 2014. She works for AFRC to impart life skills and media studies. Considering her volunteering and services to society Laila`s story was included in the UN book on volunteering.

Mr. Prakash HM  

Prakash, born to farmers Halappa & Janki in Alursiddapur in Coorg, had to walk 4 kms to the nearest school. Reading about the brighter world outside, in his high school, he had a dream to get a school in his village which had neither bus service nor even a cycle. Poverty forced him to drop PU studies and work as a lorry cleaner. Later he came to Bangalore and joined Buoyancee as an office boy where he studied English as he learnt driving. He became a driver carting Buoyancee staff and decided to become a staff which motivated him to learn Calligraphy. After nearly 10 years, he headed Calligraphy dept. and started his own institute. He became a consultant to Times of India NIE and later to Deccan Herald. He was interviewed by TV channels and also was covered by the news. Prakash finally decided to leave behind his lucrative and people centric jobs and went back to his village where he started his School Sai Education which today has over 200 students from his village. His school has now classes till 7th and if things go well he wants to open a college too. He motivates the youth in his village and is also the youth president conducting various projects to empower them.

Mr. Kennedy Dhanabala  

Kennedy is currently the Executive Director of The Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR), Delhi. He has led the team members of his organization to build capacity of local people in Lakhnaur block of Madhubani district, Bihar which is affected by flood seriously every year. He and his team imparted needed information, knowledge and training to people to develop community resilience and safety by developing their skills to protect lives and means of livelihood in emergency of floods. He took initiative to integrate local government authorities and communities together where they could work jointly in future to prepare people to cope with floods. He guided people to take care of their developmental gains as well as protection of lives by becoming equal partners in the process of disaster management and adaptation to climate change. The team of EFICOR under his guidance has also assisted the district authorities of Madhepura, Darbhanga, Nalanda and Gaya for developing district disaster management plans where common people were made nucleus of disaster preparedness in their districts. His tireless initiatives and inspiring leadership has benefited 55000 people of the Lakhnaur. His initiatives have provided equal opportunities to farmers, women self help groups, school children, disabled and senior citizens. His initiative sets one of the good examples where the most vulnerable people are prepared to minimize risks from disasters and impacts of climate change.

Smt. Suparna Aajgaokar  

Suparna has served as a Principal and Director of Kamla Mehta High School for Blind Girls for past 30 years. She has recognized the importance of empowering visually impaired girls by education and vocational training to make them self reliant to lead their lives. The most significant contribution which she has made is by understanding the need of visually impaired girls and women to cope with disasters, where they are most vulnerable physically as well as psychologically. They are also easy prey to sexual violence's in disasters. It is commendable that she recognized the importance to prepare visually impaired girls and teachers to develop knowledge to protect lives in disasters and emergencies where as people in India are least sensitized to take such initiative. She has a mission to provide equal opportunities to visually impaired girls to develop skills, to respond to disasters and be resilient. About 5000 visually impaired girls and teachers have been the beneficiaries of this education in past 10 years. These beneficiaries are confident and have developed courage to cope with disasters and to share such awareness with other visually impaired persons. She has been continuously organizing workshops for educating and training by seeking help from experts and practitioners in the field of disaster preparedness to impart needed education to her students.

Dr. Aabha Chaudhary  

Dr. Aabha has done her PhD in gerontology and gender issues and has been working since 2000 mostly in Uttarakhand area through her NGO Anugraha. She is multi talented person and has been working in the areas of – women’s development, holistic health care, human rights, girl child empowerment, Corporate Social Responsibility but with prime focus on Age Care initiatives. She has been proactively involved with National and International Organizations and Conferences for the cause of Ageing. Her work for Senior Citizens, especially with Widows and Destitute and her initiative for Eye Care projects, Campaigns for Active Ageing, Day Care & Recreation centers are highly appreciated. Recently her NGO was appointed as RRTC (Regional Resource & Training Centre) on ageing by MOSJE, Govt. of India. Anugraha has also published two books titled “Active Ageing in the New Millennium” & “Coping with Ageing: Emerging issues & Strategies in India & South Asia”. She is an inspiration to many women to be a Change for Age Care.

Dr. Rajesh Ganesh Singh Chouhan  

Rajesh Chouhan is a medical doctor in Ayurvedic Medicines and specializes in treating Geriatric Patients since year 2001. He has been selflessly working for Senior Citizens on various front; providing them counseling service, medical advice, government ID cards, working with Old Age Homes, arranging Medical Camps and offering concessional medicine and treatment. Many times he has gone out of the way to help poor elders. His social work has benefited various NGO’s like Dignity Foundation, Silver Innings Foundation, Krishna Kala Trust, Shrimad Buddhisagar Suri Manav Seva Kendra, Helping Hands Foundation, etc. He is currently working with Vasai Virar Municpal Corporation as Medical Officer but his never ending love to serve the society continues. His ever helping attitude will surely benefit many elders and their family.

Mr. Christopher Von Toggenburg  

Christopher is a photographer, writer and artist. In 1998 he ran an ultra marathon for homeless children in Romania. In his endeavor he ran 270 kms across the Alps in 4.5 days. In 2001 and 2002, Christopher made a solo bicycle trip from India to Switzerland covering 9300 kms for the people suffering from leprosy. In the year 2010 he made a solo bicycle trip from Nepal to India covering 3200 kms in the highest motorable roads of the world for the people suffering from leprosy. He also made a documentary named: Alegria, about his journey in the Himalayas which bagged many international awards. Christopher has also been invited as a speaker at TED and is currently working in the Middle East with the United Nations.

Mr. Ulhas Mahadeo Thakur  

Ulhas Mahadeo Thakur from Navi Mumbai is a Herpetologist and associated with NGO's like Indian Herpetological Society (IHS) since 1989, Chief Coordinator of Mutual Aid Response Group (MARG), Advisory Board Member of Plant & Animals Welfare Society - Mumbai (PAWS-Mumbai) and Member of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti. He is working as Deputy General Manager of Environment, Health and Safety at SI Group - India Limited, Navi Mumbai. He is actively involved in activities like eradication of blind faith & superstitions; snake rescue, conservation, awareness; tree plantation drive and coastal clean-up. He has been appointed as Hon. Wildlife Warden of Raigad District by Department of Forest of Maharashtra State since 2006 till date. He is an author of a book on snakes titled Sarpa Vidhyan. He has received awards like Sarpa Mitra Award in year 1996, Snake Expert by Department of Forest in the year 2009 and Paryawaran Mitra Award in year 2011 by Centre of Environment Research and Training.

Ms. Smita Sharma  

Smita Sharma is an Indian freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer based in between New York and Kolkata. Her work has been published in CNN, UNWRA, Washington Post, The Telegraph (India), Vision Project, Proof: Media for Social Justice, First Post, CNN-IBN among others and she is working for the prestigious photojournalism workshop - Eddie Adams Workshop as the Assistant Producer. Besides her freelance work and personal projects, she is currently teaming up with Stephanie Sinclair to add voice to the global campaign on child marriage -"Too Young To Wed". She is the recipient of The Washington Post Award at the Eddie Adams Workshop XXVI, George and Joyce Moss Scholarship 2013 for documentary photography and the ‘New York City Newstrain’ diversity scholarship organized by APME (Associated Press Media Editors), Associated Press, New York. Born and raised in the Himalayan foothills of Shillong she is fond of travelling and learning about different cultures and takes deep interest in human rights and gender violence issues.

Ms. Bindu Singh  

Bindu Singh is icon of successful single woman of eastern Part of UP. She established Gramaya, a pioneer social organization working for most marginalized people in remote and Maoist insurgency affected areas. She was convenor of Right to Food campaign, Uttar Pradesh for many years. Besides leadership of Gramya’s works/ programmes she worked as consultants with several groups/ organizations on the issue of Women Empowerment, Qualitative Education to Children, Federation of SHG’s, Women Leadership Training, Gender Sensitization with Males, Police and Doctors, Women & Law along with several reviews and evaluation of social development projects like Mahila Samakhya, CARE, OXFAM (INDIA) Trust, FPA (Family Planning Association) etc.

Mrs. Maneesha Chaturvedi  

Maneesha is a Trustee at Saksham Bal Vikas Sanstha (Saksham). Saksham is a charitable organization committed to providing education – academic and vocational, to the underprivileged children. They run a school in Gurgaon, educating over 230 students, from ages 4 to 18. The school is run free of cost to the children. Under her guidance Saksham arranged various camps for the Parents of these under privileged children. The parents included daily wage laborers, vegetable sellers, masons, etc. The attendance, feedback and learning at these camps were phenomenal. The camps organized imparted financial knowledge, informed and educated them about savings, insurance, and other financial products. Information imparted at the camps included Aadhaar related information, Jan-Dhan Yojana, Affordable Insurance covers like Personal Accidents, Mediclaim, simple life covers, saving products etc. She has also worked with various colleges to get interns who would then guide and further educate the parents of children haviing finance related queries.

Ms. Aditi Misra  

Aditi Misra is an alumnus of DPS, RK Puram and LSR, Delhi University. She started her teaching career 3 decades ago. A founder Principal of DPS Gurgaon, Sector 45, she was the youngest Principal in 2003 among more than 100 schools under the aegis of DPS. She is a trained Odissi Dancer who was awarded scholarship for 5 years from the Sahitya Kala Parishad. She has performed extensively at various venues in Delhi. A master trainer for CBSE, she has authored and ideated many books for children. She is a philanthropist, who has initiated many community outreach programs and has collaborated with various NGOs to give back to the community (Cancer Society, Teach India, Akshar and Education for the marginalised). She runs a school (non formal education) for a thousand underprivileged students in the afternoon in the premises of her school.

Ms. Jagriti Rahi  

Jagriti started volunteering for the society while studying. She started teaching poor kids for two hours and slowly the strength of these students reached 75. Slowly, she got in touch with other students who were interested in teaching these kids and in 2001 they together got the registration of her NGO ‘Vision’. She also took active participation in fighting the case against Coca Cola Bottling plant where she marched from Balia to Banaras. While fighting this case, she was even imprisoned for 7 days. She also keeps an interest in studying various social issues like women empowerment, water management, education system, loans, etc. She has worked with almost 660 poor families for improving their living standard.

Mr. Raman Kant  

Keeping in view, urgency of enlightening the community and making efforts at the grassroots level in order to meet the growing need of water demand, Raman initiated his work towards water conservation in the year 2004. He formed NEER Foundation with an objective of creating awareness on various issues related to water involving the community in finding various solutions for sustainable future. With a contribution of about 95 articles published in the Hindi national dailies, magazines etc., he has a wide range of experience with a deep understanding of various issues concerning water across the country. Lead by him, NEER Foundation acts as an independent, not-for-profit making voluntary organisation working towards environment protection and management by means of water conservation and organic farming. NEER Foundation is involved in research, campaigns, grassroots level practical work and advocacy on issues related to environment and human rights. As a public interest organization, NEER Foundation has focused on strengthening of the community through their active participation to achieve sustainable development.

Ms. Jurismita Puzari  

Jurismita shares a passion for empowering the under privileged and has chosen media as her tool to correct social imperfections. She volunteers for AFRC in Wayanad, Kerala as a media and communication trainer. She is involved in tribal development initiatives with Mishing and Tai Phake tribal communities in Assam and has also published articles in newspaper and made a documentary. She is involved with the Ramsing Chapori village development by making a study on the condition of the village so as to create a leadership village to empower village youth and children. She supported physically disabled children with DPRC. She is also involved with the ‘Missionary of charity’, Tezpur, to give dignity in the lives of orphan children. She has also published stories on ‘Amar Ghor’- old age home in Guwahati on the need of public attention. She mentors Shivam, a physically disabled child suffering from cerebral palsy. She is actively involved in the Backbenchers conference to introduce educational reformation.

Mr. Ajit Kaikini   

Ajit Kaikini is a motivational trainer post an in-depth experience in sales/marketing, production & admin/training at top positions in blue chip companies for 15 yrs. He is the Founder Director (Growth & Corporate Training) Buoyancee - started in 1992 (www.buoyancee.com), a successful Soft Skill Training Institute. A consultant to many professional institutes in over 5 states and to large corporations such as Adidas, Accenture, Cisco, Stanchart and ITC to name a few. He is invited as a keynote speaker in many Lions and Rotary meets/conferences. He trains their office bearers in over 5 states. He has conducted training in 6 languages from the slums & villages of India to executives in Denmark & UK. Buoyancee has empowered over 500,000 teens & youth in the slums/ villages/ cities, over 50,000 housewives & over 10,000 executives all over India. Ajit has a knack of empowering individuals and large groups to perform at their best. While Buoyancee tea-boy Prakash was supported to start a school in his village in Coorg, his attender was motivated to become a successful businessman and Ghataprabha Fertilisers & Sutures India almost doubled their turnover to touch 100 crores. He was also involved with motivating the launch team of Bisleri 500 ml and improving the profit margin of Bank of India. Ajit has the Midas touch in empowering humans by helping them tap into their potentials.

Mr. Rohit Gupta   

Rohit, 28yrs old IT Engineer by profession and social worker by passion has completed graduation in B.Tech. IT and started career with TCS in Bangalore. He is very fond of travelling, interacting with people and very extrovert in nature. Lately he realized his skills can be used for needy people like organizing events with NGO's, bringing awareness to them and connect helping hands. His vision and direction led to formation of Khushiyan with tagline 'Connecting Helping Hands', informally on 27th May 13. So far he has organized more than 15 events in Delhi/ Bangalore with various NGOs where 300+ volunteers joined. The Facebook page has 3500+ followers and email group with 400 + registered volunteers. In the year 2014 he connected NGO's and volunteers by communicating 400+ emails to volunteers & NGO's spreading causes and events. His vision is to build technical infrastructure where helping hands can seamlessly connect, discuss and take the projects forward without any hassle.

Mr. Ranjan Solomon   

Ranjan is a widely experienced NGO/ ecumenical leader with varied experience in organizational transformation and in creating social change through advocacy, communications and issue education. His main areas of focus in his 40+ professional involvements have been on issues of development, justice, peace and human rights with a special focus on youth. He also specializes in providing advice and support to organizations working in conflict situations. . He has worked tirelessly for the welfare of youth to bring about a humane world order where there is peace, freedom and justice for all. He was the Executive Secretary for Mission and Ecumenical Concerns, Justice, Peace and Development at the World Council of YMCAs and was instrumental in taking the World Alliance of YMCAs forward towards addressing broader and crucial justice-human rights issues and linking the YMCA to the wider ecumenical movement and civil society groups. Many of the initiatives taken were unfamiliar terrain for the YMCA and required working at organizational transformation alongside programme development. He is also the Chairman of the advisory committee of SCAN-INDIA organization.

Mr. S. Raghavan   

Mr. Raghavan is a Bangalore based businessman who spends a lot of his time for social and humane activities. He is associated with many social organizations in the country and contributes his time and energy for the betterment of human kind and society at large. He has conducted many youth leadership and awareness programmes for the Tribal and Rural youth through the Nehru Yuva Kendra, a nodal agency under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. He has organized blood donation involving 1300 youth in Bangalore and conducted many motivational camps for the youth through Rotary Bangalore and collected around 1000 units of blood and also motivated the youth to donate their eyes and as an outcome of this around 250 eyes were pledged. He also received a citation from the Governor of Karnataka for this achievement. Raghavan is a long time member of the SCAN-INDIA advisory committee.

Dr. A. Gregory Ashok

Dr. Ashok is the Chairman & Managing Director of Scorpion group of companies having its head office in Bangalore. He is a well known community leader in the city and in the country. He is deeply involved in many community social development programmes and associated with many NGOs and civic organizations. His association with SCAN-INDIA began in the year 2005 as a member of the executive committee and contributed his time, energy and resources for the development of underprivileged and marginalized children in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh. He is the recipient of many awards like ‘Udyograttan’, Outstanding Businessman and Life time achievement award related to his business, apart from the Social and Child care services.

Dr. Mrs. I. V. Christopher  

Dr. Mrs. I. V. Christopher is an outstanding social activist in the field of child care and women empowerment. She is a long time associate of SCAN-INDIA and has served as committee member in the organization. She is the Founder Chairperson of ‘Adarsha Foundation’ in Bangalore and has contributed tremendously for the health care of the rural children and women. She has organized many health camps for the children in the villages surrounding Bangalore city. Recently she has evolved a programme called “Life Skills, School Health & Well-being training” specially focusing on the school children to improve their personality and educational performance. She is also actively involved in the YWCA movement as the committee member.

Mr. Ghulam Hussain  

Ghulam Hussain belongs to a remotest village of Baramuula District (Khanpeath) of Jammu and Kashmir. Hardly in his 40’s, he is working as a devoted social worker since last 5 years in the field of health. He is working continuously for people of all ages, distributing medicines among them and especially taking care of people suffering from cancer or any other life taking diseases. His main focus is to distribute the life saving drugs among the most trustworthy people of the society and keeping their records read, in order to let them connect with the doctors available at Government hospital’s across Jammu And Kashmir State.

Sheikh Nousheen  

Sheikh Nousheen is a young Graduate from Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir State, providing free education to nearly about 25 girls from Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, bearing all their expenditures and helping them start something new by empowering local women in utilizing their efforts in a co-operative manner. Her major thrust is opening of joint liability groups on her own income and making illiterate women to be the mirror of their own future. Nearly about 1,500 women benefit by her ideas of saving till yet. Moreover she is actively lobbying for women rights, especially molestation, dowry cases or freedom to women. She is providing scholarships to the meritorious girls belonging to remotest areas of Jammu and Kashmir State. Her dream is to set up an academy for girls, where they can chase their dreams.

Ms. Sai Padma  

Sai Padma is an active social entrepreneur despite her physical disability. Her time, energy and social skills made her a life coach and mentor in tribal, rural and urban areas of Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Her focus is on improving the lives of persons with disabilities, rural and tribal children, women and people suffering from HIV/AIDS. A polio survivor with scoliosis, she functions mostly by being on a wheelchair. A trained vocalist and professional in law and finance, she uses her knowledge and art to bring positive change in lives of disabled and marginalized. She raised funds for the above causes, both nationally and internationally. She led ground level teams while working with several organizations - Pratham, National AIDS Control Society, ILO, Clinton Foundation, IDS USA, ASHA JYOTHI, USA. Her current programs are Hub & Spoke model of education with Activity Based Learning as pedagogy to 350 rural and tribal children. She is the Founder-President of an NGO aiming to making a positive impact in the lives of persons with disabilities.

Dr. B S R Murthy  

Dr. Murthy is a physician and surgeon with 50 years of experience in serving rural tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh. An innovator par excellence by inventing a unique surgical technique for family planning operations called “Murthy’s sutureless tubectomy & Vasectomy method” and operated more than 90,000 surgeries and trained many government and private doctors in this method. He performed these surgeries free of cost. He has served several organizations like Lions Club, Prema Samajam, and Lions Cancer Hospital in various capacities and was instrumental in turning them out as sustainable and healthy organizations. He worked since 40 years in a hub village of 200 small villages and coached many villagers in self sustainability, watershed, agriculture, horticulture programs. His contribution towards physical and social health of communities is unmatched. Till date he has donated blood about 80 times. In short, his work encompasses pre & post life of all beings.

Prof. Dr. S. Sampathkumari  

Dr. Sampathkumari is Head of OG Dept at Tiruvannamalai Govt. Medical College & Hospital, Tamil Nadu. She has provided 27 years of service at Rural Primary Health Centers, Dist Head Quarters Hospital, Specialty Institute Hospitals & Govt Medical Colleges. She regularly conducts Adolescent health Education Workshops/ CMEs, camps, TOTS in all sections of the society – PHC Hospitals, Panchayat level schools, slums, villages and Schools and Colleges in the low socio economic class to middle income group localities. She organizes periodic Health Education camps individually as well as with the help of NGOs – Penn Nalam & Thozhamai, Service organizations like Rotary & Lions Club. She also takes Cancer Screening, Pap Smear, Breast Cancer Examinations targeting middle age group women in the less privileged sections of the society and referrals to higher institutes. In 2012 she was awarded with ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ at the hands of Sir. Dr. Arulkumaran, President of Federation of International Gynecological Organizations in recognition of Adolescent Health Education Camps & Workshops across a wide variety of settings. In 2013, she received ‘Helping Mothers Survive (HMS) Champion Award’ at the Vision 2020 International Conference at Bengaluru.

Mr. Jamil Ahmed   

Jamil Ahmed, professionally an organized teacher in a formal school run by community in Howrah was born in 1968 in a very poor family in P.M. Bustee, a slum in Shibpur, Howrah. He founded a school for the children of marginalized population in 1992 which has been running successfully from Class KG to Class X. It is regarded as one of the best Urdu medium schools in Howrah. Mr. Ahmed joined FOCUS in 1996 as community worker and led the team for successful implementation of several projects for Street and Working children, Self Help Groups and Women Empowerment besides running non-formal centres, coaching centres for dropped out children and organized women groups enabling them to run Functional Literacy centres and Vocational training centre for earning livelihood for 100 women and adolescent girls in Ward no. 59 and 64 of KMC. He designed several tools for proper implementation, reporting and process of evaluation of project activities to reach its objectives and goal. He developed unique accounting system in the organization which ensures transparent accounting in financial management which is his great achievement in the organization.

Ms. Pampa Biswas  

Pampa Biswas, a 24 year old woman lives in Shekharbali village nearly 20 kilometers from Kolkata. She was born in a poor family and was married at the age of 16. She wanted to do something on her own. She used to see didis from Nishtha forming group of women to take up vocational activities. A discussion was conducted on possible vocation; finally she decided to make Latka. She was introduced to local market for purchasing raw material, given the seed capital as a loan and also helped her get the selling market. She turned out to be an entrepreneur. Now, under her leadership 150 women are taking this trade. She has been able to build a better house and able to ensure education of her child. Recently, on 15th Aug’ 2014, Doordarshan Kolkata (Government sponsored TV channel) organized an event on status of women in India. She was invited to share her story and she received lots of positive response in the shape of phone call from the viewers.

Mr. Tarak Majumdar  

33 year old Tarak has completed his masters in social work from TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) and has been working in the field of social work since the year 2008. Presently he is part of SPAN’s (Society for Peoples’ Awareness) rural project in Jalpaiguri, working for the betterment of the lives of the children, with the active participation of youth and women of the areas. He has been able to bring a stop to the high trafficking of young children from Jalpaiguri and has been able to build a safety net for the children with the youth members of the villages. Tarak has been able to mobile around 200 youth members and 100 children into the safety net process. Youth members working with Tarak are trained well to view every situation through ‘rights’ lens and analyze the loopholes or gap in the implementation process of many laws.

Ms. Archi Basu  

30 year old Archi has also completed masters in social work from TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) and has been working in the field of social work since the year 2008. Presently Archi has been working with children and youth in Kolkata city, making it a place protective for either of the groups. She has been conducting workshops, exposure visits and guiding the children to understand themselves and their society, as well as make the youths get thoughtful on the governance issues and be a part of the governance process through active and informed participation. This activity is going on in Kamarhati, Titagarh and South Dum Dum area (Pramod Nagar). Around 200 youth members and 100 children are part of the urban program too. They all dream for building a better world for the children and youth – ‘a world without fear, a world with lots of dream and hope’.

Ms. Debarchana Bonnerjee Mullick  

Debarchana believes that every child, whatever their needs, has the right to participate fully in their community and to have the same choices, opportunities and experiences as other children; to make local friends, and to access, play, leisure and recreational facilities. As Debarchana got the offer to start an organization for the special children, she was simply overwhelmed. With her cousin she started Pratham Padakshep. Shewas from a different career background, without any experience in this field but moved ahead with Sreyashi with a heart of love and an aim to be there besides the differently abled children and their parents. Initially, Debarchana gave the ground floor premises of her residence to Pratham Padakshep without any rent. Debarchana says that working with children with special needs taught her very important lessons in life. She has absolutely no regrets and is lucky to have met all the wonderful children. She feels that working with these children is an absolute pleasure.

Ms. Sreyashi Nag Chandra  

Words cannot describe Sreyashi’s experience of working with children with disabilities, as every day is a new learning and new memory. They are her family. In February of 2011, she started her first job at Pradip, The Management for Autism. Since then she has been handling children. Before she started to work among children with disabilities, she first gathered few experience from Little Heart (a Mental Asylum) and also visited many hospices and observed how they operated and their daily activities. Sreyashi’s first day at Pradip, broke her apart. She was speechless to see the plight of the students. The children never saw sympathy in her eyes for them. All that she does, she motivates them; she lets them know that they are the best and can do anything. She made them realize the importance of who they are in this world. They offer various therapies to develop their skills; mostly they work upon the socialization and communication skills so that the children can easily get mixed with the crowd outside in the society without feeling left out.

Dr. Manas Kumar Roy  

Dr. Manas, is an accomplished oncosurgeon and currently the Consultant surgeon at the Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata. Dr. Roy has been committed to the cause of cancer control and hence a driving force at the Cancer Foundation of India (CFI). He has been a life member of CFI since May 2003 and has contributed immensely in shaping the cancer control efforts. Since 2008 he has been the honorary Treasurer of CFI and continues to hold the post due to his commitment to the cause. Dr. Roy is a graduate and MS (Surgery) of Banaras Hindu University and obtained FRCS (Edinburgh and Glasgow) in 1994 followed by MCh from University of Wales, Cardiff in 2005.

Mr. Prodipta Saha  

Prodipta Saha is a Kolkata-based designer and event organizer. He is currently the CEO of Calcutta Yellow Pages. Mr. Saha has been associated with CFI as a volunteer since 2004 when he designed the first organizational brochures and henceforth continued to design for CFI. While doing that he involved himself in CFI’s community activities. In 2013 he extended his association by developing the unique public campaign to curb public smoking as Smoke-free Puja awards which rewards the Durga Puja that maintains a surrounding devoid of tobacco smoke. He has taken it upon himself to create awareness on passive smoking in Kolkata through the Puja campaign and scaled up the campaign in 2014 and beyond.

Md. Allauddin Sheikh  

Md. Allauddin started his earnings as waste worker at a tender age of 13, when his father migrated from Bangladesh in search of livelihood and finally took refuge in Kolkata. Alluaddin grew up in the lanes of Kolkata and waste dumps by rag picking all day along with his mother. However, he was enterprising and always dreamt to overcome his suffocating poverty and sufferings. He developed an informal network of waste workers by which he could make better earnings for himself and his co- workers by not falling prey in the hand of mid-agents. However, this still didn’t give him a breakthrough for what he desired. He never craved for big money; mostly he desired was respect and recognition. In year 2011, he joined SAFE’s Solid Waste Management Program titled, “Resolve Trash2Cash’, and received training from SAFE, currently he is leading the waste segregation at source campaign in the offices of Kolkata and carrying out the mammoth task of waste collection and disposal operations effectively. He handles 3000-4000 kg of waste per day and has volunteered to train other 35 unemployed youth from slums of Kolkata who are efficiently carrying out the waste management program in the city. He also meticulously supervises that the waste is properly disposed at respective recycling units which immensely contributes in saving the environment. The project ‘Resolve Trash2Cash has received 2014 UNFCCC Momentum for Change, Lighthouse Activity Award.

Mr. Abhijit Sarkar  

Abhijit is a graduate and joined SAFE as a volunteer in year 2010. He started volunteering by organizing community meets in the grassroots and within a year his unknown leadership skills unveiled as he continued to give method to the dynamism of hundreds of poor youth in rural communities and slums. Currently, he is leading the project, “Vertical Greens in Urban Environments as Career Corridors for the Disadvantaged Youth”, and has successfully united the near extinct nursery communities of Kolkata, main challenges were that changing climate has an adverse impact on nurseries and for past few years the demand for plants have dropped considerably making the nursery communities most vulnerable. Under his able leadership hundreds of youth who were drifting and migrating received skill development training on ‘urban gardening’ and ‘vertical gardens’ and now has developed skilled entrepreneurial groups that directly caters to the market demand for urban gardening and vertical gardens. He continues to create win win situation by creating enhanced livelihood opportunities for youth and reducing the urban heat island effect in the cities. He has pioneered in organizing the poor youth creating new environmental leaders. His intense environmental leadership demonstrates tremendous courage in carrying through the innovation of vertical greens that is steadily making a sustained difference. In year 2013, SAFE received UN Habitat Award for Vertical Greens project.

Ms. Shikha Karmakar   

Shikha joined New Light in 2007. Shikha has surfaced as a HIV survivor and winner. She lost her husband to the same disease. Inspite of her own illness she has brought up her son single handedly who is now pursuing his higher education. Shikha helps others in her community with their ration and health check up at New Light. Shikha also helps in creating awareness on the importance of medicine and nutrition to those infected with the same. She has taken up the challenge to live her life as any other person. Her faith in herself and hope has inspired many in similar circumstances to live with dignity and respect. She is truly a hero in her own right to stand up and face the world and live with great fortitude. We salute her!

Smt. Aparna Sinha  

Smt. Aparna Sinhais the oldest employee of Jana Shiksha Prachar Kendra in urban areas successfully managing different children projects since 1993 to 31st March, 2011 she shouldered the Integrated Programme for Street children running 10 centres with more or less 500 children from the Jhupries beside the streets and poor slum dwellers providing them education, nutrition, counseling, health care, recreation & cultural development with funds received from the Govt. of India. During this period the NGO admitted about 2000 children in formal schools with coaching support to arrest dropout. She also supervised the medical centres and skill up-gradation training programme under the project. In skill upgradation training centres mainly the girls of red light area were trained in different occupations to enable them to stand on their feet eschewing mother’s professions.

Shri. Sukumar Pal   

After passing Madhyamik Examination, Sri. Sukumar Pal responded to the call of the Secretary, JPK to eradicate illiteracy from among the poor villagers. He successfully carried out the duties even bringing the students visiting their houses repeatedly. He joined as a tutor of Birpur Sabarpara Centre in 1976. It was not easy then to bring the out of school villagers to adult education centres. Observing the caliber to run the centre successfully the Secretary gave him the charge of setting up the centres at Baganda, Santalpara, Baganda South Santalpara etc. He was also given the duty of looking after the child welfare centres opened in collaboration with NORAD & RED BARNA where children were brought up with normal course of development under the care of two mistresses and one helper. Observing the ability to run a programme successfully, Secretary entrusted him with the charge of running Poultry Farming in villages among the poor people, pisciculture and agriculture in JPK –owned ponds and land to augment the funds of the NGO. In addition to his official work he is responsible for any internal and outside work relating to rural infrastructure at Baganda. After opening of shelter Homes like Short Stay home, Old Age Home, J.J. Act Home, Swadhar Home& Cottage Home within the infrastructure of the NGO at Bagandathe running of the same is much dependent on him. In addition to his normal duties in office he is responsible for any emergency work both internal and outside relating to rural infrastructure. Looking after any sort of internal duties like routine cleanliness of the entire infrastructure, repair job involving masonry or electrical done by outside workers, daily marketing to feed the inmates, arranging hospitalization in critical cases of any inmates at any time even at mid night and sundry others. In sort in the absence of this one man the rural infrastructure will come to a halt.

Mr. Anthony Das   

Anthony has been working in restoring the lost childhood of hundreds of working children who have been migrated from neighboring district and states and are forced to work in the leather industries in and around the slums of eastern part of Kolkata. The children are provided basic education and have been mainstreamed into regular schools.

Mr. Prakash Selvaraj   

With his effervescent ideas and indomitable spirit Prakash has been associated with Bhumi since 2006 as a part of the community development and English programmes, and has played a vital role in diversifying the organization’s efforts beyond education. He ideated and led the execution of Bhumi’s first inter-orphanage talent festival in 2009. The event has now transformed into Nakshatra, one of the largest of its kind, national festivals for identifying talent in arts and sports, benefitting several thousand children living in shelter homes each year. He was also instrumental in starting the Nakshatra Reach Out programme for children in shelter homes that nurtures the discovered talent through the year. He is a role model for his sportive nature, perseverance, leadership and has made immense contributions in shaping Bhumi’s volunteer focused processes. He continues to volunteer for the organization in various capacities helping Bhumi scale new heights and touch more lives.

Mohammed Shafkat Alam  

Shafkat Alam comes from a family where social work is a daily life affair. He has been engaged in teaching underprivileged children once a week since his early childhood. After graduating from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, he went on to pursue his Master’s in Human Rights. He has represented his state in South Asian Student Leader Conference which was held in 2005 organized by US Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal. He has also represented India in Misereor Lenten Campaign in many parts of Germany in 2012. He was also selected in the prestigious Women Deliver Conference (a reputed women rights organization) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2013. Shafkat has worked as an advisor in the Sponsorship project supported by AIDOS in Tiljala SHED and an assistant in US Government project in Tiljala SHED. He is currently the chief strategist for fundraising activities of the organization. In 2014, he was selected for representing India and Tiljala Shed in launching of the Girl Declaration (HeforShe campaign) in Rome, Italy organized by AIDOS and the Italian Parliament. His vision is to alleviate poverty in an effective manner that fosters hopelessness for the future, instil a vision for the deprived.

Ms. Guna Selvi Amma 

PAPCP Karmaveer Chakra for Caring For Others

Ms. Guna Selvi Amma aged 64 yrs is a resident of Bangalore and started going to PAPCP from January 2013 to accompany her sister’s son for rehabilitation. She does not only what is assigned to her as her job but also does anything & everything that needs to be done, on her own without prompting. She helps in moving the wheelchair of boys and girls, assists in feeding the children and even does the washing of cups and saucers. She was adjudged as the Best Caregiver and was awarded with the PAPCP Meritorious Award Trophy in December 14. She is very pleasant and dynamic.

Sri. Chethan Sharma   

PAPCP Karmaveer Chakra for Caring For Others

Chethan, aged 30 years is a student of PAPCP for the past 2 ½ years. He is fluent in Kannada, Hindi and Telugu and can read & write English. He is trained in computer Data entry on MS Word, Excel and customized software. He is also trained in back office work and in making different types of newspaper bags. During the course of stay with PAPCP, he was found sincere, honest and of helping nature. He assisted voluntarily to wheelchair boys and girls in their movement in the Center without hesitation and did all the assigned jobs to satisfaction. PAPCP Merit Award was also given to him in December 2014 for being the Best Volunteer. He is independent and mobile today. PAPCP has no hesitation in recommending Chethan Sharma in any repetitive job/ collection/ delivery job.

Ms. Geeta Sahai   

Dhoon Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Parents of Special Children for Creating Awareness about the Therapeutic Effect of Music and Dance

Geeta is a writer, documentary film maker and a radio professional. Her short stories have won international awards. She has been working in the field of Mental Health, particularly Special Children, since last 10 years. She began a media campaign by starting a weekly show on Special Children, particularly the problems faced by the parents of a special girl child on FOCUS TV. She has been continuously writing articles and making documentary films on Special children. In 2012 she received an international Scholarship to make a documentary film on ‘Changemaker – profiling the life, times and work of a change maker in the area of Special Children.’ In near future she hopes to bring out a book on her journey, experiences and achievements of Special Children.

Ms. Madhureeta Anand   

Dhoon Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Parents of Special Children for Creating Awareness about the Therapeutic Effect of Music and Dance

An independent filmmaker; she goes between documentary filmmaking and directing narrative feature films. Extremely prolific, she has directed two feature films, written five feature films, directed many documentary films and series, spanning an array of genres. Her documentary films have been telecasted on international channels such as BBC, Channel 4, Discovery and National Geographic. Many of her films have won national and international awards. Madhureeta’s second feature film is titled “Kajarya”, premiered at The Dubai International Film Festival. Madhureeta founded and is the festival director of the only Digital Film Festival in the country; the 0110 Digital Film Festival. In 2006, she was awarded with the Silver Conch at the Mumbai International Film Festival for her film ‘Walking on a Moonbeam’.

Mr. Dinesh Dayal   

The Dipsites Association Karmaveer Chakra for Alumnus Taking the Most Significant Social Initiative

Dinesh Dayal MBA '84, is Chief Operating Officer at L’Oreal in Mumbai. Dinesh has been working at L’Oreal for 21 years, since his graduation from INSEAD. He has been based in France, Thailand and now India. Choosing to take an MBA at INSEAD in particular he preferred the European alternative to the stereotype of Indians going to the US as he was looking for a complete “life” experience and not merely a business education. As Alumnus of DPS Mathura Rd. he has contributed richly to the DPS Alumni Association by encouraging the Western India Chapter, Mumbai of the DPS Alumni association to grow to 250 in a short period of time. Heading the INSEAD National Alumni Association based in Mumbai, the regional representatives being developed in Delhi and Bangalore under his guidance. He completed his college from St. Stephens, Delhi University in 1979. His hobbies include snorkelling and off road motor biking.

Mr. Vipul Sachdev  

The Dipsites Association Karmaveer Chakra for Alumnus Taking the Most Significant Social Initiative

Vipul Sachdev is an alumnus of DPS Mathura Rd., 1977. He is the CEO and Managing Director of Zara International - a leading ferrous and non ferrous metal manufacturer and supplier globally. He has faithfully attended the Alumni events over last 30 years and spearheaded many eg. blood donation camps, tree planting, sports day and annual dinners. He has been a key contributor in building an effective service to the ever increasing DPS alumni - helping them effectively network and improve careers. He has made significant investment of his time in service to the first ever Career Growth Workshop with alumni from around the globe sharing their experience with DPS students at High School level, ‘the element of personal discovery’, truths about capacity for achievement, balance, and fulfilment, in some defined professional areas. He is also leading the initiative to include alumni from 140 plus DPS schools into the Alumni Association. He is a global traveller, and enjoys playing the violin.

Mr. Rajat Tandon   

The Dipsites Association Karmaveer Chakra for Young Samaritan Alumnus’ (Under 50 years of age)

Rajat is an alumnus of DPS Mathura Rd., 1987. He graduated from Hansraj College, Delhi University in 1990 and is now Associate Director at Investors Clinic, Noida, a premier real estate consulting organization with more than 75000 satisfied customers. His contribution to the DPS Alumni Association has been outstanding, including his key contribution being cosponsoring DPS Alumni events and assisting in strengthening the association team. He has given personal time and attention in encouraging alumni from 140 DPS schools in India and overseas to join in, helping the association expand the profile. He has spearheaded reformatting the Annual DPS alumni dinner event wherein versatile, eloquent, charming, mesmerizing Dipsite musicians, singers, performers, dancers, comics, ventriloquists & Puppeteers entertain us. This becomes an opportunity for young Dipsites to showcase their passion, aspirations, talent. Henceforth this will be a Melodious Musical Extravaganza celebrating the spirit of excellence and this will form the theme of the evening bringing together various age-groups. He has been a National level skating champion and is extremely regular in his visits to the gym.

Mr. Rajesh Chugh   

The Dipsites Association Karmaveer Chakra for Young Samaritan Alumnus’ (Under 50 years of age)

Mr. Chugh is an alumnus of DPS Mathura Rd. and Bhagat Singh College of Commerce, Delhi University. He completed LLB, and then switched careers into Food production and service, now heading the famous family venture M/S NIZAM'S KATHI KABAB, a multi unit restaurants chain with a 7 city footprint in India. The success of the first Career Growth Workshop at DPS, Sector 45, Gurgaon in 2014 is a testament to his relentless dedication, commitment and outstanding service to the initiative. 25 Dipsites got together to provide an illuminating inside into the journey of their careers including three beamed in via video conferencing from Tokyo, USA and Dubai. In a world buzzing with endless advice on which career to choose, what to do after school, this Workshop created a quiet space where High School DPS students can hear senior Dipsites about their journey; and begin to think differently. He has been a National level Swimmer, having participated and excelled in various competitive aquatics events.

Mr. Rakesh J Dashpute   

Omashram Karmaveer Chakra for Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker

Rakesh, born and brought up in Maharashtra, is a Software Engineer, Yoga Consultant and Social Worker. For the past 15 years, Rakesh has done more than 27 Certifications in Yoga from reputed institutes such as Yog Vidhya Dham, Kaivalayadham, Pune University, BKS Iyengar, Bihar School of Yoga, etc. He has done M.Sc. in Yoga from Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (Svyasa) Yoga University, Bangalore. He has also done M.S (Computer Science) from Pune University. He is certified PLR (Past Life Regression) Therapist. Currently he is pursing Ph.D. in Yoga. He started doing Yoga at the age of 13. He has been practicing Yoga asana, Pranayama and Dhyana for the past 20 years. He taught around 1000+ people in last 15 + years and also conducted Yoga training for corporate such as Intel, Wipro, Uniworld, IBM, Infosys, AUDI, etc. He bagged lot of awards in the field of study and yoga. Rakesh has written several articles on this subject in various magazines and journals. He started his social work at the age of 15 by teaching underprivileged children for free and he is able to touch lives of almost 1000 of needy children, old aged people and disabled. He planted 10,000 trees in last ten year and plans to plant another 100,000 trees in next five years.

Mr. Ajay Mittal   

Rice Bucket Challenge Karmaveer Chakra for Ideas Bucket Challenge

Ajay Mittal has started the #15From2015Challenge for blood donation in his hometown Kolkata on the first Sunday of 2015. A budding social activist who also runs an educational consultancy start-up says that his #15From2015Challenge seeks to create awareness and actively engage the youth to become regular voluntary blood donors to bridge the supply-demand gap in India. “India has an estimated annual shortfall of 30 lakh units of blood. All it takes is 15 minutes of one’s time in 2015 and this little noble act can save lives. When I did my first blood donation, it felt like I was gifting life to someone. I felt that this act helped me transfer life force into someone somewhere in need.” So far, he has motivated 90 people to donate so far. He uses Facebook and his own network to spread the message.

Mr. Akshay Gunteti   

Rice Bucket Challenge Karmaveer Chakra for Ideas Bucket Challenge

Akshay Gunteti, an entrepreneur from Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh, is into building a clean and green India through a national organization which will have volunteers in every city. He says “Our volunteers will go in and around their city to check for public places which are unhygienic. They will click pictures, shoot videos and estimate cost to clean that area. Our core team will collect data from volunteers and the upload the info in our portal. Corporate and individual contributors across the country will then select any area of their choice and pay through online/ offline modes. Our volunteers will go to the area, clean it and use the funds collected for painting, arranging benches, a small garden, etc. After the work is done, that place will be named after the contributors. This will ensure places are cleaned and credit goes to volunteers and contributors.” He has begun this initiative online by launching a Facebook page in January 2015.

Sheikh Altaf Hussain  

CEEO Karmaveer Chakra for Social Work

Sheikh Altaf Hussain, a dedicated social worker and founder of (CEEO) Cultural Educational and Environmental Organization (NGO) which works in Jammu and Kashmir State including Ladakh and Kargil region. His main aim is towards strengthening the roots of national integration and communal harmony in the state. It is his hard work that connects nearly about 15,000 volunteers and 32 District coordinators across the state working voluntarily for the organization. His main activities are Free Education, Women Empowerment, Ladies First, Computer Must, Go Green with CEEO, Skill Training, TB care and Control awareness, Condensed course for women, Art, Music and Theatre Training.

Mr. Mujeeb Ali   

CEEO Karmaveer Chakra for Women Empowerment

A young Graduate from University of Delhi, working voluntarily for people in Jammu and Kashmir state, especially connecting with youth, who are willing to study and earn their livelihood. He is hardly in his 20’s, believing to change the picture of Kashmir division of state by making youth to utilize their capabilities. Carrying everyday activities like awareness programs, community meetings and opening up of skill centers for women and much more. The main aim of his life is to connect people with natural resources with a sense of sustainable development. The main concern is to utilize technology and innovate something new for the empowerment of people, he believes in schooling, where environment would be an ideological teacher rather to mug up the facts, a human being should understand the philosophy and could share the human values throughout the world. The main aim is to empower people of Jammu and Kashmir State both socially and economically. His battle is continuing in reforming the state.

Mr. Chandramani V. Yadav   

PAWS – Mumbai iCONGO Karmaveer Chakra for Animal Welfare and Environment Protection

Chandramani from Mumbai is a coaching class teacher and an animal lover, associated with Plant & Animals Welfare Society - Mumbai (PAWS-Mumbai) as rescue team member since 2002, taking active part in animal welfare activities like feeding strays; rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife; taking part in first aid and vaccination camp for stray; collecting documents under Right to Information - RTI regarding animals and environment issues; Inspecting Zoo's and Circus. He is Hon. Animal Welfare Officer of Animal Welfare Board of India - AWBI, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India and Committee to Monitor Animal Welfare Laws in Maharashtra, Appointed by Hon. Bombay High Court. He is also a volunteer of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau - WCCB. He is also the Founder and Secretary of Parivartan Pratishthan, a registered organization working for Social, Educational, Health, Medical, Sports in Mumbai.

Ms. Farhana Saifi   

Aseem Asha Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Creating Social Change through the Medium of Art

Farhana lives in Okhla slums of Delhi. She is a student of class 12th and has been making Tagore’s reproductions for last couple of years. She is busy in making a series of PICTORIAL CALLIGRAPHS telling the stories of the heroines of Tagore and plans to exhibit her work in Delhi on the death anniversary of Tagore this year. She has made a calligraph which shows the life of DAMINI from the story of CHATURANGA. Farhana tries to show the temperament and moods of Damini. She also catches the details of her desires and frustration through this pictorial calligraph. She also experiments in Surrealisitic style by making a huge hand with huge fingers like dancing fire. She has created and documented Sufi and Tagore stories through her creative style of painting to bring social change. She has also painted the female characters of films by eminent film director Mr. Shyam Benegal after watching his famous women oriented films. She leads the art group and inspires other girls from their community to bring social change through arts.

Ms. Adeeba Saifi   

Aseem Asha Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Creating Social Change through the Medium of Art

Adeeba lives in Okhla slums of Delhi. She is a student of class 10th and has been making Tagore’s reproductions for last couple of years. Adeeba shows story of a woman whose name is KUMUDNI from ‘JOGA-JOG’ written by Rabindranath Tagore. Her pictorial calligraph shows a clash between two antipodal concepts of marital love & sex as represented by an affluent, Madhusudan and a very sophisticated, refined and sensitive 19 year old woman - KUMUDNI who firmly believes in Hindu ideals of womanhood and traditional concepts of wifehood. Adeeba boldly chooses very vibrant but sophisticated colors to show the mood and temperament of KUMUDNI. Her approach and tones are feminist because she also relates to the stories of Tagore with their surrounding which is male dominated and patriarchal in nature. Adeeba has created and documented Sufi and Tagore stories through her creative style of painting to bring social change. She has also painted the female characters of films by eminent film director Mr. Shyam Benegal after watching his famous women oriented films. She leads the art group and inspires other girls from their community to bring social change through arts.

Ms. Kiran Rai   

Aseem Asha Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Bringing Social Change through Media

Kiran has been a regular anchor presenter of Aseem Asha Foundation’s 20 UDAAN COMMUNITY FILM FESTIVALS. She has been the assistant producers of many short films produced by Flying Birds of India and Aseem Asha Foundation. She has inspired several girls from Muslim Community in spite of being a Non Muslim. She is a good example of Communal Harmony. She encouraged many young students from community to study further and regularly counseled them. After getting a full time job she has been helping in her own way to some of the neediest students of the Aseem Asha Foundation.

Mr. Aviral Joshi   

Aseem Asha Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Bringing Social Change through Media

Aviral is pursuing BJMC from IP University. His journey through these 1.5 years has been a great experience that has brought a sense of self confidence in his life. It commenced with "HOLY WATER" where he met a wonderful person Mr. Aseem Asha at St, Mary's School, Dwarka in a film making workshop who has been his inspiration of getting into Film Making . The movie was about water problems of Dwarka where they went to religious leaders and requested them to guide the devotees not to waste water. Then he got admission to IP University and took an initiative of making his production house "The Artist Enclave" which has been followed and subscribed by few people on Facebook and Youtube. He also made few movies on some social issues like respecting differently abled citizens, Swach Bharat Abhiyan, Anti Ragging, obeying traffic rules, etc.

Ms. Samedhika Datt   

Aseem Asha Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Youth Empowerment

Samedhika was born and brought up in Delhi and her schooling was from Welham Girl’s School, Dehradun. She came to know about the social problems while studying with some girls on special scholarships from marginalized communities of Dehradun. She worked with Flying Birds of India team of Aseem Asha Foundation for couple of days and learned the art of making short films. She visited slum communities while shooting for her films in Delhi and got an opportunity to understand the problems of urban slums closely. She was determined to make her career in Media to bring social change and to empower the youth especially women from socially, economically, educationally marginalized communities. After filming the problems of urban slum & mainstream communities, she applied to study film and production overseas. Fortunately she got a chance to study 3 years under graduate course of film production in Brighton University in UK last year.

Mr. Shoaib Kureshi

Aseem Asha Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Youth Empowerment

A workshop helped him find a part time job at YMCA center as Choreography instructor. He has been running a dance studio in the heart of Savda Ghevra for last couple of years. Girls and boys both are learning different kinds of dances under his guidance in spite of facing challenges from conservative community.

Mrs. Vanaja

NFED Karmaveer Chakra for Women Empowerment

Mrs. Vanaja is a family counselor at Thiruvallur Women Special Family Court and adolescent girls of Juvenile Home run by Child Welfare Community, Thiruvallur. She has worked as a practicing counselor since 2002. Her background is in the area of solution-focused counselling and family therapy, as well as de-addiction of affected women. In her illustrious 12 years of career as a counselor, she has counseled hundreds of adolescent girls and women from the juvenile homes and prisons to lead a transformed life and brought them to a path of recovery from stress and low self-esteem. She has boosted self-confidence, guided in goal setting and future aspiration. She has helped them out of suicidal thoughts/suicidal attempts, loneliness and withdrawal syndrome. Just to name a few, she is involved with IRCDS (Integral Rural Community development service) in tie up with TN Social Welfare Department & TN District Child Protection Office that deals with reconciliation of split families, dowry harassment and domestic violence cases referred by Collectorate; All Women Police Station referred cases with Family conflicts, maladjustment with in-laws, illicit relationship and broken family with extra-marital affairs, chemical dependant/ addiction affected broken families; Thiruvallur Women Special Family Court and Puzhal jail. She has MPhil (Psychology), MSc (Guidance & Counseling), MSW, and BA (Psychology).

Prof. R. Rajan

NFED Karmaveer Chakra for Community Development

Rajan is an Industry Professional with an overall experience of 24 years from a wider cross section of industries such as Manufacturing, Networking, BPO, KPO, Software Development, Software Testing, IT Networking, SAP, Consulting and Health Care. He is currently working as a Chief Technology Officer for M/s Cura Health Care Pvt Ltd, a company focused on Designing, Manufacturing, Supply, Installation and Servicing of Medical Devices, located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His positions include Chief Executive Officer at Cherrytec Intelisolve Ltd wherein he managed the entire Business for Indian Operations and Middle East with SAP, IT Infra and IT GRC practices. He was with Thinksoft Global Services Ltd, a Software Testing Organization for Banking and Financial Services Industry wherein he played multiple roles as Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Data Privacy Officer, Head of Process Engineering, Head of Training and Compliance & Audit Management. He has taken the organization to the highest level of IT Infrastructure and information security Maturity levels. He has then worked as Chief Technology Officer and Process Head for Apcom Group of companies where in he has managed the entire Technology portfolio of all the four companies under the umbrella. He was a Strategic Business Unit Head in TVS Group of companies, wherein he has managed the entire defense & white goods segment with an overall P&L responsibility.

Mr. S. Ramachandran

NFED Karmaveer Chakra for Community Development

Poet Sura has a teaching experience of over 14 years. He is the editor of ‘Desiyam’ a monthly magazine for past two years and ‘Desiya Valimai’ since eight years. He is the founder of “Senthamil Trust. He keeps on donating books the government schools and libraries. He actively participates in the blood donation camps. He has several publications by his name. He also gives stage performances and participates in TV programs.

Ms. Shobha Reddy

Marg Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Volunteers Doing Exemplary Work in Spreading Smiles

For the last several years Shobha has been actively associated with the activities of the Orphan children oganised by Marg Foundation. At the same time she is happy that she is able to give back something to the society. She is actually a Nutritionist but could not take up a full time job due to family responsibilities. She was happy to cater to the needs of her Children and Family and involving herself in family business. But the urge to do something for the children, especially orphans was so strong that Marg happened to her at the right time. To give her Time, Energy, Resources for the less privileged and in return she has evolved as a better person. Being the mom of 3 children has indeed guided her in structuring, sharing, organizing the events for these wonderfully talented children. She is happy to say that she is at the forefront of all these activities involving children and elders and her humble request to everyone is to give some time to the orphan gems as they really are valuable to us.

Mr. Taashif Iraib

Marg Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Volunteers Doing Exemplary Work in Spreading Smiles

Taashif is a mechanical engineer and is preparing for IAS exam. He has been associated with Marg Foundation, speeding smiles from 2008 and has had a wonderful experience. He was working as a volunteer for the spreading smiles since he was doing his Engineering. He feels privileged to be a part of the spreading smiles to the orphan and unbelonged children. Sharing their experiences has taught him a lot and is always thankful for the blessings he get from them.

Dr. Lakshmi Mohan

D.O.R.A.I. Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Educational Institution with Social Consciousness

Dr. Lakshmi Mohan, Deputy Director of Institute of Technology and Management, Chennai has been a very strong supporter of Student Sensitization programs initiated by D.O.R.A.I. Foundation. She is a strong willed lady who has acted upon effectively inculcating the acumen of social consciousness and social change amongst the B-school fraternity. D.O.R.A.I. Foundation is happy and proud to confer the Award upon Lakshmi Mohan from the educational sector to be a standing example of what a positive being ought to be!

Mr. Fairoz Malla

D.O.R.A.I. Foundation Karmaveer Chakra for Outstanding Service in the Face of Natural Disaster

Fairoz Malla, a mental health professional who looks at people beyond the lens of just a Psychologist. He is an effective communicator during crisis situations that arise out of conflicts. A very Concerned Counselor in times of Rescue and Relief Operations during the Natural Calamity - Disaster Management Program. It’s a great support to have someone as dedicated as him in the Valley to ensure productive and fruitful completion of all endeavors of D.O.R.A.I. Foundation. D.O.R.A.I. Foundation is proud to confer the Award upon Fairoz Malla for his selfless contribution in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Ms. Vaishnavi Srinivasan

Bhumi Karmaveer Chakra Award

Passionate about education of children and the environment, Vaishnavi was one of the first volunteers to join Bhumi as early as 2007. She has always put organizational requirements over personal preferences and made immense contributions to the development of almost every project in Bhumi. She started off as a coordinator in the Computer education programme, moved on to establish the English programme, initiate the environment project and support the Mathematics programme over the next few years. She has also been constantly supporting Bhumi’s other projects like Joy to the World, Nakshatra and bring smiles in various capacities. Since 2012, she has been volunteering full-time, enthusiastically contributing to every aspect of the organization from volunteer orientations, finance and public relations to the most mundane administrative tasks. She has been an evergreen inspiration to fellow volunteers for her dedication and contribution in making Bhumi one of India's largest volunteering organizations.

Mr. Raju Mondal

New Light Karmaveer Chakra Award

Raju joined New Light in 2002 as a Teacher. He is a dedicated and committed worker for New Light. His positive energy and enthusiasm makes a difference to the children of the centre and puts a smile on their face. He looks for ways to help the community with great enthusiasm. He is a dependable worker and manages to adjust his life whenever unexpected situation arises. He adjusts well to changes in the work place. Raju has good organizational skills and manages to get work done on time. Over the years he has taken on additional responsibility like the Annual Sports and Greeting Card sale of New Light. Raju is ever willing to help not only the children but also his co-workers and seniors. He is an asset to New Light!