Civil Society Education, Health and Empowerment KVP
Dr.Chandrasekhar Sanskurathi
At a young age of 42, Dr. Sankurathari lost his wife, daughter and son in a terrorist act of bombing a plane. Following the incident, he has reconciled to the fate imposed on him and dedicated the rest of his life in making a difference in the lives of poor and downtrodden by providing them access to education and health. He established the Manjari Sankurathri Memorial Foundation, a registered charity in Canada, in 1989 in memory of his deceased wife and the Sankurathri Foundation in India in 1989 in order to improve the quality of life of needy people in the rural and remote areas of Andhra Pradesh. He plans, executes and supervises all the activities on the site. He has managed several international projects dealing with children's education and eye care in the region. In 1992, he established Sarada Vidyalayam in his daughter's name, a high school to provide free education for rural poor children. Later in 1993, in the name of his son, he established Srikiran Institute of Ophthalmology, a comprehensive eye care facility with world-class standards to provide quality eye care with compassion to the poor. Through his organizations, he has made quality education and healthcare accessible, affordable and equitable to all. He has received many awards in Canada and USA for conducting humanitarian work. He has been named as Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of USA which is a special distinction given to a non-Rotarian. In 2008, he was selected as CNN Hero by CNN International and is the first Indian to receive the honor. Despite his extraordinary achievements, he is very humble and wants to accomplish more.
Civil Society Education, Health and Empowerment KVP
Mr.Suresh Chand Gupta
Suresh Chand Gupta, along with a committed team, started Gram Vikas Samiti Anvarpur in 1988.The Samiti undertook many programmes for village development, focussing on five main issues-Shiksha, Sanskar, Swastha, Swawalamban and Suraksha. The Samiti is running primary schools(till Class 8th) in eleven villages and presently 3264 students from 34 villages are benefitting from these schools. They have also set up Computer centres in many schools. Swami Vivekanand Bal Pustkalya has been set up in 60 villages to cultivate reading habit in children. With a focus on improving health, the Samiti has set up Kiran Devi Lala Mansharam Charitable Hospital" to provide healthcare to the rural poor. In association with Vardan Eye Hospital, they have facilitated 1545 Cataract surgeries. To empower the rural community, latest farming technology and related information is being made available to the farmers with the help of Agriculture Research Centre, Pusa Institute, New Delhi and Potato Research centre, Meerut. They have also founded Saraswati Gramodyog Sansthan to train the unemployed village youth and an I.T.I. is being set up at Faridnagar, under guardianship of Harnamal Chhajjumal Trust. The Samiti is also involved in various other activities such as tree plantation, handicapped aid etc. They are also doing the needful to empower rural poor to avail government schemes such as B.P.L. Ration cards, widow and old age pension etc. As a social worker, Mr. S.C Gupta feels that it is an offence if an individual or a community is deprived of all facilities and benefits provided by the state. It is a duty of aware and educated citizens of country to extend a helping hand in creating a just and equitable society.
Civil Society Social Entrepreneurship/Transformation KVP
Mr. Mahesh Bora
Mahesh Bora, along with Nisha Bora, started Elrhino in 2011 as a response to conserve nature and create employment for rural youth from the fringe villages of the Kaziranga, Pobitora and Manas National Parks in Assam, which are habitats of rhinos and elephants. He started Elrhino with his personal savings but now has partial support from Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme. Elrhino is the only recorded seamless wildlife conservation-linked waste recycling project built around the one horned rhino. It uses locally available natural waste, non-traditional raw material like elephant and rhino dung and Assam's traditional Muga and Eri silk to make paper. Further, handmade paper is converted into products by `local artisans, who mostly are rural female home-based entrepreneurs. The products are then sold to a young online shopping community with a very strong emphasis on the rhino and elephant conservation story. Mahesh handles the training of rural youth in making paper and products, ensuring their skill development and enhancing their employability & earning capacity. Mahesh is now aided by several people in his work for sustaining the environment and preserving forests. He has also been working to encourage and promote the development of responsible and sustainable tourism in Eastern Himalayan Region. He assists local entrepreneurs and communities in tourist destinations to play a positive role in and derive adequate benefits from sustainable tourism. He has set up a community tourism village and a stadium in Hilodhari Village in Dibrugarh, Assam with financial assistance from the District Administration. Mahesh Bora has also been actively associated with Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), where he renders his voluntary service as a mentor, providing assistance and guidance to young entrepreneurs.
Civil Society Social Entrepreneurship/Transformation KVP
Ms. Nisha Bora
A sociologist by education and a market researcher by profession, with a corporate career spanning 15 years, Nisha Bora was continuously searching for a constructive way to channelize her skill set and energy. In 2011, she stepped off the path of a full time corporate role, and adopted the role of a change maker. She, along with her father Mahesh Bora, started Elrhino in 2011 as a response to conserve nature and create employment for rural youth in Assam from the fringe villages of the Kaziranga, Pobitora and Manas National Parks, which are habitats of rhinos and elephants and of tourist importance. Elrhino uses locally available natural waste, non-traditional raw material like elephant and rhino dung and Assam's traditional Muga and Eri silk to make paper, for which no known methods exist. Further, handmade paper is converted into products by local artisans who mostly happen to be rural female home based entrepreneurs. As the Dream Seller at Elrhino, Nisha Bora's role is to turn an idea into a sustainable business that is owned and grown organically within a consumer and local stakeholder community. Her key task involves advocacy among local community members, stakeholders etc. through social media, field visits and so on, business modelling and vision navigation. Elrhino is a development project with a commercial goal as a means to delivering social impact. This sort of unique project challenges existing norms, rewriting definitions and overcoming several strong and tall walls of skepticism and initiates hostility, which is one of the major challenges that Nisha has to face. Elrhino is the only recorded seamless wildlife conservation-linked waste recycling project built around the one horned rhino.
Civil Society Anti Trafficking KVP
Ms. Tinku Khanna
Tinku Khanna has done her masters in Sociology, with a specialization in Criminology. Her extensive knowledge in Women's Studies has led her to understand the structural inequalities and the politico-ideological processes of our society and gave her a unique perspective on social activism. Since her days as an under- graduate student in Presidency College, Tinku has been involved in diverse activities like freelance writing, social research for various organizations, media work and many others. For the last ten years, she has been working as an NGO-activist, with women survivors of trafficking and prostitution and has primarily focused on formulating policies and methods which would problematize and challenge the economic and gendered basis of an institution like prostitution itself. She has participated in "rescue' activities in brothels in the Bengal-Bihar border and has worked systematically and on a long-term basis with extremely marginalized social groups like Nutts and Bediyas.She realized the importance of forming support groups for these women and has been working with the survivors of inter-generational prostitution in the Bengal-Bihar border on the socio-ideological logistics and technicalities of forming a woman's group. Recently, she has also begun to write about the problematics of such experiences and her articles are beginning to be published in established international journals. Tinku also has wide experience of working at rural level on water sanitation and social mobilization for key components in health and hygiene related behaviors in villages cut off by disaster. Her zest towards active participation in similar area has remained her driving force.
Civil Society Gender Issues KVP
Ms. Rashmi Anand
Rashmi Anand runs the 'Woman of the Elements Trust', which provides free legal aid to women and child victims of violence. Rashmi herself was a victim of domestic violence for 10 years and at the age of 35, she mustered up the courage to walk out, upon realising how the violent relationship was affecting her children. Today she works with issues of gender and domestic violence and has, over a period of 5 years, voluntarily counselled hundreds of women at the Crime against Women Cell of Delhi Police at Nanakpura as well as at a personal level. She provides lectures in schools and colleges and talks to students at the university level on human spirit, courage, choices and strength. She also talks and conducts sessions at corporate houses on decency, dignity and decorum, and the law at the workplace. Rashmi has written books of abundance, strength and joy, so that women may learn their own strengths and their duty towards themselves and lead their lives with their head held high. Rashmi writes books on issues related to women and violence, and these speak of psychology, society, norms and laws through case-studies of women she has counselled. Recipient of the CNN-IBN Zindagi Live award and Doordarshan's Woman Achiever award of Aadhi Abaadi, Baat Naari ki, the Bharat Excellence Award and the Karamyogi felicitation of the Chinmaya Mission, Rashmi has been covered by print media across the country. She has been on social awareness shows of NDTV's Salaam Zindagi, Doordarshan, CNN-IBN's Zindagi Live, Lok Sabha TV and Satyamev Jayate, amongst others. Rashmi believes that being a woman who has come through, she bears the responsibility to share the strength, courage, positivity and the sheer hope for the future that she has achieved.
