Women Empowerment
Ms. Mandira Srivastava
Mandira entered the world of healing and alternate therapies at the age of 32, some eighteen years ago, to help herself to find new meaning in life. She found Reiki and Transactional Analysis transformational and today uses them as the main tools for healing and empowerment. After working on changing herself and her life quite radically and positively, she entered extensive training programmes to enable herself to use these tools to help others. She lives in Goa, conducting Individual Intensive Work Retreats for those who want to work towards co-creating a better reality for themselves or those who simply want to enhance their beings and lives. Using a powerful blend of traditional healing systems and modern psycho-technology, she designs specialised individual workshops filled with music, dance, light, , conversation, meditation andsilence. Mandira thinks of life as a dance, with each person dancing to the beat of a different drummer and she is professionally present for those who wish to find their own unique rhythm and Awaken The Dance Within.
Civil Society KVP - Social Entrepreneurship/Transformation
Dr. Pradip Kumar Sarmah
Dr. Pradip Kumar Sarmah is the Founder of Rickshaw Bank - an innovative sustainable model fostering mobility, providing livelihood opportunities and right to dignity to the informal communities of rickshaw pullers. He also serves as a Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Rural Development. Dr Sarmah is a trained Veterinarian, a social activist and a thinker. In 1989, he joined as a Veterinary Surgeon and worked for three years with the Department of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Govt. of Assam. It was his direct field engagement with the village economy that shaped his outlook and eventually paved way to get closer to those situated at the bottom of the pyramid. He received the Ashoka Fellowship in India and has been hailed as a crusader for the marginalised people. He has also participated in many national and international dialogues, seminars, workshops, deliberations and continuously shared his experiences. Dr. Sarmah has been felicitated by the President of India Shri. Pranab Mukherjee for his endless contributions to society.
Corporate CEOs Initiative KVP
Mr. Ravi Chaudhry
Mr.Chaudhry is a leadership guru, a public intellectual and a mentor on ‘Responsible Leadership’ in business and society. He is the author of Quest for Exceptional Leadership: Mirage to Reality, which has been globally acclaimed as “the best book on leadership in years and a rare combination of sound business thinking and accessible philosophy.†He is a Fellow of World Business Academy - a network of global thought leaders shaping today's landscape. He emphasizes the imperative to acquire three new leadership traits of Wholeness, Compassion and Transparency that have become a pre-requisite for success hereafter. He blends history, scriptures and modernism to make a compelling case that the leaders today do not have the option to wait; they have to re-align themselves with the new realities now. He is working lentlessly to bring about a structural transformation so that leaders in civil society, business and government can synergize their efforts to work in sync with nature and societal expectations. He is the founder of CeNext Consulting Group, New Delhi. Prior to that, he was Chairman of four companies in the Tata Group. Presently he is writing his second book, on governing a nation with a structure that works. He is a much sought- after speaker on Morality and Ethics, Sustainable Equitable Growth, Corporate Governance and Innovation.
Corporate Executive Citizen KVP - Female
Ms. Yashashree Gurjar
Yashashree Gurjar is the CEO of Avantha Foundation and Vice President - Group CSR, for the Avantha Group. In a career spanning more than 25 years, she has worked with the Government, NGOs and Corporates. As one of the early entrants in the field of CSR, she has successfully demonstrated that ‘doing well’ and ‘doing good’ are not mutually exclusive and a well strategized CSR program can create long term value for business. Yashashree has conceptualized and executed sustainable programs on issues such as poverty alleviation through in come security, primary health, education and care and support for persons living with HIV, for some of the most marginalised communities across the country. As the CEO of the Avantha Foundation, she is presently focused on two critical issues, reducing malnourishment in children under 5 years through projects implemented in partnerships with NGOs and creating awareness on child malnourishment through sustained advocacy efforts with various stakeholders and improving democratic governance in small towns across India by engaging with elected representatives, administrators and citizens to develop their capacities. She is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of their Global Leadership Network.
Courage of Conviction KVP
Mr. Raju Koli
Raju Koli is visually challenged but is very sensitive towards the society. He is also very concerned about his individual social responsibility. He is a student doing his masters and also a volunteer at Esha- a non profit organisation working for the blind. He conducts theatre workshops which help in creating sensitivity to all kinds of disabilities and is very successful in creating this awareness. He extends academic help to other visually challenged students who are slow at learning. He also helps blind students in sports by providing them a platform to show their talent in sports. He motivates blind people to paint and draw and teaches them music and instruments. All these wonderful ideas he owes to his learning at Janta Adrash Blind School. He also conducts theatre workshop to non blind people to sensitize them towards the disabled.
Education Reformer Karmaveer Puraskaar
Dr. Yunus Sola
Dr. Yunus Sola is an expert in International Education and has established and led the Academy of Philanthropy- committed to improving the impact of philanthropy, social justice, equality, minority and human rights. The Academy is grounded across both policy change and individual giving for real change. He is dedicated to creating opportunities for those trapped in cycles of poverty and leads and mentors global young social entrepreneurs who are driven to improve their communities through poverty alleviation projects, protection of minorities, celebration of cultures, and women’s empowerment.
Holistic CSR KVP
Col. Anil Alagh
Col Anil Alagh is a retired army officer who has extensive combat and counter insurgency experience and successfully commanded a missile unit during the Kargil conflict. He has been in the forefront of many Army ‘goodwill’ outreach programs in both conflict and hazardous terrain zones. When offered a chance to raise the Le Passage Travel Foundation (Shaping Lives) for India’s No. 1 DMC, Le Passage to India (LPTI) post nine years of diverse working on Civvy Street, he grabbed it as a godsend. Mandated to spread ‘smiles and soul’ between the have-nots and the inbound travellers, in the course of 5 years, he has created a successful network of affiliated grass root level NGOs, working for both humanity and environment, across tourist destinations. In the short time since its creation, the Foundation has empanelled over 35 NGOs which benefit in resource, time and advocacy generated by visiting LPTI clients. Constantly evolving, he has ensured steady visits and volunteer programs, resource contributions, long term affiliations and fund raisers and purchase of vocational products from these NGOs. He also runs the DMC’s internal CSR program, suggesting, monitoring and executing initiatives in consonance with government mandates and company policy.
Holistic CSR KVP
Mr. Arjun Sharma
Arjun is the President of Select Group, a business house that has diversified interests in travel, tourism, hospitality, retail and private equity. He is also a leading luminary of the travel industry and Chairman of Le Passage to India, the country’s premier Destination Management Company. Le Passage Travel Foundation, aka Shaping Lives, was created by him, in 2010, as an exclusive CSR face of LPTI, with a view to add ‘soul’ to the itinerary of inbound holiday travellers. Mandated to act as a bridge between inbound clients and well researched grass root level NGOs dotted along tourist destinations, the Foundation, seeks to nurture every possible cause and charity engulfing both humanity and environment. It channelizes tourists into charities of their choice along travel destinations, giving them a meaningful outlet for their compassion whilst creating international awareness, advocacy and resource benefits for the visited NGOs and communities. The Foundation enjoys excellent rapport with international travel partners and is today felicitating successful CSR initiatives through visits and volunteer programs for every age group and professional calling, besides running a dynamic internal CSR programme for the parent Company. Arjun is passionate about putting India on the global tourism platform but propagates practicing responsible tourism.
Lifetime Achievement KVP - (Male)
Dr. David Dror
With an objective of “helping communities manage risk from the ground up†Micro Insurance Academy (MIA) works to bring risk management solutions to the world’s most vulnerable people, and do so with a focus on communities and ongoing scheme creation. They recognize what the poor lack in assets, and they make it up for in ingenuity, strong social networks and self-determination. They see these as valuable resources, and MIA has pioneered an approach that mobilizes these qualities, and is backed by an original theory of demand in the informal sector. Most of their projects operate at the community level based on the insight that the best strategy to engage people in the informal sector is creating awareness rather than marketing or sales. They support community members in designing and governing their own insurance packages, because this involvement enhances the perception that the risk management solutions reflect the community’s prioritized needs. This heightened relevance of insurance is a necessary condition for willingness to pay. Presently, MIA works with communities in India and Nepal to manage three classes of risk: Health, Crop and Livestock. They also have experience with life insurance, and intend to expand their attention to climate-change related natural catastrophes.
Lifetime Achievement KVP (Female)
Ms. Kamila Tyabji
Kamila Tyabji was a qualified Barrister, D.litt from Oxford University, UK. She got involved in social work when she was requested by Viajay Lakshmi Pandit, the then Indian High Commissioner in the UK, to help the Indian communities who got affected by the Indo China and Pakistan Wars. As she enjoyed social work, she returned to India after 29 years and started Women’s India Trust with the objective of promoting the cause of women. A woman ahead of her times, who in 1968 started an organization to empower women to make them financially independent, thus drawing them into the economic mainstream. A significant successes WIT, Women’s India Trust has over the years counted thousands of women and their families as beneficiaries. She is a “A true women of substanceâ€.
