Karmaveer Noble Laureates 2009-10
YOUNG SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Joe Winston
Joe Winston is a young entrepreneur, who has supported and mentored a lot of entrepreneurs and also visualized and developed a lot of Education Enterprises. He has been responsible for creating the Entrepreneur Development Cell of Nagercoil that helps the small and tiny entrepreneurs to set up shops, thereby encouraging business. His desire is to make India a nation free from caste and religious biases and promote the feeling of oneness and unity amongst the people. He has been working for this cause by organizing citizen’s movements across the country and meeting people and motivating them to bring about a change in the society. Another issue that he has majorly contributed to is health care and education, primarily in Tamil Nadu. Mr.Joe Winston firmly believes in the power of good quality education to transform the Indian society for the better.
STUDENT CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Jithin C Nedumala
Jithin C Nedumala is the founding member of Make a Difference (MAD) and is currently involved with the organization. An IIM Lucknow alumnus, he has successfully utilized his people management skills to organize the activities of his organization by coordinating between the orphanages and volunteers. He has been involved in imparting education in various orphanages and has personally conducted more than 1500 hours of classroom sessions. Today, MAD functions in 11 cities across India and it is his vision to extend his activities to more cities and centres and thereby provide quality service to a larger community. His organization has given a platform for the interaction between the children and the youth who want to help. From career guidance to financial help, Jithin has been constantly directing his efforts for the welfare of these children. He truly has the potential to ‘right every wrong’ in the Indian context and bring a change for the better.
STUDENT CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Dhirendra Pratap Singh
Dhirendra Pratap Singh, a master’s student in Development Studies, realised the significance of youth involvement in social issues and awareness programmes and hence established an organisation "Milaan- Be the Change" in 2007. His approach to illiteracy and social dignity is marked by his organization’s commendable work in the area of education. The project started with 10 students and 1 teacher and now they reach out to more than 100 children. Through various educational and life skills workshops for children and adult, the project has been successful in covering 500 families. Vocational training, a principal constituent of the programme, has guided 400 unemployed youth in Delhi and also been a mechanism to get them placed in several retail chains. His commitment to the cause of social development brought him numerous honours like Youth Ambassador for Peace Award, year- long fellowship ‘ Change Looms’ by Ashoka anspelling mistakes ald Pravah to name a few
CORPORATE CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Holistic Csr Initiatives-Ceo
Nakul Anand
Nakul Anand is the Divisional Chief Executive – Hotel Division, ITC Limited. An Economics Honors graduate from Delhi University and an AMP degree holder from the Bond University, Australia, he joined ITC Training Program in 1978. In a career that spans over nearly three decades he is widely recognized for his excellent man management and team-building abilities besides infusing a spirit of action and a result oriented work culture. Mr.Nakul Anand firmly believes in value bases strategies and is highly regarded and respected for his work on environment, health and safety.CORPORATE CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Holistic Csr Initiatives-Csr Head
Niranjan Khatri
Mr.Niranjan Khatri is presently the General Manager at Welcomenviron Initiatives, ITC. He truly believes that all citizens are equal in dignity and hence must promote the values of equality and human dignity. His mantra in life is to ‘Be the Change’ and make a difference. Mr.Niranjan has been involved in providing vocational training to orphans, educating and sensitizing them for employment. More than 200 orphans have been trained and absorbed by the hotel units themselves and elsewhere. He has also been working for people with disabilities and provided them with employment opportunities within his organization. He has also been responsible for the development of a Domestic Help Training Program (DHTP) for creating a paradigm shift to move from Corporate Social Responsibility to Individual Social Responsibility. In all his initiatives, bringing in new ideas has always been a challenge that he has very well exploited for the betterment of the society.
CORPORATE CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Holistic Media Initiatives
Pradeep Gupta
Pradeep Gupta is the chairman of CyberMedia group, one of the largest speciality media houses in South Asia. He is an alumnus of IIT- Delhi and IIM- Calcutta. He has been involved in the social development sector in various capacities and has taken initiatives as a social agent through his media properties. His company focuses on nurturing the industries that have or might facelift India at the global arena. His social intervention plan in the IT/BPO industry cannot be ignored where he championed the issue of disability and changed the outlook of this booming sector to make it accessible to the disabled. Moreover, he is currently involved in making all Indian websites disabled-friendly. His ‘Getting Girls to School’ programme results in 1500 girls entering education every year. He has also been awarded with Helen Keller award.
CORPORATE CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Corporate Executive
Dr. Villoo Morawala Patell
Dr.Villoo Morawala-Patell is the Founder, Chairperson and Managing Director of Avesthagen Limited. Her company is based on unique model that focuses on the convergence of food, pharma and population genetics. A convergence that leads to continuous and path- breaking innovations in predictive, preventive, personalised healthcare. Whether she is wooing investors, building a patent portfolio, critiquing multinational pharmaceutical firms or tackling hereditary diseases in her native community, she brings a unique mix of dynamism and intellectual verve to the table. With the success and immense recognition to her work and name, she certainly takes women empowerment to a whole new level.CORPORATE CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Corporate Ceo’s Foundation
Satya Narayanan
Mr.Satya Narayanan displayed the conviction to start a viable enterprise in education when he decided to become an entrepreneur in education. As the founding chairman of Career Launcher India Ltd., he has nurtured various students by helping them achieve their dream career. An ambassador of education, he has been successful in improving vocational training in the country by entering the industrial training institutes and providing quality education to poor students in Andhra Pradesh as a part of the Indus World Schools (Andhra Pradesh). Recently he has bagged a project from Ministry of Rural Development for employability skills training of 6400 rural below poverty line youth in 20 districts across Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. His organization, Career Launcher, is a registered training partner of Gujarat Knowledge Society to undertake vocational training courses for the underprivileged in Gujarat. He has been involved in promoting responsible corporate citizenry that revolves around encouraging ethical entrepreneurship.
MEDIA CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Filmmaker (Mainstream)
Onir
Onir is a filmmaker, producer, writer and editor who has constantly used his filmmaking skills effectively to create awareness about various causes. Be it the controversial issues like Homosexuality or the less spoken about issues like sodomy, his movies have certainly been a reflection of truth. His first film My Brother Nikhil, touched upon the sensitive issue of homosexuality and AIDS and was a breakthrough for the Gay community in India. Another issue that he strongly feels for and has been working for is that of Child Sexual Abuse in India and it was to bring about the gravity and seriousness of this issue that he conceptualized the movie – Abhimanyu. He has also been associated with 7 NGOs working for the cause of child Sexual Abuse. Currently he is working on a series of short films, all of which deal with important social issues like MEGHA which is about Kashmiri Pandits who have been refugees, OMAR which is about the significance of the verdict on Homosexuality, to name a few. He believes that the powerless have the strength of truth and courage and if they all stand against the wrong together, change is inevitable.MEDIA CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Filmmaker (Contemporary Issues)
Girish Joshi
Mr.Girish Joshi is a qualified software engineer and presently a filmmaker. He truly believes in using the mass entertainment pull of Hindi Films in propagating awareness of social issues. His films like ‘Zor Lagaa Ke Haiya’ have been an attempt at making people aware of the visible and alarming issues around them that mostly get ignored. This movie is the first commercial film ever in Bollywood to touch the environment issue in a very significant way and has also won various awards worldwide. Mr.Girish has also made several Corporate AVs for NGOs working for the mentally challenged children. He has a desire in him to harness his media experience for the welfare of the society as a whole.
MEDIA CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Filmmaker (Short Films)
Geeta Kumar Singh
Geeta Singh, over the past 6 years, has been working on films on the impact of climate change and sustainable methods of combating the effects of global warming. An editor by profession, she now directs and produces films on subjects such as emancipation of women and the girl child, street children and education for all. For 2 consecutive years, she has been a member of the jury for selection of films for the UK Environment Film Fellowships, instituted by the British High Commission and the British Council in India. Her films have been finalists not only at the CMS Vatavaran environment film festival, but also the world renowned Panda Awards, at the Wildscreen film festival in the United Kingdom.MEDIA CITIZEN KARMAVEER PURASKAAR, 2009
Filmmaker (Short Films)
Avinash Kumar Singh
Avinash Kumar Singh, a writer / director / cinematographer by profession, has worked on films on the environment and climate change over the past 6 years. ‘Turtle on a Hammock films’, run by his wife Geeta and himself, consists of a team of young, enthusiastic and skilled professionals who deliver films that make a mark. Working extensively with a variety of NGO’s such as Action Aid, CARE, Frendicoes, Youthreach and Udayan Care, his efforts at making films that make a difference have been critically acclaimed and well received. He is also working on his 1st Hindi feature film with Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey.