Mahendra Pratap Singh (2009-10)
Mahendra Pratap Singh, with a dream to make India a mega nation which is free of corruption and bureaucratic set up, founded project VIJAY with Himanshu Swarnkar in 2008. An engineer by qualification, Mahendra felt the acute need of rural and urban growth to form his ideal nation. Being instilled with the values of courage and determination, he rose up from being a silent spectator to a revolutionist in uprooting the existing fraudulent practices in the civil society. His Project VIJAY believes that RTI is the most progressive Act which empowers a citizen to scrap unethical system. They used the strength of RTI by filing information regarding the assets of suspicious members of Parliament in order to measure sordid exercises at various parameters. Himanshu Swarnkar (2009-10)
Himanshu Swarnkar founded Project VIJAY in 2008 along with his friend Mahendra Pratap Singh. He is a graduate from University of Lucknow and is determined to develop rural and urban setting by youth driven activities. He aims to foster the voice of young Indians to come in forefront to fight for better governance, fundamental rights and most importantly leave their ideal footprints for others to follow. Project VIJAY thrives hard to curb the injustice and corruption prevailing in the Indian polity and culture by spreading awareness about the newly found weapon RTI and its exercising process to the community for better civic living.Navin Gulia (2009-10)
Navin Gulia got bound to a wheelchair after an accident but it did not stop him to live his life with the same dignity and passion. He attended college and did his Masters in Computer Applications from Symbiosis International University and later cleared UGC Net Lectureship exam. During this phase, he worked with many NGOs to rehabilitate the disabled soldiers and special children. An avid follower of Adventure Sports, he raised funds for many social causes through his world record adventure expeditions. Soon he got the path which would determine his course of life. In 2004-05, he mapped out the organisation for the underprivileged children called ADAA- Apni Duniya Apna Ashiana (Our World Our Home). ADAA is running successful activities for children in rural areas, setting up shelters for street children and providing them education, food packets and clothes for their basic survival. His organization reaches out more than 2000 needy children. It has a 24 hrs helpline service and tie- up with many other social bodies to help the children in need. The aim of ADAA is to spread 360 degrees support to children by conducting counseling sessions, legal and medical help. Navin Gulia has been honoured as ‘National Role Model’ by former President Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam. His accomplishments and determination and service to society have truly made him a role model.
Javed Ahmad Tak (2009-10)
Born in Bijbehara – the town of chinars, in Jammu and Kashmir, Javed Ahmad Tak is an exemplary example of courage and optimism, who after being hit in militancy related incident in Kashmir Valley became wheel chair bound, has been helping in empowering the disabled ones. Javed is the founder of Humanity Welfare Organisation and a school that works to improve the condition of physically and mentally challenged people; Communal Harmony and peace. The special school is first of its kind in the district and has been instrumental in giving a ray hope to differently able people. I t is due his efforts that Draft policy for Empowerment of persons with Disabilities in J&K. He is an MA (Social Work), and his approach to this cause is marked by the education and employment reservation grant provided to less blessed. Javed motivated the Kashmir University Administration to create disabled friendly Environment for inclusion of Physically Challenged students. His NGO carries out various seminars, workshops, and rallies to bring awareness regarding the rights drafted in the constitution. He has also represented India at Youth Understanding and friendship Program held in China, as an Indian Youth Delegate under the category “Leaders with Special Abilities”. He is also the recipient of National Award for persons for Welfare of persons with disabilities. Deepak Kumar Saha (2009-10)
Deepak Kumar, with an excellent academic background ,could have chosen to pursue his career in the bureaucratic field or joined the corporate sector for his individual growth. Instead he chose to work for the development of deprived sections of people in rural Bihar through Jaiprabha Mahila Vikas Kendra, an NGO founded by his mother. Jaiprabha has put in over 25 years of focused efforts towards integrated development of the marginalised sections of the society, with a focus on empowering women and children. Today, under his guidance, Jaiprabha has a target of providing Elementary education to all eligible children, safe drinking water to all house holds of the target villages and restoring dignity of women through education and skill building. Deepak has also contributed remarkably towards conservation of ecology and Natural Resource Management through promoting large scale social forestry and construction of check dams with lift irrigation facility and restoration of large number of water bodies in the villages.
Nikita Ketkar (2009-10)
Nikita Ketkar is the founder of an NGO – Masoom which was founded to carry out interventions for night schools. The vision of Masoom is to support the youth to learn while they earn and enable the night school students to achieve their full potential through educational and policy support. Masoom also organizes teacher training programs, Braille teacher sponsorship, Parents workshops, Vocational guidance for students and makes counseling facilities and nutrition available to the students in order to build capacity of all of the players. As the next step in the program, Masoom also wants to advocate with Government systems to support night schools with both monetary and infrastructural inputs. She has also been selected as a Senior Fellow by PUKAR to carry out research on the problems faced by Night School Children in Mumbai. By initiating action in an area that has been neglected for more than a century, Nikita is a pioneer in addressing a neglected issue by giving it due visibility and justice.Rashmi Ranjan(2009-10)
Rashmi Ranjan is currently spearheading his own web development agency – Cranberry Communications. He is the co-founder of the IN CARE Foundation and is actively associated withit. Through his organization, he provides digital aid to NGOs to help them in their communication strategies. Through the years he has successfully exploited the use of online mediums to help the non profit organizations to promote themselves at a highly negligible cost or at no cost at all. Last but not the least, he has also been helping NGOs develop online marketing strategies.Deepak Kumar (2009-10)
A successful chartered accountant, Mr. Deepak Kumar is the founder of the NAMAN FOUNDATION,an NGO that has been formed to work in the field of “environment” having being initiated with the vision to make the environment green, hygienic and worth living. From tree plantation drives to developing nurseries to conservation of water and creating awareness about environmental issues, he has done it all in order to ensure sustainable development. Naman Foundation has also started convening and organizing public meetings, corner meetings, seminars, in order to shift focus towards the villages of western U.P. for creating awareness.Sudesh Kumar (2009-10)
A successful chartered accountant, Mr. Sudesh Kumar is the founder of the NAMAN FOUNDATION, an NGO that has been formed to work in the field of “environment” having being initiated with the vision to make the environment green, hygienic and worth living. From tree plantation drives to developing nurseries to conservation of water and creating awareness about environmental issues, he has done it all in order to ensure sustainable development. Naman Foundation has also started convening and organizing public meetings, corner meetings, seminars, in order to shift focus towardsthe villages of western U.P. for creating awareness.
Shri Upendra Prasad (2008-09)
Shri Upendra Prasad, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police is posted in the Sahdei Police outpost of Vaishali district in Bihar. On March 6,2008, on his way back from leave, he was at Sahdei railway station when he overheard some passengers talking about children being on the train who were being taken away for employment as labourers. Having received training in anti human trafficking, he realized that this was a case of human trafficking. He took the children along to Hajipur Railway Police Post and handed them over along with filed a written complaint. A criminal case was registered against the traffickers, and investigation was taken up in right earnest. Shri Upendra Prasad also cooperated with the Railway Police to escort the children back to their homes and hand them over to their parents / lawful guardians. In this manner, ASI Shri. Upendra Prasad put his training into practice and showed exemplary dedication to duty by taking the initiative to enquire into the case of suspected trafficking and rescuing 28 children from a dark future.
Sri Md. Shakir Hussain (2008-09)
Sri Md. Shakir Hussain, Inspector of Police has been working in CID, Hyderabad since January 2, 2007. Ever since he joined the CID, he has been working on anti-human trafficking and has been in charge of the anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU). He has received training under the UNODC empowerment programme at the AP Police Academy and participated in many rescue operations within Hyderabad City and in Inter state Rescue Operations at Delhi, Bhivandi, Pune and Bangalore. Md. Hussain, with the active help of counselors, has counseled Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking and ensured registration of fresh cases. Md. Hussein has also been involved in collecting data and monitoring the AHTU. He is working under the direct supervision of Sri S. Umapathi, IPS, IGP, CID, Andhra Pradesh State Anti-Trafficking Nodal Officer