This category of award is given to an individual or an organisation that has brought about a positive change in the field of health, education, poverty alleviation, women’s empowerment, sustainability among others. The shortlisted nominees under the category Changemaker - Social Transformation for the BusinessLine Changemaker Awards 2022 are:
Points for Good
A charity platform, Points for Good, harnesses unused loyalty reward points and employee rewards to support meaningful cause including educating rural girl child to training tribal girls in hockey. Launched in 2017, the platform has so far enabled donations of over 50 million loyalty points supporting 58 projects run by NGOs and charity organisations.
Ramesh Raliya
A scientist, Ramesh Raliya is the inventor of nano urea, which has the potential to save billions of dollars spent in imports and fertiliser subsidies besides making Indian agriculture more productive, climate smart and reduce the harmful effects of chemical fertilizer. The chemical scientist has licensed his invention worth millions of dollars to Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative for free so that poor farmers in India and third world countries benefit from it.
Saundarya Rajesh
Observing the various challenges faced by women seeking a second career, Saundarya Rajesh decided to challenge the status quo. A former Citibank staff, Saundarya took up the entrepreneur mantle to tackle the issue by setting up a diversity advocate and workplace inclusion firm, Avtar in 2000. Besides enabling re-entry of over one lakh women to the workforce over the years, Avtar ushered in the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion into corporate Board rooms.
The Rescue Foundation
Founded by couple Triveni Acharya and Late Balkrishna Acharya in 2000, The Rescue Foundation is a Mumbai-based non-profit organisation focussed on rescuing and rehabilitating victims of sex trafficking. An ex-journalist, Triveni, through the Foundation, has rescued over 5,000 women from brothels across the country. Besides offering psychological counselling to the victims, the NGO also trains them in various vocations to provide them with sustainable income and dignified life.
Nanhi Kali
A pet project of Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, Nanhi Kali (‘a little bud’) is a programme, under the KC Mahindra Trust, aimed at educating underprivileged girls in order to lay the foundation for a just and equal society. Started in 1996, Project Nanhi Kali has reached out to over 4,50,000 underprivileged girls across 14 States. It also started digital education by offering pre-loaded digital tablets to secondary school girls.
The winner will be announced at a glittering ceremony to be held at New Delhi on September 9.