Dr Urvashi Sahni is a number one skilled in class governance, curriculum reform and instructor coaching, with a particular deal with women’ training and the usage of expertise in training. 

An activist and educator for the final 30 years, underneath the Examine Corridor Schooling Basis (SHEF), she has established three Ok-12 colleges together with the Prerna Women College, offering reasonably priced high-quality, rights-based training to over 1,000 women from city slums. SHEF immediately supplies training to over 4,000 college students, together with middle-class city youngsters, deprived women and boys from poor areas, out-of-school youngsters, and rural youngsters.

Dr Urvashi has been recognised by the Obama Basis International Women Alliance and the Clinton Basis as a changemaker, acquired Berkeley’s Haas Worldwide Award for her efforts to reform training in India and bolster training for ladies in 1994, and was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2011. She additionally based Suraksha, a ladies’s rights organisation, in 1983, and is the co-founder and director of the Digital Examine Corridor, which extends the pedagogical practices developed by the inspiration to rural and concrete colleges in Uttar Pradesh, reaching out to over 1,00,000 college students and lecturers. She has additionally arrange DiDis, a social enterprise producing sustainable livelihoods for girls, through which she employs 65 Prerna graduates and their moms.

Eiha Dixit

An 11-12 months-Previous Eco Warrior Planting The Seeds Of Change For A Brighter Future, Meerut

Tv and movies are sometimes credited with influencing our behaviour. Meerut resident Eiha Dixit skilled the same optimistic affect very early in life. Watching cartoons and listening to the Mann Ki Baat programme instilled a profound sense of environmental safety in her thoughts, which then led to her planting 1,008 and a pair of,500 saplings on her fifth birthday and sixth birthday respectively. 

In 2018, Eiha and different youngsters established the Inexperienced Eiha Smile Membership, which employs the modern matka technique of planting. This method, needing minimal irrigation, yields a progress charge 20% larger than standard practices, leading to outstanding achievements.

For her dedication to the planet, Eiha was honoured with the Prime Minister’s Nationwide Kids’s Award in 2019, the Worldwide Eco Hero Award in 2023, and has been recognised internationally, together with in nations comparable to the US of America, France, and Spain. 

Now 11, Eiha continues to be an emblem of environmental activism, having established 20 mini forests and 25 medicinal gardens throughout the nation over 303 weeks of devoted tree planting each Sunday. She has additionally based the Eiha Plant Financial institution, which distributes vegetation freed from cost. Recognising her extraordinary dedication, the Uttar Pradesh Housing Growth Division has offered her with land at totally different locations for plantation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi affectionately refers to her as his ‘youngest pal’, acknowledging her distinctive dedication to environmental conservation.

Kiran Kamdar

Parkinson’s Warrior Guaranteeing Hospital Sufferers Get Important Diet, Mumbai

Despite the fact that she battles Parkinson’s illness herself, 62-year-old Kiran Kamdar’s coronary heart overflows with compassion for others. For the previous three years, she has been selflessly offering free khichdi to sufferers and their households on the DM Petit Authorities Hospital in Palghar, Maharashtra. Regardless of the illness’s merciless grip on her physique, Kiran troopers on, caring not just for her personal son who has cerebral palsy, but in addition dedicating her spare moments to educating underprivileged youngsters. 

Kiran first felt her calling in 2021, amid the darkness of the COVID-19 pandemic, when she witnessed the overwhelming variety of sufferers in want. Since then, each morning at 5 AM, Kiran prepares nourishing meals; she has chosen khichdi for its well-known dietary steadiness. With shaking arms however unwavering willpower, she ensures that over a 100 people all through the hospital obtain not only a meal, however the heat embrace of consolation and care – a real testomony to her dedication to their wellbeing.

Nirvaan

Founder Of Venture Denims, Delhi

Delhi schoolboy Nirvaan thought he was acutely aware of his water consumption till, someday in 2019, he got here throughout a social media publish on the United Nations web page stating that 10,000 litres of water are required to make a single pair of denims. This shocked him, and the determine caught with him lengthy afterward – it meant that, with 5 pairs of denims, he had 50,000 litres price of water in his wardrobe. With the purpose of minimising the affect of this consumption, he did additional analysis, and discovered in regards to the power, sturdiness and insulating properties of denim. He determined to place these to good use by making sleeping baggage for the underprivileged. Thus was born Venture Denims, a social entrepreneurial try aimed toward mitigating the environmental penalties of denim by changing discarded denim into sleeping baggage. Thus far, by his initiative, 8,000 pairs of denims have been collected and 1,000+ sleeping baggage distributed primarily in Delhi, in addition to in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. Final yr, Venture Denims additionally despatched sleeping baggage to Turkey and Syria as a part of earthquake aid. Nirvaan has been awarded the Diana Award and the 2023 Worldwide Younger Eco-Hero award for his contributions.

Prasiddhi

Youngster Environmentalist & Social Entrepreneur, Chennai

Prasiddhi Singh, an 11-year-old environmentalist and social entrepreneur primarily based in Tamil Nadu, is the founding father of the Prasiddhi Forest Basis. With a profound love for nature, she has planted over one lakh timber and performed 600 consciousness classes, making certain vital affect. After experiencing the after-effects of Cyclone Vardah on the age of 4, Prasiddhi launched into a mission to reinforce biodiversity and lift consciousness. Her motion, Prasiddhi Forests, entails various contributors worldwide, fostering a tradition of conservation. Drawing inspiration from nature, Prasiddhi’s imaginative and prescient extends to exploration and innovation, reflecting her dynamic dedication to environmental points. She has received a number of awards and has been recognised as one of many Younger Minds of Tomorrow by ET NOW and Instances Community. She at the moment research on the Mahindra World College in Chennai.

Sara Benjamin

Most cancers Warrior For Different Most cancers Warriors, Chennai

Herself a most cancers survivor, Sara Benjamin Cherian makes wigs freed from value for different most cancers warriors. An entrepreneur, philanthropist, and devoted mom, she is a trustee on The Cherian Basis’s board, channelling her ardour into impactful initiatives. Famend for spearheading the Reward Hair, Reward Confidence marketing campaign, Sara promotes hair donation to craft wigs for most cancers sufferers, enhancing their self-confidence throughout remedy. Impressed by private loss and a household custom of wig making, Sara collaborated with the Adyar Most cancers Institute in 2014, subsequently increasing this altruistic enterprise nationwide.

Sharad Sagar

Social Entrepreneur On A Mission To Empower Coming Generations, Bihar

Sharad Vivek Sagar wears quite a few hats that talk volumes about his dedication and keenness: social entrepreneur, thought chief, highly effective orator, and, above all, widely-revered youth icon. Sharad launched into his journey at a remarkably younger age, founding – at simply 16 years of age – the nationwide organisation Dexterity International, by which he has not solely facilitated entry to training however has additionally empowered numerous people to understand their full potential. That is evident within the staggering amount of cash in scholarships that college students educated with the Dexterity system have acquired from prestigious world universities. Moreover, these people have served as invaluable youth ambassadors to the United Nations, even bringing dwelling numerous awards. From being invited by former US President Barack Obama to the White Home as a worldwide youth icon in 2016, to turning into the primary Indian to carry the celebrated place of President of the Pupil Authorities at Harvard Graduate College of Schooling in 2022, Sharad’s affect extends past borders – serving as an inspiration for all those that dare to dream and try for a greater tomorrow.

Manavi Rai 

Animal Activist & Stray Canine Shelter Supplier, Delhi

Manavi Rai’s journey in the direction of animal rescue is a narrative of fortitude and empathy. Her dedication to serving to stray canines has not solely sparked reform and introduced consideration to the importance of small acts, but in addition led to an enormous private transformation, main her to rethink her priorities and pursue her true objective in life.

Up till 10 years in the past, Manavi lived in Toronto, Canada, having fun with a very good fame and life as a clothier. Like many individuals of Indian origin, she discovered herself stranded in India throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and that led to her determination to dedicate her life to the welfare of stray canines. In 2020, observing injured, weak and ravenous canines throughout the lockdown, she began ‘Canine Langar’ to rescue homeless animals. She at the moment runs the Udgam Haveli shelter, and believes she is at just the start of her lengthy journey to provide one thing again to the surroundings. Her life is dedicated to seva (service) and she or he is working in the direction of establishing a 24-hour hospital for animals.

Manavi has not solely saved the lives of numerous animals, but in addition has impressed individuals to be humbler and extra humane in the direction of these harmless dwelling creatures who, she avers,  deserve love, care and hospitality – similar to every other dwelling being in our biodiverse society. 

Akshat Shah & Shubh Mehta

Co-Founders Of Change Is Us, Mumbai

Akshat and Shubh are co-founders of Change Is Us, a dynamic youth-led initiative dedicated to fostering optimistic societal and environmental change. Embodying the assumption that ‘change begins small, however it begins with you’, they spearhead weekly seaside clean-up drives at Girgaon Chowpatty seaside in Mumbai. Moreover, they orchestrate donation initiatives, offering necessities comparable to meals, sanitary napkins, candies, and clothes to these in want. Their outreach additionally extends to ‘Happiness Drives’, the place they go to previous age properties, orphanages, and people with disabilities, aiming to uplift spirits and convey pleasure to the neighborhood. Akshat and Shubh’s story speaks to the outstanding affect that may be achieved when ardour and proactive motion come collectively.