Ashoka India Fellows
Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs who we recognize to have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society. They demonstrate unrivaled commitment to bold new ideas and prove that compassion, creativity, and collaboration are tremendous forces for change. Ashoka Fellows work in over 60 countries around the globe in every area of human need.
Read about all Ashoka fellows on the Ashoka Global website here.
Environment
Ravindranath “Ravi” is turning villages and communities in flood-ravaged regions into institutions prepared to predict, confront, and cope with floods, turning a one-time calamity into opportunities for people to create new and alternative livelihoods.
Mumbai
Environment
By facilitating a transparent, citizen-led movement to link urban development and noise regulation, Sumaira Abdulali is spearheading a movement against the pervasive environmental hazard of noise pollution. Through her organization, Awaaz Foundation, she has successfully proven that noise pollution need not be a side effect of urbanization and economic progress. She is rallying citizens and...
Delhi
Human Rights
Javed Abidi is working to make legislative rights and economic opportunities a reality for the disabled in India. He is organizing disability groups across thematic, geographic, and language barriers to set up an informed national lobby. Simultaneously, he is establishing partnerships with business and the government to create equitable employment of the disabled.
Shrirampur
Economic Development
John Abraham is leading the rural poor in Maharashtra to occupy and stake a formal claim on unused government land, with potential legal, economic, and political implications nationwide.
New Delhi
Health
George Abraham is helping the visually impaired reach their full potentials. His Vision Enhancement Center provides blind and seeing impaired patients with the counseling, support, and training they need to function as independently as possible.
Bangalore
Learning/Education
Sunil Abraham is providing web services and products that are affordable and effective for the Indian voluntary sector. His work, based on "open-source" sharing of programs, enables citizen organizations to effectively use the Internet in the areas of fundraising, networking, advocacy, and knowledge management. The nature of open-sourcing also permits a natural replication process because of...
Basrur
Economic Development
As thousands of children migrate annually from rural India to join the millions of children working in cities, Damodar Acharya is attacking the problem by eliminating the reasons for child labor. By investing in educational opportunities and putting political power in the hands of children, rural families are discovering alternatives to migration.
Mumbai
Human Rights
Maharukh Adenwalla, a lawyer, has mounted a child rights campaign through individuals, organizations, and the judicial system. She is using case law to push legislation protecting children in distress, while educating the public on legal interventions that are available to children and current inadequacies of the law that must be addressed.
New Delhi
Environment
Ravi Agarwal is changing the urban waste management system in India by involving local communities and the informal sector of rag pickers in waste disposal, and by advocating for a cleaner materials policy in industry.
New Delhi
Environment
Anil Agarwal is raising public consciousness of environmental issues through publications in order to create a sensible development policy.
