Harsh Mander - Retired Bureaucrat

  Prof. Pramod Tandon - Vice Chancellor, North Eastern Hill University

  Deep Joshi - Social activist

  Madhav Gadgil - Social activist

  Farah Naqvi - Social activist

  Dr. N. C. Saxena - former bureaucrat

  Anu Aga - Businesswoman

  A. K. Shiva Kumar - Economist[2]

  Mirai Chatterjee - Coordinator, SEWA, Ahmedabad

      -Special Component plan for Scheduled Castes and the tribal sub-plan for Scheduled Tribes.

Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan (Tamil: மான்கொம்பு சாம்பசிவன் சுவாமிநாதன்; Hindi: एम्. एस. स्वामीनाथन ) is an Indian agriculture scientist, born August 7, 1925, in Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu. He was the second of four sons of a doctor. He is known as the "Father of the Green Revolution in India" , for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India. He is the founder and Chairman of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.[1] His stated vision is to rid the world of hunger and poverty.[2] Dr. Swaminathan is an advocate of moving India to sustainable development, especially using environmentally sustainable agriculture, sustainable food security and the preservation of biodiversity, which he calls an "evergreen revolution" [3] In 1999, Time magazine placed him in the Time 20 list of most influential Asian people of the 20th century.[4

M. S. Swaminathan was born on August 7, 1925. His father died when Swaminathan was 11. His early schooling was at the Native High School and later at the Little Flower Catholic High School in Kumbakonam. He went to college at Maharajas College in Ernakulam and earned a Bachelor of Science degree (B.Sc.) in zoology. Swaminathan was strongly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s belief in ahimsa or non-violence to achieve Purna swaraj (total freedom) and swadeshi, (self-reliance) on both a personal and national level

Over 68 students have done their Ph.D thesis work under his guidance:

On the occasion of Dr. Norman Borlaug's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, he said of Dr. Swaminathan: "The green revolution has been a team effort and much of the credit for its spectacular development must go to Indian officials, Organizations, Scientists and farmers. However, to you, Dr. Swaminathan, a great deal of the credit must go for first recognizing the potential value of the Mexican dwarfs. Had this not occurred, it is quite possible that there would not have been a green revolution in Asia".[26]

On the occasion of the presentation of the First World Food Prize[24] to Dr. Swaminathan in October 1987, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar - Secretary General of the United Nations, wrote: "Dr. Swaminathan is a living legend. His contributions to Agricultural Science have made an indelible mark on food production in India and elsewhere in the developing world. By any standards, he will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction".

Swaminathan has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as "the Father of Economic Ecology".

Ram Dayal Munda an Indian scholar and regional music exponent is awarded the Padma Shri of the year 2010 for his contribution to the field of art. Munda is a former vice-chancellor of Ranchi University. In 2007, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

President of India Pratibha Patil has nominated five prominent citizens to the Rajya Sabha, based on recommendations made by the Union cabinet and tribal welfare activist, among them Ram Dayal Munda. [1]

Aruna Roy (born 26 June 1946) is an Indian political and social activist who founded and heads the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana ("Workers and Peasants Strength Union"). She is best known as a prominent leader of the Right to Information movement, which led to the enactment of the Right to Information Act in 2005.[1] She has also remained a member of the National Advisory Council.[2]

In 2000, she received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.[3] In 2010 she received the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academia and Management.[4]

Aruna served as a civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service between 1968 and 1974. She then resigned to devote her time to social and political campaigns. She joined the Social Work and Research Center (SWRC) in Tilonia, Rajasthan, founded by her husband, Sanjit Roy.[5][6][7] In 1983 Aruna dissociated herself from the SWRC.

In 2005, various women's organizations launched a campaign aimed at ensuring that a woman received the Nobel prize for peace. They drew up a list of 1000 women from 150 countries who they claimed were worthy of being considered for the honour. Aruna was one among these 1000 women.[10][11]

Jean Drèze (born 1959) is a development economist who has been influential in Indian economic policymaking.[1] He is a naturalized Indian[2] of Belgian origin. His work in India include issues like hunger, famine, gender inequality, child health and education, and the NREGA. He had conceptualised and drafted the first version of the NREGA.

His co-authors include Nobel laureate in economics Amartya Sen, with whom he has written on famine, and Nicholas Stern, with whom he has written on policy reform when market prices are distorted. He is currently an honorary Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, and Senior Professor at the G. B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. He is a member of the National Advisory Council of India in both first and second term.[3]

Dr. Narendra Jadhav, an Indian national (born in 1953) is a leading educationist[citation needed], eminent economist[citation needed] & policy maker, well-known social scientist[citation needed] and best-selling author. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has called Dr. Jadhav, “a role-model for the disempowered millions in our country.”

Dr. Narendra Jadhav is currently serving as a Member, Planning Commission (in the rank and status of Union Minister of State). He took over this responsibility on June 16, 2009 and was sworn in by the Prime Minister on July 27, 2009.

As Member, Planning Commission, Dr. Jadhav’s sectoral responsibilities include Education, Labour-Employment-Skill Development, Sports & Youth Affairs, and Social Justice and Empowerment. In addition, Dr. Jadhav looks after the States of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Goa, besides the Union Territories of Diu-Daman and Dadra-Nagar Haveli.

Dr. Narendra Jadhav has also been appointed as a Member, National Advisory Council (NAC), chaired by Smt. Sonia Gandhi, with effect from May 31, 2010.

Harsh Mander (born 1956) is an Indian social activist and writer. He came into prominence after 2002 Gujarat riots and heads "Aman Biradari" which work for communal harmony. He became member of National Advisory Council of the UPA government in 2010 and special commissioner to the Supreme Court.[1][2] He has written a collection of essays titled Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives published by the Penguin Books (2001) and Fear and Forgiveness: The Aftermath of Massacre (2009).[3]

Harsh Mander has worked formerly in the Indian Administrative Service in the predominantly tribal states Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh for almost two decades, mainly as the head of district governments of tribal districts. He is associated with social causes and movements, such for communal harmony, tribal, dalit, and disability rights, the right to information, custodial justice, homeless people and bonded labour. He writes and speaks regularly on issues of social justice.He is also a founding member of ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy).[4]

His books include ‘Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives’ and ‘Fear and Forgiveness: The Aftermath of Massacre’ published by Penguin India. Other major books include ‘The Ripped Chest: Public Policy and Poor in India’. Mallika Sarabhai wrote the script of the play Unsuni based on Harsh Mander's book Unheard Voices. Arvind Gaur translated & direct it in Hindi and Mallika Sarabhai direct Unsuni for Darpana.

He is at present convenor of Aman Biradari, a people’s campaign for secularism, peace and justice, working for Nyayagrah, for legal justice and reconciliation for the survivors of the Gujarat 2002 carnage, and Dil Se, for the rights of homeless children, youth and women. He is Special Commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court of India to advise it in the Right to Food case on hunger and state responsibility, Honorary Director of the Centre for Equity Studies (working on public policy for the poor), Visiting Professor at IIM, Ahmedabad on poverty and governance and writes a column for the Hindu.

He was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award for peace work, and the M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award 2002.

Prof. Pramod Tandon (born 6 October 1950 is an Indian academic and the former vice-chancellor ofNorth Eastern Hill University.[1] He is an eminent professor of botany. He received Padma Shri award in 2009 in the field of Science and Engineering. He has been nominated as member of the high-profile National Advisory Council (NAC) in June 2010.[2]

Deep Joshi is an Indian social worker and NGO activist and the recipient of 2009 Magsaysay award.[1][2][3] He is recognized for his leadership in bringing professionalism to the NGO movement in India.[4][5] He co-founded a non-profit organisation, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) of which he was the Executive Director till 2007. He was awarded the 2009 Magsaysay award for Community Leadership for his work for "development of rural communities".[4]

Deep Joshi was born in 1947 in village Puriyag, in a remote area of Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand in the Himalayas to Harikrishan Joshi, a farmer and was one of the seven children.

He received his early education at the local primary school, and later he took his engineering degree from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad and also holds a masters engineering degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and another on management from Sloan School, MIT.[3][6][7]

Returning to India, Deep Joshi worked with the Systems Research Institute, and as a program officer with Ford Foundation in India. In the coming decades he worked in the field of rural development and livelihood promotion. In 1983, also co-founded a non-profit organisation, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN),[8] that recruits college graduates to do community work.,[9][10] which recruits university-educated youth from campuses across India and trains them for grassroots work. Pradan was jointly awarded NGO of the Year 2006 at the first ever India NGO Award event.[11] PRADAN is involved in building Self help groups, developing land and water resource, Natural Resource Management, forest based livlihood, horticulture & agriculture etc. Pradan formed its first SHG in Alwar, Rajasthan, in 1987.

He also advises the Government of India on poverty alleviation strategies and also was a member of Working Group on Rainfed Areas for the Eleventh Five Year Planning Commission, Govt of India.[12]

In 2006, Deep received the Harmony Silver Award for his contributions to society.[13] Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) announced Deep among others as winner of 2009 Magsaysay awards.[2][4] And, on the eve of Republic Day (26 January 2010) he was honoured with prestigious Padma Shri award, by the Govt of India.

He was born in Maharashtra studied biology at University of Poona and University of Bombay before doing a Ph.D. thesis in the area of mathematical ecology at Harvard University. He has been an IBM Fellow of the Computing Centre, Research Fellow in Applied Mathematics and a Lecturer in Biology at Harvard University.

From 1973 to 2004 he was on the faculty of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for Biological Sciences and the Vikram Sarabhai and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar awards. Prof. Gadgil was awarded the prestigious Centennial Medal for the year 2002 from Harvard University, USA and the Volvo Environment Prize in 2003. He was conferred Padmashri and Padma Bhushan by the President of India and the Rajyotsava Award by the Government of Karnataka. Received the Firodia Award for excellence in science and technology in 2007.[1]

Farah Naqvi is an Indian writer, consultant and activist. She works on gender rights and minority rights from both a justice and development perspective. She is a member of the National Advisory Council.[1]

Waves In The Hinterland: The Journey of A Newspaper published by Zubaan 2009.

Dr. N. C. Saxena is an Indian bureaucrat who served as a member of Planning Commission of India.[1]

Dr. N. C. Saxena is a former IAS officer. He is a member of the National Advisory Council.

He headed a planning commission panel on rural poor and recommended rank-based system including automatic inclusion and exclusion of poor families.[2]

Anu Aga (born 1942) is an Indian businesswoman and social worker, who led Thermax Ltd., the Rs 3246-crore energy and environment engineering major, as its chairperson 1996-2004.[1] She had figured among the eight richest Indian women, and in 2007 was part of 40 Richest Indians by net worth according to Forbes magazine.[2][3]

After retiring from Thermax, she took to social work, and 2010 was awarded the Padma Shri (Social Work) by Govt. of India [4]

A. K. Shiva Kumar is a development economist and professor. In addition to serving as an advisor to UNICEF - India, he is a member of India's National Advisory Council.[1] The council was set up in June 2004 to oversee the implementation of India’s National Common Minimum Programme.

A. K. Shiva Kumar earned his postgraduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and his M.A. in economics from Bangalore University. He also holds a master's degree in public administration and a Ph.D in political economy and government from Harvard University.[1

Mirai Chatterjee is an Indian social worker and coordinator at SEWA, Ahmedabad. She was appointed a member of National Advisory Council in June, 2010.[1][2]

3. Sunderbans                                  West Bengal

4. Kaziranga                                          Assam

5. Nameri                                               Assam

6. Manas                                                Assam

7. Namdapha                                 Arunachal Pradesh

8. Pakke                                         Arunachal Pradesh

9. Dampa                                              Mizoram

10. Achanakmar                                 Chhattisgarh

11. Udanti-Sitanadi                            Chhattisgarh

12. Indravati                                      Chhattisgarh

13. *Kanha, Satpura, Pench,            Madhya Pradesh

Bandhavgarh, Panna &          

Sanjay-Dubri  

14. Tadoba-Andhari                              Maharashtra

15. Pench                                              Maharashtra

16. Melghat                                           Maharashtra

17. Ranthambhore                                 Rajasthan

18. Sariska                                              Rajasthan

19. Similipal                                                 Orissa

20. Satkosia                                                Orissa

21. Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam              Andhra Pradesh

22. Dandeli-Anshi                                     Karnataka

23. Bhadra                                               Karnataka

24. Bandipur                                             Karnataka

25. Nagarahole                                         Karnataka

26. Periyar                                                  Kerala

27. Parambikulam                                        Kerala

28. Mudumalai                                          Tamil Nadu

29. Kalakad Mundanthurai                        Tamil Nadu

30. Anamalai                                              Tamil Nadu

With the 86th Constitutional amendment on 12th December 2002, Article 21A was amended by the Constitution in order to introduce Right to Education as a fundamental right.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act finally came into force on 1st April 2010. The Act provides for free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of six to fourteen years. It is now a legally enforceable duty of the Centre and the states, to provide free and compulsory education.

This Act is an essential step towards improving each child's accessibility to secondary and higher education. The Act also contains specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or any such factor. With the implementation of this Act, it is also expected that issues of school drop out, out-of-school children, quality of education and availability of trained teachers would be addressed in the short to medium term plans.

The enforcement of the Right to Education Act brings the country closer to achieving the objectives and mission of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA) and hence is a historic step taken by the Government of India.

The draft bill follows a life cycle approach and introduces a number of other universal guarantees, including nutrition support and maternity entitlements for pregnant women, nutrition support to children both in pre-school centres and in school, but also to all out of school children; destitute feeding and affordable meals for homeless and other needy urban populations; and special guarantees for starvation and emergencies. 

It creates also a strong accountability framework for protection of these entitlements and allows imposition of fines on defaulters and compensation to the victim. 

It also envisages a strong grievance redressal and monitoring system, from the centre to the block level

Retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi and other known people like Swami Agnivesh, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Anna Hazare and Mallika Sarabhai are also part of the movement, called India Against Corruption. Its website describes the movement as "an expression of collective anger of people of India against corruption. We have all come together to force/request/persuade/pressurize the Government to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill. We feel that if this Bill were enacted it would create an effective deterrence against corruption."

Anna Hazare, anti-corruption crusader, began a fast-unto-death today, demanding that this bill, drafted by the civil society, be adopted. The website of the India Against Corruption movement calls the Lokpal Bill of the government an "eyewash" and has on it a critique of that government Bill. It also lists the difference between the Bills drafted by the government and civil society.

1. An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up

2. Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.

3. Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.

4. The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.

5. How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.

6. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month's time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.

7. But won't the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won't be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.

8. What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.

9. What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

10. It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption. 

The first Ramon Magsaysay Awards were given on August 31, 1958.

Presentation Ceremonies are held annually in Manila on 31 August, the birth anniversary of the late President.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) presents it.

The awards are given in six categories:

1. Government Service

2. Public Service

3. Community Leadership

4. Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts

5. Peace and International Understanding

6. Emergent Leadership

The Ramon Magsaysay Award is given to persons - regardless of race, nationality, creed or gender - who address issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity, and in doing so have made contributions which have transformed their societies for the better.

The Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership seeks to inspire young people to apply their talents and energies to selfless and innovative service in Asia; this award category was created in 2000 with support from a Ford Foundation grant, and honors greatness of spirit among men and women forty years old and below.

Two hundred sixty-seven individuals and sixteen organizations have been named Magsaysay awardees since 1958.

The first year winners were - 

1. Government Service - Chiang Mon Lin - Taiwanese

2. Public Service - Operation Brotherhood - Philippines

3. Community Leadership - Acharya Vinoba Bhave - Indian

4. Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts -

Robert Dick, Philippines and Mochtar Lubis, Indonesia

5. Peace and International Understanding - Mary Rutnam, Srilanka

Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the first Indian to win in 1958, in community leadership category.

48 indians have till now awarded the price.

2011 Magsaysay award winners from India Nileema Mishra and Harish Hande.

The other winners of the award for 2011 are: 

Filipino charity group Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. (AIDFI); 

Hasanain Juaini, who set up an Islamic school for girls in Indonesia;

Tri Mumpuni, Indonesia, who promoted micro hydropower technology;

Koul Panah, working to restore democracy in Cambodia.

Dr. Harish Hande, a U.S.-trained Indian engineer, was recognised for bringing solar lights to a country where half of the households have no power. The 44-year-old runs his own solar electric light company that has lit up over 1,20,000 households, to emerge as India's leading solar technology firm.

Ms. Neelima Mishra, a lender to the poorest in Maharashtra, was recognised for “her purpose-driven zeal to work tirelessly with villagers in Maharashtra...to address both their aspirations and their adversities through collective action and heightened confidence.”

Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha the chief architect of the Indian atomic energy program.

Dr. Bhabha, mechanical engineer and Phd from Cavendish Laboratory in physics by profession, from Gonvile and Caius College in Cambridge.

Dr. Bhabha was a world citizen qualified in all three subjects - education, science and culture.

In 1937, together with W. Heitler, a German physicist, Bhabha solved the riddle about cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are fast moving, extremely small particles coming from outer space. When these particles enter the earth’s atmosphere, they collide with the atoms of air and create a shower of electrons  by the cascade production of gamma rays and positive and negative electron pairs.. Bhabha’s discovery of the presence of nuclear particles (which he called mesons) in these showers . 'In 1938 Bhabha was the first to conclude that observations of the properties of such particles would lead to the straightforward experimental verification of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity'.

He derived a correct expression for the probability of scattering positrons by electrons, a process now known as Bhabha scattering.

In 1941, Homi Bhabha was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, London, in recognition of his contributions to the field of cosmic rays, elementary particles and quantum mechanics.

His Realization for a dedicated institute to research on fundamental science lead to the creation of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945 by The Great Legend, J R D Tata, Dr Bhabha become the Director of these institute from 1945-1966.It was inagurated in Kenilworth’ building, which was Bhabha’s ancestral home.

In 1948, Homi Bhabha was appointed the Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Commission.

Promulgation of the Indian Atomic Energy Act 1948, the Atomic Energy Commission was formed in August 1948.

The first Atomic Energy commission had three members with Bhabha as its Chairman. The other members were Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan.

Atomic Energy Commission started Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay on January 3, 1954 by the efforts of Dr Bhabha.

He served as the President of the first United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, which was held in Geneva in 1955.

He was the President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics from 1960 to 1963.

Bhabha was President of the National Institute of Sciences of India in 1963.

President of the Indian Science Congress Association in 1951.

He was awarded the title of Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1954.

Bhabha was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1941.

In 1943 he was awarded the Adams Prize by the Cambridge University for his work on cosmic rays.

In 1948 ,the Hopkins prize of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

In 1963 he was elected Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and Honorary Life Member of the New York Academy of Sciences.

In 1964 he was made Foreign Corresponding Academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Madrid.

The research reactors Apsara, Cirus and Zerlina were built under his active guidance.

Bhabha was killed in an air-crash near the famous Mont Blanc peak of the Alps on January 24, 1966.

Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET)  was renamed as Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) on January 22, 1967 as a fitting tribute to Dr. Homi Bhabha who died in an air crash.