For the people who refused to wait for permission.
We do not give the award to people who already have a stage.
Each year, five Indians from villages, bastis and small towns receive ₹1,00,000, a year of legal and accounting mentorship, and a documentary film about their work that they own outright.
Nominations for the 2026 awards open on 1 September and close on 30 November. The ceremony is in Delhi in March.
- 01
Sunita Rao
2025 · Koraput, Odisha
For turning a shut-down panchayat building into a 38-bed girls' hostel, run on a budget her own self-help group raises.
- 02
Imran Sheikh
2025 · Howrah, West Bengal
An auto driver who has run a free Sunday tuition class for 11 years. Two of his first students are now schoolteachers.
- 03
Lakshmi Bai
2025 · Bidar, Karnataka
ASHA worker who personally negotiated 47 child marriages back into the classroom in a single year.
- 04
Devraj Munda
2024 · Khunti, Jharkhand
Built a tribal-language library in a forest village from books his daughter brought back from her city college.
- 05
Fatima Ansari
2024 · Nuh, Haryana
Runs a sewing collective that has put 22 girls back in school using its own profits.
Know someone who quietly refuses to give up on their village?
Nominations for 2026 open on 1 September. Until then, your contribution funds the ₹5 lakh prize pool and the films.
Fund the Awards →