Padma Shri Awardees for Social Work 2021

● Tulsi Gowda : the daughter of Mother Nature had planted 30,000 saplings. She has
been lovingly called as “encyclopedia of the forest” and “tree goddess”. Tulsi is
estimated to have planted in the range of one lakh trees in Karnataka on her own.

● HarekalaHajabba:HarekalaHajabbaisanIndiansocialworkerandorangevendor living
and working in the city of Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. He saved money from his
business to build a school in his village. He is affectionately known as ‘Akshara
Santa’ (letter-saint).

● Rahibai Soma Popere : Meet Seed mother.Without attending school, she learned
about agro biodiversity, wild food resources and traditional culture. She took
responsibility to teach farmers and students about crop choices, soil fertility and pest
management.

● DalavaiChalapathiRao:Shri.DalavaiChalapathiRaonotonlyencouragedtheyouth in
the cra but also imparted proper training to them so that they can reach new heights in
the cras and also earn encouraging remuneration for their art. He also trained and
assisted them to get national awards

● Lakhimi Baruah: Lakhimi Baruah started the Konoklota Mahila Urban Cooperative
Bank in 1998 in Jorhat, Assam, to help women from underprivileged backgrounds
become financially independent and secure.

Sangkhumi Bualchhuak: Sangkhumi Bualchhuak was key to the initiation of many

reforms in the Mizo Society, leading to life-changing policies for the upliment of
women in particular, and the society in general.

● Parkash Kaur: This social worker from Jalandhar is recognised for raising about 80
abandoned girls in Punjab. Parkash was, herself, abandoned by her biological parents.

● JagdishChaudhary:The‘DomRaja’ofVaranasiwillbeposthumouslyconferredthe
Padma Shri title aer his untimely death in 2020. He and his clan took care of setting the
funeral pyres. According to PM Narendra Modi, Jagdish was one who worked for social
harmony throughout his life.

● Chutni Devi: The resident of Birbasha village in Saraikela-Kharsawan district of

Jharkhand was once branded as a witch by the society. But, she stood up against these
evils and helped 55 others against such atrocities.

● Tsultrim Chonjor: Aer spending about Rs 57 lakh from his pocket by selling is
ancestral property, Tsultrim single handedly built a 38-kilometer-long bridge from
Ramjak in Jammu and Kashmir to Kargyak village in Zanskar.
● Shyam Sundar Paliwal: Renowned as the father of ‘eco-feminism,’ Shyam Sundar
Paliwal started his initiative by planting a single tree in memory of his daughter, which
turned into a mission to plant 111 trees for every girl child born in his village.

2020 PADMA SHRI AWARDEES

● Jagdish Lal Ahuja : Jagdish Lal Ahuja has served free food to nearly 2,000 people
outside the PGIMER hospital daily for 15 years. A self-made crorepati who came to
India empty-handed aer partition, he sold off many properties to continue his mission.

● Mohammed Sharif : Mohammed Sharif has performed the final rites of more than
25,000 unclaimed bodies in and around the Faizabad region. Moreover, he did not
discriminate on the basis of religion and performed the religious rites in accordance with
the deceased person’s religion.

● JavedAhmadTak:JavedAhmadTakisaDivyangsocialworkerwhohasworkedwith
specially-abled children for over two decades. He established the Zaiba Aapa School
and Humanity Welfare Organization, Kashmir for the specially-abled.

● Sathyanarayan Mundayoor : Having moved to Arunachal Pradesh in 1979, social

worker Sathyanarayan Mundayoor promoted education and reading culture in remote
villages of the state for 4 decades. He started 13 libraries besides commencing the Home
library movement.

● Abdul Jabbar : Abdul Jabbar was the convenor of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog
Sangathan, an advocacy group pertaining to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. He had lost his
family and 50% of his vision due to the accident. He provided vocational training to
2,300 widows of those who passed away in the gas leak.

● UshaChaumar:UshaChaumarsufferedtremendoushardshipsaerbeingforcedinto
manual scavenging since the age of 7. Aer being rescued by Nai Disha NGO, she
became the president of Sulabh International Social Service organization through sheer
hard work. She is leading the fight against manual scavenging.
Popatrao Pawar : Popatrao Pawar is the sarpanch of the Hiware Bazaar village in
Maharashtra. He transformed it from a drought-prone village to a role model of
village development. The village has no BPL families, has planted lakhs of trees
and became one of the first Open Defecation Free villages in 1992.

● Harekala Hajabba : Harekala Hajabba has educated poor children in Newpadupu

village in Karnataka for over two decades through meagre earnings by selling oranges.
He has a plan of upgrading a school which he set up into a pre-University college.

● Arunoday Mondal : Dr. Arunoday Mondal travels 6 hours every weekend to treat
patients in remote Sunderban villages. He set up Sujan Sunderban, a free medical
service centre at his own residence aer the West Bengal floods of 2020. He has treated
more than 4,000 people so far.

● Radha Mohan & Sabarmatee : Radha Mohan, a retired Economics professor, and
Sabarmatee, a conversationist started Sambhav, a resource centre for farmers where
many pay a visit to learn organic farming. Furthermore, they transformed 36 hectares of
degraded land in Nayagarh district into a food forest. They also run the ‘Adopt a Seed’
initiative.

● Kushal Konwar Sarma:KushalKonwarSarmaisaveterinarianwhohasdevotedhis life

to the conservation of Asian elephants. He treats more than 700 elephants every year.

● Trinity Saioo:TrinitySaioo,aschoolteacherandfarmerled800womenintheJaintia Hills

region to cultivate and boost the popularity of the Lakadong variety of Turmeric. Her
foundation exports Lakadong turmeric to various parts of the country including
Southern states such as Kerala and Karnataka.

Ravi Kannan:AershiingtoAssamin2007,Dr.RaviKannan-asurgicaloncologist has

treated over 70,000 cancer patients free of cost in the Barak valley. He launched
innovative initiatives such as ‘home visits’ and ‘satellite’ clinics.

● S Ramakrishnan:SRamakrishnanisaDivyangactivistwhohasrehabilitatedmore than
14,000 people over 4 decades across 800 villages. He established the Amar Seva
Sangam, one of India’s largest establishments catering to the specially-abled people.

● Sundaram Verma : Sundaram Verma is a farmer who grew 50,000 trees using a
water-saving technique called ‘dryland agroforestry’ in Rajasthan. He also set up 6
nurseries, distributing 1,50,000 saplings among farmers.

● Munna Master:MunnaMasterisaBhajansingerfromatraditionalMuslimfamilyin
Jaipur. He has penned Bhajans in praise of Lord Krishna and the cow.

● Yogi Aeron:YogiAeron,adoctorstartedHelpingHand,Dehraduntoprovidemedical help

to people living in the hilly areas. He treats over 500 patients free of cost every year.
Aeron returned from the US in 1983 leaving behind his lucrative practice.

● Rahibai Soma Popere : Rahibai Soma Popere has been honoured with the title of
‘Seed Mother’ by CSIR for her work in the tribal-dominated region of Ahmednagar.
She has not only conserved 50 acres of collective indigenous land but also established a
seed bank.

● Himmata Ram Bhambhu:HimmataRamBhambhuisafarmerandenvironmentalist

promoting afforestation in desert areas. Additionally, he has taken care of more than
1000 birds and animals by feeding them with 20 kg grain every day.

● Moozhikkal Pankajakshi:MoozhikkalPankajakshihaspreservedthetraditionalart
form of Nokkuvidhya Pavakalli, which is under the threat of extinction. It is an
indigenous puppet theatre form practised from 5 centuries which narrates the entire
Ramayana and Mahabharata.