Three score and ten years after achieving independence, India is still working to provide all of its people with the basics of life, be it health, education, housing, jobs or infrastructure. In addressing these myriad challenges, many heroes have emerged — men and women who have changed lives for the better.

The BusinessLine Changemaker Awards celebrates the work of these individuals and organisations, of whom there are many. Indeed, of the six categories that were up for awards, the Social Transformation category received the most nominations. Arriving at a shortlist from these formidable contenders proved a Herculean task. But eventually, we zeroed in on the following names:

Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan: An autonomous, secular, rights-based organisation that fights for the rights of Muslim women.

Sridhar Vembu: His company, Zoho, competes with the likes of Microsoft, Google and Salesforce with its SaaS products, which are used by over 30 million customers. Zoho’s products are made not just by top engineers but by people from economically poor backgrounds.

Ekam Foundation: A not-for-profit organisation working to improve public healthcare and lower child/maternal mortality.

GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute: It has changed the way emergencies are handled with its 108 service, India’s first mass-scale emergency response mechanism.

Centre for Aquatic Livelihood – Jaljeevika: This Pune-based NGO promotes entrepreneurship in inland fisheries as an alternative for those otherwise dependent solely on rain-fed agriculture.

Cochin International Airport: The first greenfield airport built in PPP mode and the first in the world operating entirely on solar power.

Energy Efficiency Services Ltd: A joint venture of PSUs, which is helping drive energy efficiency in India. Its appliances and technologies have saved over 35 billion kWh of energy a year.

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