Anurag Thakur underlines role of social entrepreneurs in nation building

New Delhi: Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said the role of social entrepreneurs was increasingly becoming critical to nation building.

He made these remarks after giving away the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award-2022, instituted by the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and Schwab Foundation.

The award was won by Aniket Doegar of Haqdarshak', a tech platform that connects citizens with their eligible welfare schemes.

Haqdarshak has trained over 22,800 agents across 24 states, providing benefits worth Rs 4,000 crore to over 20 lakh families and 35,000 micro businesses.

Thakur also gave away mementos to the finalists -- Osama Manzar of Digital Empowerment Foundation, Ajaita Shah of Frontier Markets, Wilma Rodrigues of Sahas Zero Waste and Meera Shenoy of Youth4Jobs.

The function was attended by Shyam S Bhartia, Director, Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, and Chairman and Founder, Jubilant Bhartia Group, Hari S Bhartia, Director, Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, Co-Chairman & Founder, Jubilant Bhartia Group.

Today entrepreneurs are finding innovative solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing the nation, Thakur said at the event.

He said entrepreneurs were providing new-age solutions to challenges of urban population and disrupting the rural economy alike through their high-tech problem solving, even in the realms of agriculture productivity, rural livelihood and livestock well being, among others.

The minister also said government support has been key in providing enabling assistance and state-of-the-art infrastructure, be it broadband to enhance internet access in rural areas or digital literacy and financial inclusion programmes.

Thakur also lauded the Indian businesses for spending Rs 1 trillion as of March 2022 towards Corporate Social Responsibility in areas such as poverty alleviation, healthcare, education and environment, among others.