Honouring India’s Unsung Changemakers

The fourth Nexus of Good Annual Awards will honour 25 outstanding organisations and individuals on November 16, 2025, at PHD House, New Delhi. The jury, chaired by Mr Deepak Gupta, former UPSC Chairman, selected the awardees.

The primary objective of the Nexus of Good movement has been to bring together good people to identify, understand, appreciate, replicate, and scale good work that is being done in society as a whole. The idea is to evolve an alternative narrative to the negativity that is becoming all-pervasive in social media and other mediums of communication. Such negativity is impacting the thoughts and actions of a large number of people, especially the impressionistic young minds.

Fortunately, the movement has gained momentum. There is a vibrant portal, www.nexusofgood.com. There are hundreds of positive stories on this portal, and the number is growing each day. The Twitter handle has thousands of followers. A quarterly letter is published to highlight positive stories, as is done every week in a column in The Millennium Post. City Chapters of Nexus of Good hold periodic events to provide a platform to highlight and showcase good work.

As in the past few years, this year’s awards go to a combination of exemplary and replicable work being done through public-private partnerships by civil servants and non-governmental organisations.

Amongst the awardees is a bright and young IAS officer, Rajendra Pensiya, from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is being recognised for several initiatives he took in Sambhal District when he was posted as its District Magistrate. These initiatives include the restoration of biodiversity and addressing water scarcity by rejuvenation 209 kilometres of river that flows through the district. His initiatives also led to the transformation and upgradation of government schools.

Technology can transform governance. This has been amply demonstrated by Mohit Garg, SP, Rajnandgaon. He is being awarded for the use of technology in traffic and crime management. These efforts have led to a dramatic improvement in conviction rates. The model that he has put in place is replicable and scalable in the true spirit of Nexus of Good.

In the Administration segment of the awards, the work done by another IAS officer, Naveen Kumar Chandra, in Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal, was considered by the jury for the award. What this officer has done in the form of turning plastic into possibility, ‘waste to wealth’, holds promise for the rest of the country.

For the first time in the past few years, an award is being given to the initiative by a High Court. The Kerala High Court has taken the initiative to set up the first digitally-driven native court, transforming and fast-tracking high-volume cheque dishonour cases under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act by eliminating physical court visits.

There are a few awards announced in the Environment segment. One of these awards goes to an Indian Forest Service Officer who had won the Award during the previous year as well. On this occasion, it is for what he has done in another District, Gondwana, and for a different activity. He had his dedicated team set up a Marine Fossil Park, thereby pioneering an effort to preserve and showcase a vital part of geological history.

Amongst the categories of awards, the maximum number of awards has been given to those in the field of education.

Himanshu Nagpal, an IAS officer, has done some remarkable work in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Varanasi. His initiative, “Mission Parvartan” to rejuvenate and modernise Anganwadi Centres, holds enormous potential in the context of the National Education Policy announced in 2020. He is being awarded for this initiative.

In a terrorist infested district, Gadhchiroli, the SP, Neelotpal, felt that setting up libraries in each village and making them centres of learning and dialogue would help handle extremism. The formula seems to be working. He gets rewarded for this.

One of the awardees in the health segment is the Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH). It has a mission to make India malnutrition-free free where every child has an equal start to life. They are now engaged in an effort to strengthen the existing Anganwadi system through the use of technology.

Dell Technologies Solar Communities Hubs India (SCHI) is an awardee for bridging the digital divide and empowering underserved communities. Here is another model that can be replicated and scaled.

Yet another example of using technology to bring about transformation has been presented by Ashima Mittal, an IAS officer in her capacity as Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Nashik, Maharashtra. She set up the first digital livestock management system, “E-Pashu”. So far, 13.85 lakh animals and 9,832 farmers have been registered.

Voluntary Integration for Education and Welfare Society (VIEWS) has spawned an organic farming movement in Ganjam District of Odisha. This initiative is empowering tribal and Dalit women farmers to adopt sustainable and financially viable practices.

In the Community Services segment, one of the awardees is Meals and Happiness Charitable Trust, which has been providing meals, ration support, medical aid, and emotional sustenance, especially to cancer patients.

Prayoga Institute of Education Research, Bengaluru, is on a mission to improve the utility and quality of education through evidence-based practice and innovation. It has been awarded for nurturing the next generation of researchers fr the nation.

Award has also been given a unique initiative, Mypustak.com, led by a former marine engineer, Mukul Agrawal, who has set up an entity to give books a second life by collecting second-hand books, refurbishing them, and putting them to use.

These are some of the many examples of the good work happening around us. They inspire us to believe that good can happen because it is happening. These examples also make us believe that if all the rascals and ruffians can come together and make life difficult for us, the good ones can also come together and radiate goodness… the essence of Nexus of Good.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is an author and a former civil servant