Festival to honor people who selflessly protect social welfare
It is planned to give 25 lakhs at the rate of 1 lakh each to honor the actions of 25 social activists. Profile and Activities of 25 Social Activists Who Received Big Incentives for Their Outstanding Service
1. Amudavalli- Tribal Activist
- 38-year-old Amudavalli belongs to the Yaravalar tribal community of Anaimalai circle.
- Studied upto 12th standard.
- The Maraval tribal community is a community living in the dense forest along the Amaravati Dam.
- He hails from Pinnani, a village with no basic facilities. He is constantly struggling to provide livelihood to the poor tribal people.
- Those who worked as slaves in the plantations were registered under the National Rural Employment Scheme and ensured employment opportunities and ended the slavery system.
- 70 Scheduled Tribe community women were bought land titles and 18 houses were constructed in his continuous efforts.
- Obtained Tribal Welfare Board cards for 48 women. Through this, 5 women who have lost their husbands have received help from the government.
- Amudavalli has been working tirelessly for his tribal people by providing caste certificate, family card, birth, death certificate, old age allowance, help during corona calamity..
- Conducts free evening classes at his home.
- He is helping 10 tribal village children to attend school and provide medical assistance.
- The fact that he never received help or money from anyone for these works adds to his credit.
2. Asina – Transgender Activist
47-year-old Asina is transgender..
- She is supporting the helpless transgenders who have been neglected by their families so that transgenders like her should not suffer the humiliation, pain, neglect etc.
- He is constantly fighting to eradicate the situation of transgender people doing sex work, shop collecting and extorting money in Pudukottai district.
- In his continuous efforts, he has created a situation where transgenders are not engaged in sex work in Pudukottai district
- In his continuous efforts, he has so far obtained free housing permits for 41 transgenders through the District Collector.
- He is sheltering and supporting transgenders who have been neglected in his residence obtained by the district collector.
- Through his efforts, transgenders get identity cards through social welfare department and get government schemes…
- Trained and licensed 18 transgender drivers. Not only that, he is rearing cattle to live decently even though he has no land.
In addition to this, she is also working to plant one crore palm seeds on the banks of lakes and ponds in Pudukottai district.
3. Ravi- Helper for Hill People
- 30 years ago, Ravi came to a hill village in Dharmapuri district from Attur with his family to farm…
- After 4 years parents get health problem and they go to their hometown..
- But Ravi did not go back to his hometown as he became close friends with the hill people of five villages around there…
- It is not so easy for the hill people to get medical care for humans and animals… those hill villages are surrounded by mountains on three sides and forest on one side and there is no major transport or any other facilities.
- Many people and livestock were affected continuously. In order to avoid this, Ravi learns essential first aid for humans and animals and helps mountain villages in dangerous situations from time to time.
- Lives a simple life by cycling, commuting by public transport..
- Not only that, the children of the hill people there were less able to go to school and study.. For this purpose, he went to every house and every village to take free tuition and taught them. Ravi, who studied B.A (History) and B.A (English literature) at that time.. .
- She is a hilly student who lost her father and took Tucson at a young age and is currently studying in IIT Chennai.
For the welfare of the hill people, Ravi is still going around like a young man at the age of 70 without even getting married.
4. Deivaraj- Activist for the mentally challenged
- 43-year-old Tirupur-based Deivaraj owns a barber shop
He has been doing various social work for the past 23 years. - He arranges for homeless mentally ill people, old platform dwellers, leprous patients etc. to be sheltered in various shelters by doing haircuts, grooming, dressing them.
- Apart from this, he has been doing many social works such as haircuts for lepers, burying destitute people and giving food to those who are given opportunities.
- He mostly does these jobs through the income from his barber shop.
- 30 volunteers like him come to help this service without any expectations.
- Even if we rehabilitate the mentally ill, elderly indigent, we cannot keep a watchful eye on them. Therefore, an attempt was made to build a shelter to accommodate them in one place, but due to economic problems, the wish was not fulfilled…
5. Sudhakar-Vidyalekshmi Couple – Feeders of Common People
✓ These people belonging to Arani have been providing food to the common people for the past 1800 days (almost 5 years) at the rate of 100 people per day.
✓ 13 kg of rice per day is cooked daily at home and given to elderly people by cart…
✓ Yogurt, tomato, lemon, rice along with these meals and egg and a piece of chicken once a week for protein.
✓ There are not even big utensils for cooking… 2 kg of food is prepared at home 6, 7 times only Vidyalekshmi packs and transports Sudhagar…
✓ Even on bad days like the days when his father and father-in-law died, when his wife and children fell ill, they did not stop giving food.
✓ This year 10 students are studying in college through their efforts…
✓ They don’t compromise on quality as it is free food..
✓ Let’s do as much as we can sir…maybe it’s just food…today we are giving to 100 people or tomorrow we will give to 50 people….till the end we will continue to give what we can, says Sudhakar with confidence..
6. Serena- Dark Children’s Activist
Although Serena was born in Tamil Nadu, she grew up entirely in Bengaluru.
- Serena who comes to Kalpakkam during the holidays gets the opportunity to meet the children of the dark community. Although Serena has the opportunity to work in big companies, she decided to go directly to the people and join the course and work with the children here from Kalpakkam.
- Almost two years after a boy’s tooth fell out and he was always bleeding, doctors told him he would die, but after four days in multiple hospitals, the boy saved his life.
- After this incident, Serinava has started to adopt a person in their family and they are working on the education and health of the children here.
- It has been exactly six years since Serena came here.. Although she has not seen a big change yet, many things have changed in the basics..
- When they first come here, they don’t dress up, they don’t go to school, but now 50 children go to school, everyone wears dress up.
- Children whose parents are illiterate are going to school for the first time
- Serena’s ideal is to produce at least one doctor, one police officer and one nurse from here.
- Here he has established a cottage for himself in this dark area.
- Apart from the needed help, Serena is working with her own ideals even in the most difficult conditions such as income from making tee shirts, designs, rings, chains etc., and the help of friends…
7. Su. Bharathidasan- Environmental Activist
✓ Su. Bharathidasan started his journey towards environmental protection and conservation of species in the 1990s.
✓ Along with his friends, he created a charitable organization called Arulagam and is its secretary.
✓ Arulagam organization has been working for the past 23 years with the concern of protecting rare and endangered plants, animals and birds along with people.
✓ Arulagam is also running Poonthalir Nursery to grow plants suitable for the soil and plants that attract birds and butterflies.
✓ At present, about 130 local plants are being grown in Arulagam’s Poonthlir nursery and those who are engaged in forest creation are benefiting.
- At present he is giving special attention to the conservation of the critically endangered vulture species in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
- His uniqueness in the protection of the vulture
It is noteworthy that in 2016, when CEPF Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, an international organization headquartered in America, selected 15 people from around the world for the ‘Biodiversity hotspot hero’ award, he was selected from India. - He has also been selected as the coordinator in South India to organize the work related to ‘Bark Vulture Conservation’.
- He has also been selected as a member of the Vulture Conservation Committee formed by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
- Member of Tamil Nadu Wildlife Board (Tamil Nadu Wildlife Board) elected by Govt.
Books Written
- Green Thinking – Published by Arulagam — 2004
Quotable Quotes on Nature - Voice of the Forest – Published by Bharthi Puthakalayam — 2012
Voice of the Jungle - The Vulture and the Tribe – Published by Uyir — 2019
Vulture and Tribes - In Search of Vultures – Published by Kalam Kriya — 2021 – a Bilingual (Tamil and English) Coffee table Book speaks about vultures (Tamil and English)
Book compiled
A Mountain and Some Politics- Dr. V. Jeevanatham – Published by Velicham – 2017 – Politics on Mountains – translated article from Prof. Madhav D. Gadgil
Therikadum and Titanium – Dr. R. Ramesh, Mining issue in Tamil
8 Buhari Raja – Social Media Activist
- After studying engineering, a job in Dubai means a lot of salary, and the idea is to wholeheartedly support the common people.
- Returned to Madurai after quitting his job, he has done many jobs like radio, magazine, assistant director for field experience and financial need.
- Then, he himself constructs a channel called Buhari Junction.
- In it he starts recording the achievements, stories and pains of ordinary people.
- This channel has supported many people as it has given attention to the needs of people who have not been given attention to the self-reliant life of a person on the verge of suicide.
- The aim of this channel is only to introduce the world of common people.
- A folk singer, a theater operator, a Petromax light shop owner, a tandora artist, a pen mechanic, a puncture lady for 50 years, and a dog statue maker shared their lives with her.
- Even though his channel has less ‘views’, the people he interviews have given him a helping hand. It gave him great satisfaction.
- Sometimes after watching the videos published on his channel, big media and well-off YouTube channels have published videos about those people.
- They searched and found and interviewed the person involved in the process of disposing of the bodies of those who committed suicide in Kodaikanal. A couple spoke at length saying they had given up on suicidal thoughts after watching his interview.
- Later, another time he released a video of six girls in Kothagiri lovingly caring for their mother who was paralyzed due to paralysis of arms and legs. After watching the video, the girls got help in their education through a foundation.
This simple man has moved the lives of the common people to the next level through his channel, Buhari Jungson, who explains the condition of the common people through his channel.
9. Nagaraj – Rural Self Help Groups Coordinator
- At a time when there was no knowledge and understanding of self-help groups, inspired by the service of Dr. Mohammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate of Bangladesh, a service organization called Microcredit Foundation (Village Sudar) was started by Mr. Manisundar in 1997 with Mr. Nagarajan as its project leader.
- This organization is working to realize the essential needs of rural and urban poor women in particular
- The service has reached around 10000 families through the diligent work of Nagaraj. It is trying to get the necessary needs of the poor people including education, housing, toilet, medical facilities, saving habits and the qualifications required to get bank loans.
- Also, by providing educational loans, this organization has created hundreds of graduates (doctors, engineers, etc.) and the loyal travelers of this organization have been able to save a few crores of rupees and get bank loans of several crores of rupees.
- In particular, about Rs. 50 crores have been saved and over Rs. 100 crores have been given as bank loans. Don’t just think that the loan provided by the banks in the bank loan is just paper money, the amount of loan given by the bank is the amount secured by the labor of the public for future needs and how it should be paid back to the bank in currency and honestly, and continue to work for their needs.
10. A. Raphael Raj, Educational Activist for Tribals
Acts for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Tribes in India. Villupuram District, Vikravandi Union is functioning through a work site system called “Kavasam” in Kakkanoor- Mangalapuram.
The Armory serves as an educational and social activity center. More than 50 poor and needy children are staying and studying in the hostel in this center. In particular, through this center called Kavasam, it is contributing to the development, welfare and educational rights of the poor and needy people.
The tribe is working with various organizations to get housing title, residence, caste proof for the black people and to conduct summer training courses for the black students.
For more than 7 years, Irular has conducted summer training courses for students by keeping them at Kavasam center for 15 days.
Under the Government of Tamil Nadu’s housing scheme, 85 houses have been built in Judge K. Chanduru’s residence in Chittalingamadam, 26 houses in Veeranamur village and 39 houses in Thenneri village. Along with the government funding, Kavasam – Claret provides additional funding through the council to help build mattresses and stairs in homes.
He has provided relief assistance to the poor and needy people, including the Irula tribe, who were greatly affected during the Corona period.
In Dindivanam, the mother provides free education to the students in Tamil Middle School and also helps the students with education and mid-day meals.
11. Daisirani- Rural Health Activist
She has been working as a nurse for 14 years. She has worked in Punalwasal village near Thanjavur for more than 10 years.
At that time, when more pregnant women were going to private hospitals, Kiri took the government hospital and the importance given to pregnant women there and made them go to the government hospital and provided them with the necessary help.
Not only that, he is the first to be called by the simple people of the village when labor occurs at night. He is constantly working for the pregnant women of the village by taking a cart at night or taking 108 to the families who have nothing.
He has been working in Trichy district for the past 1 year after getting transfer from the place where he worked for more than 10 years.
12. Vijay (A) Vijayakanth- Animal welfare activist
38 year old Vijay from Avinasi Velayuthampalayam..
✓ He has been catching snakes for more than 15 years and releasing them safely into the wild.. So far he has saved lakhs of snakes. He doesn’t take money from anyone for that and he does it for free.. He has also created 100’s of snake catching youth
✓ Not only this, he also takes care of homeless puppies, battered dogs etc. on the street. At present, there are 144 dogs, both puppies and dogs.
✓ Apart from that, he is serving 30 meals every morning in Avinasi in memory of Anna.
✓ For these he is doing various tasks from 3 am to 11 pm. Children are studying in government schools.
13. Joshua – Tribal Activist
For more than 10 years, donors have realized the needs of the people in Anaikatti hill villages under Veerapandi Panchayat, including children’s schooling, college education, health, employment, medical facilities, government assistance, household toilet, medicine for animals, equipment needed for Anaikatti, Kondanur, Tumanur schools. He has received help through Staying in the mountain village of Anaikatti, he has dedicated his life to work for the mountain people.
He spent 18 lakh rupees from the sale of his property on 2nd road of Gandhipuram along with a subsidy of 1.80 thousand rupees given by the government for the hill dwellers of Kandypuram. He has built 5 houses in 2020.
3 lakhs government grant to build 7 more houses in the same area, 6 houses were completed and handed over two months ago for 10.5 lakh rupees provided by Profel company under the supervision of Rock organization. Another house is in progress.
14. Manikandan – Sports Coach for Rural Students
He and his friend are currently training students in Thanjavur Pappannadu village..They give good training to the students in the village and send them to Chennai to go to the next level..Many who have trained with him have got employment in the fields like army, railways.
Not only that, he does not get money from anyone because the rural government students are very poor students.. Friends for this effort. 5000 rupees per month. Many of his trained students are making achievements at the district, state and university levels.
15. Arumugam – Social Activist
In order to do his teaching work, he adopted more than 50 villages inhabited by Irular Irular people in Palavekadu and Ponneri areas and provided them with free evening classes, education, knowledge, rights, food, clothing, self-employment opportunities for 10 years. He is doing more. He is making a plan for everyone, old people, widows, children and is implementing it.
16. Chanduru Kumar – Blood Donation Coordinator
As far as blood donation can be remembered in the area, he has been continuously donating blood, raising awareness and forming a team for that purpose.
Manitham Kappom Group started Villupuram Kallakurichi Cuddalore Tiruvannamalai Puducherry for 4 consecutive years and so far more than two thousand people have donated blood in emergencies in government and private hospitals.
He has been providing various assistance to the differently abled people in rural areas such as government concessions and National Identity Card, three wheeler.
Social services
He has coordinated more than 20 blood donation camps and donated blood.
*More than 10 colleges have paid scholarship and tuition fees to students. *Assistance to disabled persons to get three wheelers
*Through the program called “Let’s give a hand to education”, educational aids and educational equipment are provided to poor students studying in government schools and students who have lost their parents.
*Drug awareness and POCSO Act awareness among school students
He has done awareness about cyber crimes among college students.
17. Bhakyaletsumi – Activist for Destitute Women
✓ 2018 Gaja Cyclone constructed a volleyball ground for Peravoorani Government Girls High School with about 1.5 lakh relief money received as compensation for coconut trees..
✓ In the name of ‘Annam Parinditu’, since the Corona period, he has been providing midday meals to the needy and helping them earn a small income, medical assistance and burial in case of death.
✓ The women abandoned by their husbands, destitute widows, women with disabilities are directly brought to the attention of the District Social Welfare Officer and the District Collector.
✓ As a result of this, he has started a charity organization called Anbil Nam Foundation in Peravoorani and with the advice and assistance of the District Collector, he has started a destitute elderly shelter called Anbil Nam Illam in the government building and is caring and caring for the destitute elderly.
18. Manjari – Urban Well Renovator
Manjari hails from Chinnalapatti in Dindigul district
✓ Basically he graduated in Architecture and worked in cities like Mumbai, Delhi. He is saddened that only those who are here have a home and those who are not here have nothing. Then he comes to work like renovating old buildings..
In this, once when Kuku Kattupalli met Shivraj, he gave him a book called Fire is God’s Life.. It disturbed his sleep and made him think in many ways. In this book, a person named Nikamananda goes to a village where children are suffering from cancer, their heads are 20 kg, and they are a basket of bones. He found the reason for this was the chemical waste mixed in the drinking water.. In protest of this, he fasted and on the 80th day he was interviewed only by the BBC.. He died on the 144th day.. Hearing this, a scientist named CT Aggarwal went on a fast. He dies but only change never comes.. So many lives are sacrificed for water..
✓ At the same time, in a village called Pulianur near Kuku Kattupalli, people are seen waiting for water to come for only one hour.
✓ In order to investigate the water problem, they restored the unused village public wells with the help of their friends and gave them to the people. This is the first task.
✓ Not only in the flat area but also in the hilly villages where carts cannot go, they are recovering the local wells and making them available to the people to quench their thirst and the hardships of carrying a jug for many kilometers. So far 13 village wells have been restored and given to the people.
19. Madhumita Gomathinayagam – Disabled Activist.
✓ India’s First Transgender Human Resource Management (HR
(Professional) Graduate and working.
✓ For more than 15 years, he has been providing various assistance to the families living in poverty such as differently abled and elderly.
✓ He has been providing necessary assistance to differently abled people like artificial leg, wheel chair, stick through his own efforts and by getting help from his friends in the integrated districts of Chennai.
✓ In addition to this, he also provides essential needs such as school help, uniform, notes etc. to differently abled women. Apart from this, he is doing his best to help the families of destitute old women and women who have been abandoned by their husbands.
✓ Provides 20 kg of groceries per month to the families of differently abled persons. He has been working as a volunteer for environmental protection, showing the way for transgenders to study, creating awareness among college and school students, environmental awareness, help needed during the Corona period.
20. Devi- Children’s Activist
Devi hails from Kurinchipadi, Cuddalore. He works at the Community Resource Center there. This community resource center is a special school for students with cerebral palsy, which is where Devi works.
He has tiled the center with his own initiative as the children in the center are suffering from bruises on their hands and feet. In addition, he bought the necessary equipment for the students and when there was no place to store it, he brought the bureau etc. in his efforts.
Not only this, these children do not know about natural disasters themselves. Even if it is at night, the parents will come and see. If they pass urine and feces at night, their condition will be worse.
During the Corona period, he bought groceries and vegetables for the poor people and the families of these children.
He buys sewing machines for lonely widows, as these children cannot sit like other children.
Along with this, he is taking care of such students and giving them the necessary help while going to district schools.
21. Relationships Foundation – Amarar Activists
Since 2017, they have been burying people who die without support in districts like Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram.. They are burying 130 bodies per month. They are burying people who have been hit by trains, people who died by hanging, and rotting bodies. 144 dead bodies of economically backward families have been cremated according to their religion. In 2023 alone, 1473 destitute bodies were cremated. Along with this, the destitute people are admitted to the hospital and placed in destitute homes etc. By 2024, they are trying to build the Samattva Mayan.
22. Vyasa Companions – Education and Disaster Activists.
After cleaning and preparing the sewer area, we started running a school in the year 2016 named “Dr. Ambedkar Rational School” on the terrace of our brother Satish’s house on the other side.
After that, we overcame all the problems by working together with our people, collected bills from the streets, collected funds from the socially concerned people and built a night school in our streets.
In our area, we turned our children to education as much as we could, instead of turning to ganja and drinking. On the other hand, we started practicing Kabaddi, Carrom, Chess and Silambam with our group of friends who won medals at the international level. We have also conducted Computer Class, Communication Class, Children safety class.
Now we have done everything in education and sports with a total of 15 teachers and we have run the school in the best direction. 190 Basanga is studying.
There are many children who do not have a mother or a father or both. We have achieved 100% results for 7 years.
Without this, when people were suffering all the time like 2015 Chennai flood, Gaja storm and Nivar storm, we would have contributed a little bit. Even if nothing is possible, we remain a comfort and support.
We have done as much work as possible in people’s problems including electricity board problem, tahsildar office problem, old age allowance, Aadhaar, ration card, sewerage problem.
In addition, we are conducting blood donation camp, legal aid camp, medical camp, eye examination camp, sports festival, Pongal festival, education festival, community gathering programs.
Apart from that, in our team, we have reached the police station, court and legal aid for urgent problems with the people of the ministry.
Now is our power
We have set up social work areas for the people.
It was in this situation that the Corona epidemic came in 2020. Lockdown has affected our people more than Corona. During that time, we went door-to-door and distributed rice and vegetables to around 800 families who were affected by the lockdown. We probably fed more than 2000 people.
In the second wave of Corona, there are many needs like need of ambulance, need of oxygen, need of Corona bed, need of Remdesivir medicine, need of vaccines. It was a time when those with money were starving for oxygen. Then we decided to do “Free Auto Ambulance Service with Oxygen Facility”, first one auto was ready, then 10 autos were converted into “Free Oxygen Ambulance”. We arranged autos for non covid patients. We pitched a tent at Mullai Nagar Platform and the “Auto Ambulance Camp” ministry camped there, slept and provided 24×7 ambulance service. As a result, over 450 precious lives were saved. This is the conclusion of the youth of North Chennai..
23. Hari Krishnan – Tamil Nadu Volunteers Coordinator
During the Corona period, he formed a volunteer force of 50 people to support the government and took the lead in fulfilling the needs of the people of Chennai on behalf of the government.
In 2021, it directly helped save patients by providing life support in government hospitals, touching and lifting people who fainted due to lack of oxygen.
Due to the severity of the Corona virus, the Tamilnadu Government has joined hands with the Tamil Nadu Volunteers Group to form a group of 1500 volunteers in 38 districts and provide food to the victims who are fighting for their lives from inside the hospital with protective shields.
A team to assist the doctors and nurses to go to the toilet, a team to advise the corona infected, a team to inform about the availability of beds in the hospital, a team to go to the hospital for those who are struggling for life, a team to provide food to the isolated, a team to serve the homeless, suicide attempters. He has helped lakhs of people across Tamil Nadu by forming around 12 groups to carry out everything from stopping and providing ozone, a group to help those in need of oxygen, a group to donate blood, maybe all these fail, and even funeral if they die. Apart from this, rescue and provide medical treatment to the destitute residents of Rotorua, old age and leprosy patients and secure them in their homes in coordination with the police department.
Coordinating the Chief Minister’s work of planting one crore palm seeds, going to the field and saving the common people in all disasters like rain, floods, storms, even the heavy rains and floods that have occurred so far. In the current storm in Chennai and the rains in South Tamil Nadu, he has mobilized thousands of volunteers, rescued people and met the emergency needs of thousands of people.
Identified social workers across Tamil Nadu and mobilized them to act as frontline unpaid field workers for the Tamil Nadu government, and at IIT Chennai, government school students and poor children living in villages took over the IIT Madras program, which created this opportunity for all in a big way and in 2 years, about 80,000 Motivating the students, many government school students today have the opportunity to study in IITs. Hari continues to work as a field worker, social activist and volunteer.
24. V. P. Gunasekaran, Social Activist.
Originally a sugar factory engineer, he left it and came to the field for people’s work. For more than 30 years, he has been fighting and helping the welfare and rights issues of the poor and needy people. Veerappan’s role in bringing to light the cruelty meted out to tribal people was crucial. During Korana, he helped the starving mountain people by getting help in many places. Many schools came up in the hill villages due to his continuous efforts.
Through his initiative, he has recently built a rehabilitation center for tribals near Tamaraikarai with the contribution of his comrades at a cost of around 50 lakhs.
Even today, he continues to help and implement plans for the welfare of the hill dwellers, for education and medicine.
25. Derrick Hudson – Sports Industry Activist
He works as a physical education teacher for school students and also works as a sports coach.
He is making achievements in the field of sports…
Along with this, he is providing free training to the poor and needy students who are interested in sports by buying the necessary equipment at his own expense.
Many people trained by him have achieved success at national and state level and have got employment in government jobs!
