Nominees Announced! Meet India’s Top 5 Social Impact Changemakers

Across India, everyday people are stepping forward to challenge injustice and build inclusion. From restoring dignity to widows and ending caste-based exploitation, to fighting for nomadic tribes, forgotten elderly, and persons with disabilities — these changemakers are proving that empathy, courage, and persistence can reshape lives.

As part of Optum Presents The Better India Showcase, supported by the M3M Foundation — a tribute to dreamers and doers driving change across nine key areas of impact — we spotlight the Social Impact Changemaker category. Here, five remarkable individuals are showing that progress begins not with power or position, but with ordinary people taking extraordinary steps toward equality.

1) Jas Kalra

At just 25, Jas Kalra carries forward the legacy of the Earth Saviours Foundation, a refuge for those society leaves behind: the abandoned elderly, people with disabilities, and the forgotten.

Since stepping into leadership in 2022–23, Jas has sheltered over 1,200 people and personally arranged dignified cremations for more than 3,000 unclaimed bodies. His impact runs deep: over 15,000 lives touched, 500 families reunited, and countless meals and medical care provided.

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2) Mittal Patel

Once an IAS aspirant, Mittal chose a different path, one that gave voice to India’s most invisible communities. In 2006, she founded the ‘Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch’ to fight for the rights of nomadic and de-notified tribes, long stigmatised as “criminal tribes”. 

What began with securing legal identity for 60,000 people has, nearly two decades later, grown into a movement. Today, her efforts have given over 7.5 lakh people legal recognition, enabled 5,000 tribal members to access education and jobs, and supported more than 1,000 settlements. Through the Livelihood Programme, the organisation has provided interest-free loans to 12,000 families, helping them become self-reliant.

For the past decade, the work has also extended to environmental conservation — planting 16.5 lakh trees and restoring over 380 lakes.

From schools to microfinance, the model now spans across Gujarat and beyond. Honoured with awards like the Nari Shakti Puraskar, Mittal continues to turn resilience into recognition for forgotten communities.

3) Pramod Zinjade

In 2020, a grassroots activist from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur dared to confront centuries-old stigma around widowhood. Starting in Herwad, he led the first Gram Sabha resolution banning regressive widow rituals, a move that soon echoed across over 10,000 gram panchayats.

That activist was Pramod Zinjade.

By 2025, over 7,600 villages had formalised reforms, inspiring state-level policy responses. The movement restored dignity, allowing widows to participate in community life once denied to them. Facing resistance from caste and patriarchal traditions, he built alliances through village assemblies and recognition programmes.

4) Ashif Shaikh

At just 18, Ashif founded ‘Jan Sahas’ in 2000, determined to end the dehumanising practices of manual scavenging and bonded labour. His Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan grew into a national movement, rehabilitating over 41,000 manual scavengers, rescuing bonded labourers, and supporting thousands of rape survivors with dignity and justice.

His fight reached more than 18 states, influencing the 2013 Scavenging Prohibition Act and reshaping India’s approach to caste-based exploitation. Beyond legal victories, his work freed communities from hazardous and humiliating conditions. Despite enduring caste discrimination himself, Ashif built trust and systemic change for India’s most oppressed.

5) Vineet Saraiwala

When the pandemic lockdown exposed the harsh exclusion faced by persons with disabilities, Vineet left a secure corporate job to build something transformative. In 2020, he founded Atypical Advantage, India’s first inclusive job platform for persons with disabilities.

What began as a bold experiment has grown into a nationwide movement, hosting more than 40,000 candidate profiles, partnering with over 450 companies, and sensitising three lakh employees to inclusion.

Beyond jobs, it uplifts artists with disabilities through creative showcases. He has been recognised by the National Startup Awards and Shark Tank India.

These changemakers show us that progress is born from persistence and everyday action, not from waiting for the perfect moment.

The Showcase may be a single event, but the stories don’t end there.

• Every winner (and several nominees) will be continuously featured across The Better India platforms through:
• Video documentaries
• In-depth written stories
• Short reels and social content

We believe that the true power of recognition lies in what comes after the applause. So expect these stories to stay with you long after September, throughout the year.

Optum Presents The Better India Showcase, supported by the M3M Foundation, goes live on 18 September 2025 — a celebration of service, resilience, and the people building India’s better future.

Meet the nominees, explore their stories, and follow this journey of impact — all in one place: Click here to explore.