In their 23rd year now, the awards are among India's most prestigious recognitions for people and organisations working to promote equal employment opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). NCPEDP has been partnering with erstwhile Mindtree, now a part of LTIMindtree, for the last seven years to empower PWDs and inspire others to embrace the cause, accelerating inclusive and sustainable growth.
A total of 18 awardees were adjudged Role Models this year. Five of them received Special Mentions. Mr. Arman Ali, Executive Director of NCPEDP, said, "It is encouraging to see individuals and organisations undertaking diverse initiatives to promote employment for PwDs. The Helen Keller Awards are aimed at identifying and highlighting these commendable efforts so as to motivate more people to contribute to the movement. It was not easy to narrow down the more than 110 nominations to 18 awardees. All those who applied for the awards are winners in their own right. On behalf of NCPEDP and LTIMindtree, I congratulate them on their brilliant work and wish them all the best."
Debashis Chatterjee, CEO and Managing Director of LTIMindtree, said, "It is an honour to be associated with these prestigious awards and turn the spotlight on spirited efforts to drive social equity and inclusion. These values are true catalysts for social change and core to our business. Our long collaboration with NCPEDP on these awards is driven by the belief that creating skilling and employment opportunities for PwDs empowers them to become a part of the social mainstream and earn dignified livelihoods. We congratulate this year's award winners for their inspiring advocacy of social equity."
The winners of the NCPEDP-LTIMindtree Helen Keller Awards 2022 are:
Category A: Role Model Person with Disabilities
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Prof Anil Kumar Aneja is a Professor in the Department of English, University of Delhi. He has played a crucial role in streamlining and ensuring the implementation of job reservation for Persons with Disabilities in 68 colleges, 86 departments and in the administrative wings of the University. His efforts have resulted in the creation of more than 300 vacancies.
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Dr. Paul Muddha is the founder of Snehadeep trust for the disabled. His contribution to the visually challenged society for the past 23 years is commendable. His unique skill development livelihood program has benefited many hundreds of visually impaired students, bringing them into the mainstream.
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Ms. Tejalben Prakashchandra Mehta is the Assistant Manager at UCO Bank. She has conducted numerous sessions for more than 10 JAWS users of Maharashtra and Gujarat to improve their productivity in UCO Bank. She has helped them visualise different web portals and improved their ability to work with various applications independently using JAWS, which is essential for handling day-to-day activities.
Jury Special Mention
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Ms. Ranjini Ramanujam works as the Assistant Manager at Infosys BPM Limited. Born Deaf, Ranjini Ramanujam cannot hear normal sounds, she learnt lipreading, studied in a regular college and graduated. One of few Deaf to manage an inclusive team of 16 including, 3 deaf, her work in Infosys (BPM) involves Finance, workforce management, CSR & Training initiative for PWD. She has added value to many projects and has been a Go to Person for resolving problems. As a DRIF member, contributed significantly to make Deaf friendly Education policies. She also has the unique distinction of winning Medals for India in Badminton and Chess and the honour of receiving National Awards in Profession and Sports.
Category B: Role Model Supporter of Increased Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities
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Mr. C. Govindakrishnan is the Founder Trustee of Nethrodaya, an organisation that advocates self-employment schemes for visually challenged families. These schemes aim to provide a way of livelihood for families of visually challenged by providing them with seed capital in the form of marketable products. They also promote literacy for Persons with Disabilities and the distribution of free ration to underprivileged families of visually impaired individuals.
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Ms. Preeti Siwach has worked in a wide range of services for individuals with autism, from early interventions and counselling sessions to pre-vocational/vocational and employment training. She supports Persons with Disabilities and their families in their smooth transition to Action For Autism's (AFA's) assisted living centre, Ananda.
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Dr. M A Hasan Sahani is the Founder Director of Institute for the Handicapped and Backward People. He has been working in the field of disability since 2001. The institute provides education to children aged 1-18 with hearing impairment, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, etc.
Jury Special Mention
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Mr. Faisal Ashraf Nomani, Lead - Talent Acquisition at Randstad India, is working to create awareness about his own abilities as a phenomenal recruiter, extending the diversity hiring practices within a mainstream recruitment agency like Randstad. He has been working in the disability and employment sector for the last 10 years.
Category C: Role Model Companies/NGOs/Institutions
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Union Bank of India is one of India's leading public sector banks listed on the Indian Stock Exchanges, with the Government of India holding 83.49% in the Bank's total share capital. The bank is committed to creating an inclusive work environment where access and equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities.
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Joygram Social Welfare Society is enabling disabled persons to become financially independent by providing training in mushroom cultivation, sewing, and computers. They encourage disabled youngsters who have passed secondary and higher secondary education to sell daily necessities village-to-village on tricycles, thereby creating sustainable employment opportunities.
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Amazon India Operations has rolled out several initiatives to create impactful opportunities for People with Disabilities and other underrepresented cohorts such as Women, LGBTQIA community, Military Veterans, etc. Amazon India started engaging with communities from early 2014 with flagship community engagement initiatives reaching over 7,90,000 beneficiaries annually in the thematic areas of education, health and hygiene, women empowerment, skilling, road safety, livelihood & entrepreneurship, and environment.
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Noida Deaf Society provides market-aligned training and has successfully employed 3380 deaf youth and adults in different sectors across India to date. The training is conducted by deaf trainers who provide the necessary peer-to-peer interface for students, helping them seamlessly assimilate future-ready skills.
Jury Special Mention
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The National Association of Disabled Enterprises have employed individuals with visual disability, speech impediment and hearing impairment to make umbrellas, and with the machines given by Bajaj Electricals Foundation sew cloth bags, purses, etc.
Role Model Entrepreneurs with Disabilities
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Dr. Kalashri Barve is an artist and director who started her own creative contemporary paintings and line art in the acrylic medium after working in several well-known advertising agencies. Since raising social awareness is her primary goal, her short films, as well as other artistic endeavours, like writing and painting exhibitions, have significant impact on the viewer society. She also recruits the unemployed, giving preference to physically challenged but skilled individuals.
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Mr. Ajay Gupta founded Hum Honge Kamyab (HHK) Foundation to create more accessibility and benefit the society. He stepped into the education segment to create and distinguish the best of education in play schools, formal schools and universities - all on a common and niche platter. With the aim of 'Education for all,' Ajay forged ahead to expand his network across the length and breadth of India, including rural and semi-rural areas. He took initiatives to provide multilayer support in States where even commuting is a challenge. This has resulted in a strong web of over 1100 Bachpan playschools across India.
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Mr. Amit Sridhar runs a recruitment and business development, IOT company. He is also into recruitment training and employment for diversity and inclusion. He comes with a total of 25 years of work experience.
Jury Special Mention
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Mr. Sooraj PA is the founder of Eco Made. With a mission to promote afforestation and replace plastic, Sooraj set up a small manufacturing unit at his home to create paper seed stationery. The products are 100% biodegradable and eco-friendly. The paper seed pens manufactured by Eco Made are a great alternative to plastic ballpoint pens, serving two objective - it reduces plastic waste and the seeds embedded in the pens grow into saplings.
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Ms. Meenu Mani is the Director and Founder of Yes! We can and Yes Bakers. Yes bakers and confectioneries is an initiative undertaken by Yes! We Can to empower women with disability become independent and support their families. Meenu's organization started the initiative as a skill development program for women with disabilities to promote group employment opportunities by imparting baking and confectionary trainings and to economically empower at least 40 women with disabilities and 20 non-disabled women from the economically weaker sections with sustainable livelihoods.
The awards will be presented to the awardees in an in-person event by NCPEDP-LTIMindtree on 10 December 2022, Saturday.
About NCPEDP
National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) is a cross-disability non-profit organisation working with a range of stakeholders; to advocate for the rights of persons with disability along with encouraging their employment; increasing public awareness; creating and disseminating knowledge, information, and opportunities; and working towards easy and convenient access to all public places, products, services, and technologies.
To learn more, visit us at www.ncpedp.org.
Follow us on: Twitter: @ncpedp_india | Facebook: @NCPEDP | Instagram: @ncpedp_india.
About LTIMindtree
LTIMindtree is a global technology consulting and digital solutions company that enables enterprises across industries to reimagine business models, accelerate innovation, and maximize growth by harnessing digital technologies. As a digital transformation partner to more than 750 clients, LTIMindtree brings extensive domain and technology expertise to help drive superior competitive differentiation, customer experiences, and business outcomes in a converging world. Powered by nearly 90,000 talented and entrepreneurial professionals across more than 30 countries, LTIMindtree - a Larsen & Toubro Group company - combines the industry-acclaimed strengths of erstwhile Larsen and Toubro Infotech and Mindtree in solving the most complex business challenges and delivering transformation at scale.
For more information, please visit www.ltimindtree.com.
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