Banarsi Das Gupta was an Indian politician who served as the 4th Chief Minister of Haryana state in India.
The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian honour for women in India, and is presented by the president of India on International Women's Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The award was instituted in 1999 under the title of Stree Shakti Puraskar, renamed and reorganised in 2015. It is awarded in six institutional and two individual categories, which carry a cash prize of 200,000 and 100,000 rupees, respectively.
Gargi Gupta is the founder and secretary of Voice Of World (NGO), a multi-unit non-profit organization for visually impaired, disabled, and orphaned children in Eastern India, headquartered in Kolkata, India.
Nilza Wangmo is an Indian restaurant owner and an enthusiast for the local food of the Ladakh region of northern India. Her work in 2019 was recognised with the highest award for women in India – Nari Shakti Puraskar.
Sailakshmi Balijepally or Sai Balijepally is an Indian Pediatrician and the Founder of Ekam Foundation, an NGO working in the areas of Child and Maternal Health & Well Being. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Award in 2015 by the President of India.
Rashmi Anand is an Indian activist and writer concerned about domestic violence. The President of India awarded her the Nari Shakti Puraskar. This is the highest award for women in India. She founded the "Woman of the Elements Trust" which supplies support to victims of domestic abuse in Delhi.
Laxmi Gautam is an Indian academic who devotes her time to looking after abandoned widows. She has been called the "Angel of Vrindavan". In 2015 she received the Nari Shakti Puraskar in recognition of her work. She teaches at the Institute of Oriental Philosophy in Vrindavan.
P Kausalya, aka Periasamy Kousalya is an Indian HIV activist. She came to notice as the first woman to talk to the media about being one of India's HIV-positive people. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2015 by the Indian government. She was one of four people who started the Positive Women Network to champion the rights of women who were HIV+.
Swaraj Vidwan is an Indian social worker and activist for the underrepresented. She is a member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar by the government of India for her work with vulnerable and marginalised groups.
Dr. Saurabh Suman is an Indian Agri researcher who was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar. She leads an NGO that empowers women in Bihar. Suiman has also been involved in organising celebrations of Mahishasur martyrdom day.
Sujata Sahu is an Indian social entrepreneur. Having worked as a teacher, she set up 17000 ft Foundation in order to improve school conditions in remote villages in Ladakh and Sikkim. The non-governmental organisation has undertaken Whole School Transformation Projects by providing Libraries, Playgrounds & DigiLabs to remote border schools along with rigorous training of Teachers. Sahu was awarded the 2015 Nari Shakti Puraskar and WTI Award 2019 in recognition of her work.
Sheela Balaji leads the Indian educational nonprofit organization (NGO) AIM For Seva. She is known for preservation of rice varieties, starting with four varieties and now having thirty. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar for her work and leads one of the largest organisations offering free education in India. She hails from the powerful family behind the TVS group and is the grand-daughter of T. V. Sundram Iyengar.
Smita Tandi is an Indian police constable in the state of Chhattisgarh. She set up a fund to help people unable to pay for medical treatment and received the 2016 Nari Shakti Puraskar in recognition of her humanitarian efforts.
Rekha Mishra is an Indian police officer from Railway Protection Force(RPF) who was recognised for finding hundreds of lost children. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2018.
Dr. M.S. Sunil is an Indian Academician, Humanist and Philanthropist known for housing the homeless. She founded Dr. M.S. Sunil Foundation in December, 2016 in Pathanamthitta, with five trust members and six volunteers. Her works focuses to uplift the living conditions of impoverished families/ communities, her philanthropist and non- profit programmes aim to provide safe houses and healthy food to build a compassionate environment with enlightened mind on renewable energy and conservation of natural habitat by including every communities including Tribal and socially underprivileged with less or no inequality. She was acknowledged by the Government of India and was the recipient of many honours, including the Nari Shakti Puraskar- 2017 which is considered as the Government of India's highest civilian honour for women.
Sunita Singh Choken is an Indian mountaineer and activist. She climbed Mount Everest in 2011. Afterwards she did two long distance cycle trips to promote both the environment and the "Save, educate the girl child" campaign. She has received several awards including the 2016 Nari Shakti Puraskar.
Anita Gupta is an Indian social entrepreneur, organic farmer and tribal activist. She has arranged training for more than 50,000 rural women.
Vanita Jagdeo Borade is an Indian conservationist and the founder of the Soyre Vanchare Multipurpose Foundation, which works in wildlife protection. She specializes in rescuing snakes and has been recognized as "India's first woman snake friend". Borade received the Nari Shakti Puraskar from the Indian government in recognition of her conservation efforts.
Pooja Sharma is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the first woman in her village to work outside the home. She set up a self-help group that employs 150 women in a bakery, and has received awards in recognition of her achievements, including the Nari Shakti Puraskar, India's highest civilian honour for women.
The Chhanv Foundation is a non-governmental organization (NGO) set up by Laxmi Agarwal and Alok Dixit in order to help the survivors of acid attacks. It runs cafés known under the brand Sheroes in Agra, Lucknow, Noida and Udaipur, which raise funds for the treatment and rehabilitation of attack survivors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it set up an online retail platform for survivors to sell handicrafts directly. The NGO received the Nari Shakti Puraskar and in 2020 stated it had helped over 100 survivors of acid attacks.
