Chetna SinhaSocial Service (Maharashtra, India) 2010
CHETNA SINHA –an Indian social activist working to empower women in drought prone areas of rural India by teaching entrepreneurial skills and providing them access to land and other means of production. She found the true lighthouse of her life- the revered Lok Nayak, Jai Prakash Narayan, stirred in the deepest by his clarion call for Civil Liberties and Social Justice, she plunged into intense Activism that finally zeroed in on Empowerment and Economic Independence of Women.
She is the founder and chairperson of the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahkari Bank, a microfinance bank which lends to women in rural areas and which has reached over 3,10,000 women (84,000 among them borrowers), providing them with the financial backing and emotional impetus to become successful entrepreneurs.
She is also the founder and president of the Mann Deshi Foundation