Jaipur, Nov. 11 -- Social activist and Padma Shri recipient Sanjit "Bunker" Roy, who transformed a village in Rajasthan into a globally-recognised centre challenging conventional notions of education and grassroots development by making rural communities agents of change died on Tuesday. He was 81. The founder of Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC), popularly known as Barefoot College, Roy died at 6.15am at his home in Tilonia, surrounded by his wife Aruna Roy and people close to him, a statement issued by the centre said. Born on June 30, 1945, in West Bengal's Burnpur, Roy studied at The Doon School and Delhi's St Stephen's College. A privileged education primed him a conventional career, but witnessing the devastation during the Bihar famine of 1966-67 prompted him to work with rural communities. In 1967, he moved to Tilonia in Ajmer, where he began working with farmer Meghraj to drill open wells to recharge groundwater in one of India's most water-scarce regions. He established the SWRC in Tilonia in 1972. Rooted in Mahatma Gandhi's principles of self-reliance, dignity and decentralisation, it was built on the belief that rural communities had the knowledge and skills to identify and address their own development challenges, and gradually evolved into a community-led development experiment which covered education, healthcare, livelihoods, water and renewable energy. Under its celebrated solar electrification project, women from remote villages trained as solar engineers. Popularly known as "Solar Mamas", they learnt to assemble, install, repair and maintain solar lighting systems before electrifying their own villages. The programme eventually reached across borders. "His legacy will live on in the countless lives he transformed across the world," Barefoot College said in its tribute. Roy was awarded the Padma Shri in 1986 and was named among TIME magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2010. Other honours included the Jamnalal Bajaj Award for the application of science and technology to rural development in 1985, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2004), the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2005) and the Blue Planet Prize (2011). He also received the Clinton Global Citizen Award in 2013. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor both took to social meda to condole Roy's death. "His entire life was dedicated to empowering villages and bringing positive change to the lives of disadvantaged communities.I had known him for a very long time," wrote Gehlot. Tharoor referred to Roy as a visionary, pioneer and educator. "His extraordinary vision of training rural grandmothers into "Barefoot Solar Engineers" illuminated thousands of off-grid homes across India and the developing world, leaving behind an indelible legacy of dignity, community empowerment, and environmental stewardship," he wrote on X....