New Delhi, Oct. 28 -- The fifth Nexus of Good Annual Awards 2026 have been announced. 26 performing organisations and individuals will be awarded on November 1, 2026, at a ceremony at PHD House, New Delhi.
The primary objective of the Nexus of Good movement is to bring good people together to identify, understand, appreciate, replicate, and scale good work across society. The idea is to create an alternative narrative to the negativity that is becoming all-pervasive on social media and other media communication channels. Negativity is affecting the thoughts and actions of many people, especially impressionable young minds.
Fortunately, the movement has gained momentum. A vibrant portal, www.nexusofgood.com, supports it. The portal features hundreds of positive stories, and the number grows each day. The Twitter handle has thousands of followers. A quarterly letter highlights positive stories, and a weekly column in Millennium Post does the same. City Chapters of Nexus of Good hold periodic events to provide a platform to highlight and showcase good work.
As in past years, this year's awards go to a combination of exemplary and replicable work done through public-private partnerships by civil servants and non-governmental organisations.
Dr Suresh B Ittal, District Magistrate, Koppal, Karnataka, is being rewarded for putting in place a model for child participation, adolescent empowerment and child-friendly local governance through children's gram sabhas. Similarly, Udanti Sitandi Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh has been awarded for developing a landscape security model.
The second awardee from Karnataka is an NGO, Vonisha Service Foundation, for its project, VISILITES.
Satwik, a young forest officer in Dumka, Jharkhand, has been selected for the award for setting up "book baithaks". An NGO, Collective Integrated Livelihood Initiatives, also from Jharkhand, has won the award for the School and Community-Based Quality Improvement Programme (SCQuIP).
A couple of awardees are from Delhi as well. Transform Schools and People For Action were awarded for their Learning Equaliser Programme, and the Learning and Language Foundation was awarded for the LiftEd Development Impact Bond.
Akshara Foundation, based in Bengaluru, won the award a few years ago for its seminal work in education. It won the award again for data-driven insights. It facilitated large-scale, community-led assessments of government school children's maths learning.
17000 ft Foundation has been recognised for implementing a replicable, sustainable model to holistically transform remote government schools in the Himalayan frontier.
Adhyayan Quality Education Foundation, an NGO from Rajasthan, has been selected for its initiative relating to "Effective Governance and Systemic Improvement Through School Complexes".
In the Health and Wellness segment, ARMMAN, a Maharashtra-based NGO, has done some exemplary work under its Home-Based Antenatal and Infancy Care Programme through Arogya Sakhi. The organisation is being awarded for this work.
Social Welfare Agency and Training Institute (SWATI), Odisha, has won the award for developing a pathway to recovery, inclusion and dignity through its Community Mental Health and Development (CMHD) programme.
Working in the difficult terrain of the Sundarbans is not easy. However, Sandeshkhali Maa Saroda Women and Rural Welfare Society does so relentlessly. It won the Nexus of Good Award in 2023. It won it again this year, this time for a different activity: mangrove restoration.
Jasmeet Singh Sandhu, an IAS officer from Rajasthan, has been doing phenomenal work in the field. He won yet another award this year, this time for a participatory water conservation and water security initiative in Bhilwara.
14 Tree Foundation is doing outstanding work by putting in place a replicable and scalable model for the ecological restoration of barren lands. It is among this year's winners.
Vijayam Kartha's initiative to raise awareness about the environment through the Classroom to Climate Action Crusaders (CCAC) programme is among this year's awardees.
Jana Vikas, an NGO from Odisha, has been picked for this year's award for its programme, "Empowering Women and Adolescent Girls for Protection, Rights and Resilience".
The Sidhi district administration (MP), under the inspired leadership of its Collector, Vikas Mishra, has set up "Mahila Chaupals". This unique initiative is being rewarded. Another awardee from MP is the NGO Green Chakra, for creating a platform that enables rural youth and farmers to become green entrepreneurs.
Unnati Foundation from Uttar Pradesh has been selected for the award for enabling women-led enterprises.
A community-led rehabilitation model for India's leprosy-affected colonies by Apanga Leprosy Punarvasan Sangathan in Maharashtra is also being rewarded.
An organisation, Go Sugam, from Tamil Nadu also makes it to the list of awardees this year. It has been awarded for creating a Single Window Unified Gateway for Agrarian Management.
Out of the 18 City Chapters of Nexus of Good, the one in Pune regains its position as the best-performing City Chapter.
These are just a few examples of the good work happening around us. They inspire us to believe that good can happen because it is happening. These examples also make us believe that if all the rascals and ruffians can come together and make life difficult for us, the good ones can also come together and radiate goodness. the essence of Nexus of Good.
Views expressed are personal. The writer is an author and a former civil servant
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.