Person of the Year Award to Ahmedabad social entrepreneur

Biplab Ketan Paul, an Ahmedabad based social entrepreneur, whose innovation in the field of water harvesting transformed 40,000 acres of barren, highly saline land into productive farms in rural Gujarat, has been selected as The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year 2016.

Biplab's innovative water harvesting system has benefited thousands of farmers

“It gives me great pleasure to announce that Biplab Ketan Paul has been selected as The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year 2016 for his contribution to the rural communities in Gujarat, whose lives he has changed through the unique water harvesting system he had created. 

“As Tamil Nadu celebrates the harvest festival of Pongal with traditional fervour and gaiety, The Weekend Leader congratulates Biplab for helping thousands of farmers achieve better productivity by ensuring water for their irrigational needs even during the dry months,” said P C Vinoj Kumar, Editor, The Weekend Leader in a press statement.

The Weekend Leader has stood by its founding principles and has always put the spotlight on ordinary people working for the welfare of society in the fields of environment, education, health, disability, women empowerment, development and poverty eradication.

Every year one such person featured in the magazine is chosen as the Person of the Year.

VIT University joined hands with The Weekend Leader in 2011 to celebrate our heroes and ever since The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year Award has grown in stature and prestige with the media providing excellent coverage for the award function that is held at VIT Vellore in the month of March each year.

The Award consists of a cash prize of Rs 25,000, a trophy and citation.

Last year the award went Jockin Arputham from Mumbai, who works among the slum dwellers in many cities across the world.

Following is the list of people who had won the award in the previous years:  

2010: Tanishk Shyamya (Ranchi, Jharkhand)

2011: V Venkatraman (Erode, Tamil Nadu)

2012: Anil Joshi (Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh)

2013: Balasaheb Darade (Pangra Dole, Maharashtra)

2014: Thinlas Chorol (Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir)

2015: Jockin Arputham (Mumbai, Maharashtra) - TWL Bureau