Individuals

Dr. Ramaswami Balasubramaniam (Balu) is a development scholar, author, public policy advocate, leadership trainer and activist, known for his pioneering development work with rural and tribal people in Saragur of Heggadadevana kote taluk, near Mysore in Karnataka, India.[3] He founded Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), a development organization based in Saragur when he was 19.[2] After spending 26 years in development work among rural and tribal people, he pursued academic degrees in leadership, organisational development and public policy. He was the Frank H T Rhodes Professor at Cornell University between 2012 to 2014,[4] and continues to hold academic positions in other universities. His book I, the citizen is a compilation of narratives and reflections of a development activist and was released in 2015 by the Prime Minister’s office.[5] He is also the Chairman of Grassroots Research And Advocacy Movement (GRAAM)at Vivekananda Institute for Leadership Development, Mysore.

Balasubramaniam’s entire life is driven by the inspiration that he received from Swami Vivekananda.

Kisan Baburao Hazare (born 15 June 1937), popularly known as Anna Hazare, is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in public life. In addition to organising and encouraging grassroots movements, Hazare frequently conducted hunger strikes to further his causes. Hazare also contributed to the development and structuring of Ralegaon Siddhi, a village in Maharashtra, India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan—the third-highest civilian award—by the Indian Government in 1992 for his efforts in establishing this village as a model for others.

Anna Hazare in his younger days found life to be meaningless and wanted to commit suicide. Just then he came across a small booklet of Swami Vivekananda. From then he dedicated his life for the cause of the Nation. Anna Hazare calls Swami Vivekananda as his Guru.

Hardworking Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi is highly influenced by Swami Vivekananda whom he quotes very frequently in his talks.  Recently he attributed his Government’s “Make in India” project to the advice given by Swami Vivekananda to JRD Tata.  During Swamiji’s 150th birth anniversary, Sri Narendra modi tweeted, “On his birth anniversary, I bow to Swami Vivekananda. He is a personal inspiration, whose thoughts & ideals have influenced me deeply,”

Babar Ali is an Indian student and teacher from Murshidabad in West Bengal. He was called the “youngest headmaster in the world” by BBC on October 2009, at the age of sixteen.

Babar Ali is still a student himself, enrolled at the government-run Cossimbazar Raj Govinda Sundari High school in Beldanga, West Bengal. In the afternoons, starting at 4:00 p.m., he in turn teaches students in a school he founded in his parents´ back yard in Murshidabad. He had begun teaching at nine years of age, mostly as a game, and then decided to continue teaching other children at a larger scale.

Currently (October 2009), the school continues to be run as an outdoor school and counts a total of ten teachers including Babar Ali himself, all of them students at school or college who volunteer to teach at the school. There are 800 children learning at the school, starting from four or five years of age. That the school is tuition-free makes it affordable for the poor in this economically deprived area, so that the school has been recognised to have helped increase literacy rates in the area. In Murshidabad there had been no governmental or private schools. Pupils come from nearby villages and walk up to four kilometres in order to attend their lessons.

Babar Ali succeeded in having his school recognized by the local authorities when he realised that this would entitle its pupils to the portion of free rice given to pupils at the end of the month by the government. Babar gets his inspiration from Swami Vivekananda.

In 2009, Babar Ali won a prize from the program Real Heroes of the Indian English news channel CNN IBN for his work and was awarded the NDTV ‘Indian of the Year’ award and LITERACY HERO AWARD, BY ROTARY INDIA LITERACY MISSION and recently featured in ‘FORBES ASIA’ in their 30 under 30 list as a ‘SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR’, also recognised as the Literacy hero by international literacy association in their “30 under 30” list,Also received Education leadership award by BBC knowledge,His story became a part of the syllabus for the CBSE 10th standard English textbook, PUC English textbook for Govt. of Karnataka, and also in a curriculum in Europe. He was featured on Aamir Khan’s TV show Satyamev Jayate in July 2012, and is regularly invited to speak at various conferences and forums all over the world. Babar is also a TED Fellow and an INK FELLOW AND INK Conference speaker and Wired fellow, Babar graduated from Berhampur Krishnath College (under Kalyani University in West Bengal, India) in English Honours, and Completed his M.A. in English Literature.

The Karnataka government has included Babar’s story in the prescribed English text for first year PU course.