(From left) Jury members Dr Vijayalakshmi Deshmane, Vanamala Viswanatha, L K Atheeq and Prof M S Sriram share their thoughts at the DH Changemakers 2026 event.
Credit: DH PHOTO/PUSHKAR V
The DH Changemakers 2026 were chosen through a rigorous, multi-stage selection process marked by careful scrutiny, robust debate and collective wisdom.
Our eminent jury - L K Atheeq, former bureaucrat and chairperson of the Bengaluru Business Corridor; M S Sriram, professor of public policy at IIM Bangalore; Vanamala Viswanatha, academic and translator; and Padma Shri awardee Dr Vijayalakshmi Deshmane, former director of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology - brought diverse perspectives to the table.
Through detailed evaluations and deliberations, they assessed impact, sustainability and ethical leadership, before arriving at the changemakers from a pool of 500 nominations, whose work stood out for its depth, intent and transformative potential.
Jury member Vanamala commended the changemakers for their combined efforts towards finding local solutions to global problems. “The efforts to find solutions for our own problems is what is impressive about all of them. The kind of passion that the changemakers brought to their work, putting the ‘we’ before the ‘I’. They might have began with the ‘I’, but they didn’t stop there. They moved on to the community. This is a commonality among all of them,” she said.
The jury members spent approximately six months going through all the nominations.
While Vijayalakshmi highlighted the abundance of good already prevalent in the society with examples from her life, Atheeq highlighted the need for community building to nurture such talent. “There is a lot of good among us and we need to create a system that encourages people to bring about change,” he said.
Sriram urged the changemakers to carry forward their good work. “When my friend Jayanth Kaikini got an award, he went and told writer Yashwant Chittal about it. Chittal told him ‘you’ve not gotten the award, your story has gotten an award’. I would like to tell the changemakers the same thing. It’s your work that has won the work. So please continue the good work.”