The Champions of Change Madhya Pradesh award ceremony is going to be organized on 12 April 2021 at Kushabhau Thakre Hall in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh).

Champions of Change Madhya Pradesh award is basically a state version of Champions of change national award and it will honour the great work done by eminent personalities and organizations towards promoting the values of courage, community service and inclusive social development. His Excellency Governor of Madhya Pradesh Sh Mangubhai Patel will honour the awardees with gold medal and a citation. Honorable Former Chief Justice of India Justice K.G. Balakrishnan will be present as the special guest.

Eminent personalities who will be felicitated at the award ceremony include Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Former Governor of UP and Mizoram Dr Aziz Qureshi, Music performer Padma Vibhushan Teejan Bai, Mayor of Indore Malini Laxmansingh Gaur, Rajya Sabha MP Syed Zafar Islam, Indian actress Divyanka Tripathi , Indian film actor and lyricist Piyush Mishra , BJP leader Vikram Verma, Banwari Lal Chouksey, Dr Bhagirath Prasad, Kalapini Komakali, Sudhir Bhai Goyal, Girish Agarwal, Dilip Suryavanshi, Abhijeet Sukhdane, Aarya Chavda, Rohit Singh Tomar, Megha Parmar, Vikas Bhaduaria, Priyanka Dwivedi, CEO of FidyPay Manan Dixit, Mayur Sethi, Renu Sharma, Dr Prakash Jain and Rajneet Jain.   

The program will be presided over by well-known journalists Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik and Dayakar Ratakonda (former Indian diplomat) as advisors and members of the award selection committee, and the program will also be presided over by Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik. Devendra Pratap Singh Tomar, General Secretary, IFIE and COC Madhya Pradesh unit will conduct the function.

Madhya Pradesh is such a state of the country which has had a great legacy of freedom fighters and revolutionary leaders who have sacrificed their life in the development of the nation. This award is initiated drawing inspiration from the vision, courage and patriotism of the first women freedom fighter Rani Lakshmibai and is yet another step towards celebrating the great work done by the champions of Madhya Pradesh. The selection of the awardees will be done by constitutional jury members headed by K.G. Balakrishnan, Former Chief Justice of India and Former Chairman NHRC.

To be known that there have been several occasions where the Champions of Change Awardees have gone on to win the highly prestigious Padma awards. Champions of Change Maharashtra awardees Sh Popatrao Pawar and Late Smt Sindhutai Sapkal went on to win Padma Shri the very next year. COC 2020 awardee Playback Singer Sonu Nigam also went on to win Padma Shri in 2022.   

About Champions of Change Award

Champions of Change is an Indian award, for promoting Gandhian values, (Swachata), community service and social development in Aspirational (undeveloped) districts in India, selected by Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Former Chief Justice of India and Former Chairman NHRC along with with former judges of the Supreme Court of India, diplomats and senior journalists.

Interactive Forum on Indian Economy annually organizes Champions of Change Award at International, National and state-Level in India and it is usually presented by the President, Vice-President, Governor or the constitutional persons of India. From this year onwards, this award will be organized internationally at Washington DC, USA by the name of ‘Global Champion of Change’. Advocate Nandan Jha is the founder and Chairman of Champions of Change Award.

First edition: 26 December 2018, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

The inaugural Champions of Change Award was held in 2018 and the Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu felicitated the awardees at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The notable awardees included Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh and Sadhwi Niranjan Jyoti.

Second edition: 20 January 2020, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

The second edition took place in New Delhi on 20th January’ 2020 with Former President of India Late Shri Pranab Mukherjee as Chief Guest and notable awardees included Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisoda, Union minister Anurag Thankur and Swami Avdheshanand Giri ji Maharaj.

Third edition: 16 April 2021, Goa

The third edition took place at Taj Resort & Convention Centre, Goa on 16th April’ 2021 with Hon’ble Governor of Maharashtra Sh Bhagat Singh Koshiyari as Chief Guest and notable awardees included Goa CM Pramod Sawant, Former Union minister of state Shripad Naik, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Member of Lok Sabha Hema Malini, Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam and Swami Chidanand Saraswati ji.

Champions of Change Maharashtra

The state level award Champions of Change Maharashtra was organized on 30th September 2021 at Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai with Hon'ble Governor of Maharashtra Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari as the Chief Guest and the notable awardees included Former CM of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Home minister Sh Dilip Walse Patil, Sh Jackie Shroff, Smt Dia Mirza, social activist Late Smt Sindhutai Sapkal (Padma Shri) and Sh Popatrao Pawar (Padma Shri).

Champions of Change Telangana

Champions of Change Telangana was organized on 25 February 2022 at Taj Deccan- Kohinoor Hall in Hyderabad, Telangana and the notable awarded included Padma Bhushan awardee Gastroenterologist Dr Nageshwar Reddy, Badminton Champion and Padma Bhushan PV Sindhu, and Founder-Chairman of My Home Group of Companies Rameswar Rao Jupally among others.