Dr. Rao is Dean, Indian School of Business. A PhD in Industrial Administration, Dr. Rao is a teacher committed to the promotion of research culture.  He is a Research Fellow of several reputed international institutes of management science. His published works include over 85 articles in professional journals. He is also the President of the Operation Research Society of India – indeed a teacher par excellence!

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan is the Founder and National Coordinator of Lok Satta, a Hyderabad-based NGO committed to democratic reforms for good governance. Lok Satta has done groundbreaking work in rehabilitation of thousands of displaced families and has irrigated an astounding 200,000 acres of land with the help of people’s participation. It has also carried out projects like post poll surveys to determine the magnitude of bogus voting, and non partisan people’s movement to bring about better governance.

There were two immensely deserving candidates for this award. The first one was Shri. Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology. Both, the industry as well as the people appreciate Shri. Maran’s pragmatic approach to the key portfolios being handled by him. He has shown distinctive qualities of leadership and a tremendous sense of service. He has an illustrious family background, having inherited the nuances of politics as well as industry, which have resulted in him taking astute policy decisions

This special award was presented to late Dr. Shrikant Jichkar, whose untimely demise has failed to wash away his strong following on account of his selfless contribution to our nation. An academician par excellence, Dr. Jichkar was one of the youngest persons ever to hold office as a cabinet minister, and certainly amongst the most educated till date. Dr. Jichkar had a multitude of qualifications to his name in multiple academic disciplines. A true scholar, Dr. Jichkar will always be remembered as an able minister and an excellent parliamentarian.