Mr. Shantilal Muttha, a renowned social entrepreneur and strategic philanthropist, touched millions of lives through his remarkable work in community development, educational quality improvement, water conservation and disaster-response. His relentless pursuit of social impact through a journey spanning four eventful decades firmly established him as change agent par excellence. He founded three non-profit organizations, Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana, Shantilal Muttha Foundation and Medhakshar Foundation, which implement his visionary initiatives.
Shantilal’s early work led to a strong people’s movement in Maharashtra against dowry, female foeticide and exorbitant marriage expenses – burning issues of that time – which resulted in thousands of mass marriages taking place with incredible public support and social acceptance.
He successfully demonstrated the ability of the civil society to rapidly organize relief and rehabilitation assistance in the aftermath of disasters. Shantilal established the first-of-its-kind educational rehabilitation centre for children orphaned by disasters, which to this day, provides quality residential education along with emotional care and support for thousands of orphan and destitute children.
His pioneering initiatives in educational quality improvement resulted in a transformational impact in Maharashtra and Goa. Mulyavardhan, an extraordinarily successful values and life skills education programme, has reached more than 45 lakh children and two lakh teachers, making it the largest such programme ever to be scaled in public schools of the country since Independence.
His commitment to the environment led to a people’s model of rejuvenating waterbodies, helping to mitigate the severe impact of drought on rural communities in more than 3,500 villages across seven states.
Shantilal Muttha is a recipient of the National Water Award 2022, Ahimsa Award 2018, Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award 2017, Jeevan Sadhna Gaurav Puraskar 2016, Giants International Award 2004, National Citizen’s Award 2001, and several other national and international recognitions.
