Officer of the Order of Canada
Awarded on: 2006-04-06
Invested on: 2006-10-06
Vithal Rajan has applied Canadian values to the promotion of human rights and sustainable development in rural India. Concerned with high levels of illiteracy and poverty in the state of Andhra Pradesh, he co-founded the Deccan Development Society in 1983 to assist women in becoming self-reliant. He encouraged them to pool their resources to buy and cultivate land and he promoted literacy and community health programs. An agent for social change, he has partnered with non-governmental organizations in Canada and Europe to apply innovative ideas and solutions to developing communities in India.