Across India, individuals are responding to environmental and societal challenges with commitment, empathy, and ingenuity — not because it is easy, but because it matters. In doing so, they bring about change, nurturing ecosystems and communities alike.

In the ‘TBI Sustainability Changemakers’ category, this spirit emerges through radical ideas, revived traditions, and daily efforts that strengthen resilience and regeneration. Each changemaker builds tangible solutions that touch real lives.

As part of Optum Presents The Better India Showcase, supported by the M3M Foundation — celebrating dreamers across nine areas of impact — we introduce five sustainability champions whose work is shaping a better, enduring India.

1. Dr Lal Singh, Maharashtra

Dr Lal Singh, principal scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR–NEERI), has been diligently restoring fly ash-polluted land in the Vidarbha region since 2018 using his Eco‑Rejuvenation Technology (ERT).

By planting bamboo and indigenous tree species, he and his team have turned toxic, degraded lands into revitalised ecosystems. Their intervention has markedly improved air quality, revived biodiversity, and restored soil fertility, making the land farmable once........

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