Mohan Nagar
A Betul social worker whose village campaigns have dug trenches, planted trees and revived the Machna river, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2026.
Mohan Nagar has spent more than thirty years in Betul district persuading tribal villages to save their water, forests and rivers through their own labour. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of social work, from Madhya Pradesh [1].
Moving to Betul
Nagar was born on 23 February 1968 in Raipuria village, Rajgarh district, and studied political science at Vikram University, Ujjain [2]. In 1991 he moved to Betul to work for tribal welfare [2]. He began with a march across seven tribal blocks on education, forests, land and water [2].
He encouraged villagers to grow vegetables using rainwater, dig contour trenches, plant trees and hold river festivals [2].
Campaigns
- Gangavataran Abhiyan (2016–17): 8,000 trenches dug across 60 acres of the Sonaghati hills, and 32,000 native trees planted [2].
- Machna river (2021): a campaign across 45 gram panchayats that kept the river flowing longer through the year and led to an annual river festival [2].
- Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: 75,000 water structures built and thousands of trees planted on 75 hills in the Satpura region [2].
He also helped tribal villages switch to solar power; Bacha village became known as a “solar village” [2]. He is vice-chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Jan Abhiyan Parishad and secretary of the Bharat Bharati Shiksha Samiti in Betul [2].
He won the Water Hero Award in 2020, a year after the National Jal Prahari Award [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2026: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2026 investiture ceremony brochure: citation for Mohan Nagar — Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Accessed 12 October 2026.
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