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Yes and Centum win big for powering youth dreams
MUMBAI: Talk about making a skill-ful impact! Yes Foundation and Centum Foundation have bagged the prestigious Mahatma Award for Partnership & Impact 2025 for their joint initiative, the Youth Empowerment for Security (YES) Programme, which is changing the lives of young Indians one skill at a time.
The initiative, focused on skilling and employability, has trained over 1,800 underserved youth across Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana, and Assam, with more than 30 per cent women participants. Over 1,250 of them have already found jobs in fast-growing sectors such as retail, BFSI, healthcare, and logistics.
The programme’s success comes at a time when women’s workforce participation in India is on the rise. Government data shows the female worker population ratio jumped from 30.2 per cent in June to 32 per cent in August 2025, signalling a strong push towards inclusion.
“This partnership is helping young people gain skills, confidence, and opportunities,” said Yes Bank president, CSR and CEO of Yes Foundation Garima Dutt. “It’s not just transforming lives but building a future of economic self-reliance and inclusive growth.”
Upgrad Enterprise CEO Srikanth Iyengar, which supports Centum Foundation through scalable skilling models, added, “Social impact doesn’t happen overnight. Together, we’re bridging the gap between aspiration and opportunity, especially for women and rural youth.”
Instituted by philanthropist Amit Sachdeva and supported by the Aditya Birla Group, the Mahatma Award celebrates organisations that embody Gandhian values of truth, inclusion, and social justice. Previous winners include icons such as Ratan Tata, Sudha Murthy, and Microsoft Philanthropy.
The recognition adds to Centum Foundation’s growing list of honours, including a recent Brandon Hall Gold Award for the same initiative, proving that when partnerships work with purpose, the impact speaks louder than words.
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Myntra revives ‘Fashion ki Adalat’ to put social judgments on trial for International Women’s Day
Courtroom satire stars Lisa Ray and Archana Puran Singh
NATIONAL: Ahead of International Women’s Day, fashion e-commerce platform Myntra has revived its social campaign Fashion ki Adalat, expanding the idea of societal judgment beyond clothing choices.
The latest instalment of the campaign features actor and model Lisa Ray in a satirical courtroom drama that puts everyday scrutiny of women’s choices on trial. Veteran actor Archana Puran Singh reprises her role as the presiding judge, delivering the verdict in a humorous yet pointed narrative.
Set inside a stylised courtroom, the campaign frames the case as “Society vs Her Choices,” turning familiar criticisms into formal accusations. Through humour and satire, the film examines how women’s decisions, ranging from fashion and career to marriage and identity, are frequently judged across different stages of life.
The narrative traces three phases of Lisa Ray’s life. At 18, her independence is framed as defiance. Later, after marriage, her decision not to change her surname is questioned. In midlife, her ambition and bold self-expression are again scrutinised. Each moment is met with sharp retorts that challenge social expectations and reinforce the campaign’s central message: personal expression should not be subject to public approval.
With Fashion ki Adalat 2.0, Myntra is attempting to broaden last year’s conversation from defending individual fashion choices to questioning the impulse to judge them altogether.
“Self-expression is often met with unsolicited scrutiny,” said Myntra head of social media marketing and creator ecosystem Monalisa Panda. “Through this campaign we wanted to spotlight that reality and celebrate individuality across life stages.”
Created and produced by Ideaz Farm, the film was directed by Yash Danak, with creative direction by Katya Mohan and Rishi P Ekta Taak and Prasanna Shetty served as producers, while P Kalyani Sunil handled cinematography.
The campaign forms part of Myntra’s wider push to position fashion and beauty as tools of personal identity and self-expression for younger consumers across India.
