It's time to tell you about the CNBC-TV18 Social Enterprise of the year Award. And this one has many twists in the tale. The winner was a special nomination by the jury. And this one category will become 3 next year.

These enterprises you cannot judge by bottomline. Infact it's very tough to judge them at all. Because size doesn't matter when the cause is good. So good intentions of course, but focussed delivery, scalability and transparency are all attributes of the nominees for the CNBC-TV18 Social Enterprise of the year Award.

Akshay Patra that provides over 8 lakh mid day meals to government school children every day fighting illiteracy, gender discrimination and drug addiction, Navjyoti India Foundation Katha that works in Delhi’s slums spreading education through storytelling also working to school every child upto the age of 11 is Pratham, and SOS Children's Villages of India that works to bring up destitute children in a family care atmosphere, the Jankidevi Bajaj Gram Vikas Sanstha that has adopted 32 villages around the Bajaj Akurdi plant, the Infosys Foundation that works across healthcare, education, social rehabilitation and the Arts ITC that has touched the lives of nearly 4 million villagers across India.

Few days before the jury met, one jury member after having scrutinised the nominations data suggested adding the jaipur foot organisation to the list.

The Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti has served almost a million people worldwide. Though it's better known for the Jaipur foot and other indigenously developed cost efficient artificial limbs, this organisation works towards the overall physical, economical and social rehabilitation of physically challenged people. 99% of it's patients are below the poverty line. While it was founded by former Sebi Chief D R Mehta over 30 years ago, the jury believes it has yet to get the recognition it deserves - and so this vote was spontaneous and unanimous.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, Jury Member, IBLA 2007, said, “The Jaipur foot has been around for sometime which is something that went in their favour the fact they have sustained the commitment and dedication to this cause in a focused way for several decades now I think. The fact that it has a huge impact on people's lives so if you get an artificial foot, I have seen this happen and a child could run after that and that obviously has a huge impact in terms of employability and the way society views you and also the fact that these artificial limbs are very cost effective and it is a model that is hugely scalable. Also the fact that we believe that this organisation hasn’t been celebrated enough. It hasn’t got the share of limelight maybe this is a platform that gives them more visibility and make more people aware of the good work that they are doing. “

Since the good work of an individual or NGO deserves special recognition the Jury and CNBC-TV18 decided on 2 separate awards next year - Social Enterprise & Corporate Social Responsibility.

But wait there's a third award as well. The Green Company of the year award - to recognise the most environmentally responsible company.

Uday Kotak, VC & MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Jury Member, IBLA 2007 said, “I think first of all you got to recognise that environment is becoming a very important part of our psyche. And to a certain extent there is a perception that India is not getting environment in the forefront the way it is becoming a global issue today. And creation of this category helps us get the focus to celebrate people or look at successes of people who are contributing to the broader perspective of life than just making money.”

KV Kamath, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank, Jury Member, IBLA 2007 said, “This whole idea of looking three different initiatives, I think we have been obsessed in the past looking at financial performance or other qualities of leadership I think that I heard jury and editorial team say that do we need to look at something beyond? The answer is vociferous yes we need to. I think its a signal that we are coming of age in this nation.”

Congratulations to BMVSS this year and to 3 winners in 2008.