Honours for a man with a spade
Tilak never asked for recognition — he asked for safer roads. Recognition came anyway, from Hyderabad to the BBC.
- TEDxVJTI, Mumbai•2018
TEDx speaker — 'Guardians of the Roads (The Road Doctor)'
Invited to the TEDx stage to share the Shramadaan idea with a global audience.
Source - Miracles World Records•Registration AW32020
'Doctor of Roads' — world records recognition
Recognised for voluntarily filling more than 2,000 potholes across Indian cities with his own pension money.
Source - National television, India•2015
Featured on 'Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi' with Amitabh Bachchan
Honoured on air as a real-life hero; the appearance carried Shramadaan across the country.
Source - BBC News•2016
'Unsung Indians' — profiled as one of India's everyday heroes
The BBC spent a working day on the road with him for its series on people improving others' lives.
Source - NPR, United States•2015
International recognition as a social entrepreneur
Featured in NPR's series on social entrepreneurs taking on world problems.
Source - GHMC, Greater Hyderabad•Ongoing
Civic support from the city
The municipality that once ignored his complaints now supplies road-repair material for his work.
Know of an award or felicitation missing from this list? Write to us and we will add it with its source.
Recognition in pictures
News highlights
The pictures that carried the Shramadaan story furthest — on national television, in the newspapers and on the stage — each with its date and a link to the original coverage.
Work on the road
Photographs and stills from published films and reports about Tilak and the Shramadaan movement.
International press
Public appearances
Stills from the coverage
