# National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues

The National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues was one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It was one of several awards presented for non-feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).
The award was instituted in 1967, at 15th National Film Awards and awarded annually for the short films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages. At the 70th National Film Awards, the award is discontinued and clubbed with National Film Award for Best Promotional Film, National Film Award for Best Scientific Film, National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film, National Film Award for Best Exploration/Adventure Film, National Film Award for Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film, National Film Award for Best Agriculture Film, National Film Award for Best Investigative Film and National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Environment/Conservation/Preservation Film, and two new categories were created; Best Documentary and Best Non Feature Film Promoting Social and Environmental Values.

## Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:
* Indicates a joint award for that year
List of films, showing the year, language(s), producer(s) and director(s) :
| Year | Film(s) | Language(s) | Producer(s) | Director(s) |
| 1967 (15th) | I am 20 | English | J. S. Bhownagary and K. L. Khandpur for Films Division | S. N. S. Sastry |
| 1968 (16th) | Water | English | Fali Billmoria Productions | Fali Billmoria |
| 1969 (17th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1970 (18th) | Latest | English | Film-O-Pub | Biplab Ray Chaudhari |
| 1971 (19th) | | | | |
| 1972 (20th) | Transcedence | English | Pramod Patil for Films Division | K. Vishwanath for Films Division |
| 1973 (21st) | Land of Krishna | English | G. L. Bhardwaj | G. L. Bhardwaj |
| 1974 (22nd) | Behind the Breadline | English | S. Sukhdev | S. Sukhdev |
| 1975 (23rd) | Baster Rhythm of Progress | English | Chandrashekhar Nair | Chandrashekhar Nair |
| 1976 (24th) | | | | |
| 1977 (25th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1978 (26th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1979 (27th) | | | | |
| 1980 (28th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1981 (29th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1982 (30th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1983 (31st) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1984 (32nd) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1985 (33rd) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 1986 (34th) | Inner Instincts | English | Ministry of Welfare (India) | P. Vijay Kumar |
| 1987 (35th) | Sankalp | Hindi | Madhya Pradesh Film Development Corporation Ltd. | Rajendra Janglay |
| 1988 (36th) | Voices from Baliapal | English | Vector Productions | • Vasudha Joshi • Ranjan Palit |
| 1989 (37th) | The Limp in the Niche | English | Girish Karnad | Girish Karnad |
| 1990 (38th) | Safe Drinking Water for All | English | R. Krishna Mohan for Films Division | Mahesh P. Sinha |
| 1991 (39th) | Eyes of Stone | • Hindi • Marwari | Nilita Vachani | Nilita Vachani |
| 1992 (40th) | Choodiyan | Hindi | Sai Paranjpye for Films Division | Sai Paranjpye |
| 1993 (41st) | The Women Betrayed | English | • Sehjo Singh • Anwar Jamal | Sehjo Singh |
| 1994 (42nd) | Father, Son and Holy War (Part I: Trial by Fire, Part II: Hero Pharmacy) | • Hindi • English | Anand Patwardhan | Anand Patwardhan |
| 1995 (43rd) | Memories of Fear | • Hindi • English | • Flavia Agnes • Majlis Production | Madhushree Dutta |
| 1996 (44th) | Silent Screams: A Village Chronicle | English | Jose Sebastián | O. K. Johnny |
| 1997 (45th) | Matir Bhanr | Bengali | Anjana Ghosh Dastidar | Debananda Sengupta |
| 1998 (46th) | Malli | Tamil | Film and TV Institute of Tamil Nadu | R. Madhava Krisshnan |
| 1999 (47th) | Atanka Ka Andhakar (Darkness of Terror) | Hindi | Films Division | Rajiv Kumar |
| 2000 (48th) | Infiltrators | English | Urmi Chakraborty for Films Division | Urmi Chakraborty for Films Division |
| 2001 (49th) | A New Paradigm | English | Aruna Raje Patil | Aruna Raje Patil |
| 2002 (50th) | Avchetan | Hindi | • Prem Matiyani for Films Division • Ministry of Social Empowerment | Manisha Dwivedi |
| 2003 (51st) | Way Back Home | Bengali | Rajasri Mukhopadhyay | Supriyo Sen |
| 2004 (52nd) | Dwijaa | Marathi | Tripurari Sharan for FTII | Pankaj Purandare |
| 2005 (53rd) | Way To Dusty Death | • Hindi • English | Rajiv Mehrotra | Sayed Fayaz |
| 2006 (54th) | Children of Nomads | Hindi | Leoarts Communication | Meenakshi Vinay Rai |
| 2007 (55th) | Bagher Bacha | Bengali | Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute | Bishnu Dev Halder |
| 2007 (55th) | Shifting Prophecy | English | Public Service Broadcasting Trust | Merajur Rahman Baruah |
| 2008 (56th) | The Female Nude | Hindi | Public Service Broadcasting Trust | • Hemjyotika • Devi Prasad Mishra |
| 2008 (56th) | Buru Gaara | Hindi | Public Service Broadcasting Trust | Shriprakash |
| 2009 (57th) | Mr. India | Manipuri | Haobam Paban Kumar | Haobam Paban Kumar |
| 2010 (58th) | Understanding Trafficking | • Bengali • Hindi • English | Cinemawoman | Ananya Chakraborti |
| 2011 (59th) | Mindscapes... of Love and Longing | • Hindi • English | Public Service Broadcasting Trust | Arun Chadha |
| 2011 (59th) | Inshallah, Football | • Kashmiri • Urdu • English | Javed Jaffrey | Ashvin Kumar |
| 2012 (60th) | Behind The Mist | Malayalam | Babu Kambrath | Babu Kambrath |
| 2013 (61st) | Gulabi Gang | • Hindi • Bundelkhandi | Torstein Grude | Nishtha Jain |
| 2014 (62nd) | Can't Take This Shit Anymore | English | Bhagirathi Films | Vinod Kapri |
| 2014 (62nd) | Daughters of Mother India | English | V2 Film & Design | Vibha Bakshi |
| 2015 (63rd) | Auto Driver | Manipuri | • Oinam Doren • Longjam Meena Devi | Longjam Meena Devi |
| 2016 (64th) | I am Jeeja | English | Rajiv Mehrotra | Swaty Chakraborty |
| 2016 (64th) | Sanath | Hindi | Priya Arun | Vasanth S. Sai |
| 2017 (65th) | I am Bonnie | | Films Division of India | Farha Khatun, Satarupa Santra, Sourabh Kanti Dutta |
| 2017 (65th) | Veil Done | | Juhi Bhatt | Rajiv Mehrotra |
| 2018 (66th) | Taala Te Kunjee | Punjabi | Simardeep Singh | Shilpi Gulati |
| 2019 (67th) | Holy Rights | Urdu | Priyanka Pradeep More | Farha Khatun |
| 2020 (68th) | Justice Delayed but Delivered | Hindi | Mandeep Chauhan | Kamakhya Narayan Singh |
| 2020 (68th) | Three Sisters | Bengali | Ratnaboli Ray | Putul Rafey Mahmood |
| 2021 (69th) | Mithu Di Three Two One | | Asim Kumar Sinha | Asim Kumar Sinha |
| 2021 (69th) | Three Two One | | Film and Television Institute of India | Himanshu Prajapati |