In 2004, Sandeep Ahuja, an IRS Officer with the Indian Government, went for higher studies to Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He was fascinated by the size of the philanthropic sector in the US. He decided to start Operation ASHA to fulfil his goal of helping the needy at a large scale. He chose to focus on tuberculosis (TB), which is one of the biggest public health crises in developing countries and mostly affects the disadvantaged. Since then, he has not looked back and expanded Operation ASHA where it vies for impact, in spite of a miniscule budget, with the biggest social enterprises globally like the Global Fund and GAVI. It is ranked 101 globally.