Pet project
‘Rickshaw Bank’ is a project that helps rickshaw pullers. It was born out of a conversation Pradip Kumar Sarmah, a veterinarian, who had taken animal health care to rural areas in Assam, had with a rickshaw puller, says Souzeina S Mushtaq
A big fight
A woman sarpanch of a tribal community in Madhya Pradesh has successfully led a struggle for restoration of forest rights and ensured her people’s food security. Shuriah Niazi meets Santa Bai
Action cop
His was a career dedicated to fight graft, through unconventional methods. Now the former cop is advisor to the anti-corruption cell of Aam Aadmi Party. Souzeina S Mushtaq profiles N Dilip Kumar, called as ‘action hero’ by a news magazine
Another war
If Kalinga war transformed Ashoka, the Kalinga institute in Odisha is transforming the lives of thousands of tribal children. Jatindra Dash meets the founder of the institute, Achyut Samanta
Natives' return
The return of Sabbah Haji and her family to their hometown in Kashmir’s Doda district has helped local children as the school started in 2009 is still growing. Afsana Rashid finds the school running with the help of volunteers from outside
At the grassroots
A group of social workers in the temple town of Kanchipuram meet every week to chart their down to earth projects. All of them teetotalers, not by scheme, they work at the grassroots level but seek no external aid. P C Vinoj Kumar meets them
Heart for Artisans
Young social entrepreneur Medhavi Gandhi works with artisans from around the country, helping them to innovate and design better products to keep pace with the market needs, says Afsana Rashid
Banker's interest
He once wanted to create a 'Shangrila' in the Himalayas. In 1993, he was into mergers and acquisitions in Citibank. But now Ramji Raghavan promotes scientific temper and the spirit of enquiry among poor children, says Kavita Kanan Chandra
Ghana's Mama
By honouring and taking care of 80-year-old Indian doctor, Uma Sen, the people of Ghana will be paying back a bit of what she gave them in the past 45 years of toil. Francis Kokutse reports
Faceless wonder
He helps students from poor families to pursue their higher studies and trains many for competitive exams, but shies away from publicity. He wouldn’t even want his photo to be published. P C Vinoj Kumar meets the founder of Mugavari, K Ramesh
Let them laugh
If you hear the laughter of a disabled child, think of Kilikili, which literally means child's warbling laughter. Founded by Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, the NGO strove for making parks disabled-friendly. Souzeina Mushtaq tells us how it started
Face of hope
Her face on wall posters has inspired HIV positive people in Odisha not to give up hope. Rakhi Ghosh tracks the life and times of Prabhasini Pradhan, who founded a network for those with HIV
War ladies
Some feisty women leaders of SHGs in Uttar Pradesh are leading movements that fight against alcoholism and other social evils. Mehru Jaffer meets one such leader, Meera Chaudhury of Janakpur
People's award
What pleases Sanchaita Gajapati Raju on her winning the Google Global Impact Challenge award is that she polled maximum votes, an indicator of people's understanding of the importance of clean water and sanitation, says Kavita Kanan Chandra
Drop in dropout
Knowing education's role in socio-economic mobility from his family history, Aditya Natraj trained school heads and ensured that the overall quality of rural education improved. It also brought down the dropout rate, says Souzeina Musthtaq