Green restorers
Thanks to the conservation efforts of a group of women, forest cover has gone up by 63 percent in a village in Odisha, which was devastated by the 1999 super cyclone, says Richa Sharma
Change makers
Village volunteers or Gramdoots have changed the government machinery - to work for the people - in around 1,000 villages of Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, says Aparna Pallavi
Lady Tarzan
In the jungles of Muthurkham Chaura and Kadel Pahar in Jharkhand, which is a Maoist corridor and haven for timber mafia, there roams a 42-year-old woman, Chami Devi Murmu, whom the locals fondly call ‘Lady Tarzan’. Saadia Azim tells us why
Tiger grower
Bringing back the roar to Panna Tiger Reserve, which had no wild cat prowling in 2009, was a task cut out for R S Murthy. Akash Bisht tells the story of how the IFS officer raised the tiger count at the park from zero to 17 in just 2 years
A mariner's tale
Lt. Commander Abhilash Tomy, is set to circumnavigate the globe solo, without dropping anchor once, to become the first Indian to do the 22,000-nautical mile journey, says Mayank Singh
Doctor is in
Ever since he started practice in the 1960s, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee has been charging just Rs 5 as consultation fee. Now at the age of 75, every day he sees up to 50 poor patients, who come from all over Jharkhand, says Kavita Kanan Chandra
Battling the guns
Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, works with women family members of victims of violence and helps them stand on their feet
Heroes in trouble
Two students in a school in Assam who had received the National Bravery Award for nabbing a militant who had killed their teacher are now barely making ends meet as daily wage earners
The challenger
Visually challenged Ratna Ala’s effective use of the RTI Act has shed light on bogus voters in his locality in Rajkot district of Gujarat and also brought good roads to his village, Rangpar
Teacher kid
The BBC once described Babar Ali as the youngest headmaster. The founder of Anand Shiksha Niketan, having 800 students on the rolls now, was 9 years when he started teaching 8 of his friends. Kavita Kanan Chandra profiles Ali, now in college
A young hero
A 19-year-old’s crusade against irregularities in the fair price shop at his village in Gujarat resulted in all fair price shops in the State coming under the ambit of the RTI Act
Hospital for hope
US-born Indian actress Melanie Kannokada, seen as Seeta McKinsey in ‘Love, Lies & Seeta,’ talks about her pet cause - constructing a hospital in Jharkhand for 1,00,000 villagers
Motherly courage
A poor woman picks up an infant abandoned by her parents and brings her up despite being thrown out by her husband. Nirmala was one of the 17 such persons honoured by an NGO, says Alka Pande
Woman of steel
Sonia Narang, an IPS officer in Karnataka, has proved that she can take up any assignment. Anita Chinnappal meets the ‘woman super cop’, who is known more for her courage and forthrightness
Oh Bai! What a woman
Helping tribal people like her regain their lost land is Guddi Bai’s mission. It did not matter that she lost her dad when she was one year old and her hubby when she was 26, says Raju Kumar