Balasaheb Darade is a politician of another hue. The 29-year-old could have pursued the American dream, easily. But he chose to work in his Vidarbha region of Maharashtra to bring the change that people want. Kavita Kanan Chandra spoke to him

Max Chandra is on a mission, walking 12,000 km to raise funds for his charity, One Step at a Time. However, his weird sartorial style is aimed at drawing public attention, says Shilpa Raina

A team of 7000 volunteers, mostly from the IT sector, are working among poor children, empowering them, building their self-confidence and teaching them basic literacy skills. P C Vinoj Kumar meets Kartheeban C, the architect of the movement

Rayna Srivastava, a 16-year-old high school student from Texas, USA, spent her summer vacation teaching English at a girls’ home in Mumbai, even skipping a trip to Brazil, says Krishnaraj Rao

Forty sightless people, who are themselves waging a grim battle for survival, have formed an association in West Bengal to extend help to those less fortunate than them, says Ritwik Bagchi

In Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district, the empowerment by Panchayati Raj is evident in women representatives from varied background undergoing a change in attitude. Abha Sharma meets some of them

A library has created a revolution in Kerala’s Cherukulathur by inspiring the entire village of 600 families to pledge their organs for donation. M Suchitra finds out how the movement began

A Arun Thamburaj, a medico who stood sixth in the civil service ranking, and was selected for IPS last year, had turned down lucrative opportunities from abroad, all for serving the country

Social work is no pizza business, it requires commitment and passion says Vidyaakar, who has been running a home in Chennai, Udhavum Karangal, for 30 years. Catherine Gilon met the Papa, who now has 1263 people, 314 of them kids, in his care

A young IAS officer mobilized Rs 40 lakh through Facebook to build a road in Manipur, earning the sobriquet ‘The Miracle Man’. Gaurav Sharma met Armstrong Pame to find out why he wanted to build the 100 km ‘People’s Road’ and how he did it

Ravi Kalra is a former taekwondo instructor whose NGO cares for senior citizens, and mentally challenged people. He carries on with his work though his family deserted him, says Rahul Vaishnavi

They call him the ‘glacier man’. Chewang Norphel of Ladakh built 12 artificial glaciers that prevented farmers in high altitudes from moving out of the villages in search of alternative livelihood. Akash Bisht profiles the visionary with grit

Though she eked out a living doing menial jobs, Subhasini Mistry built a hospital. She did not want others to suffer as she did after her husband died when she was just 23, says Sahana Ghosh

The dedication of the workers of General Reserve Engineering Force, who are cutting through a 100-feet snow wall, under Arctic-like conditions, to reopen the Rohtang Pass wows Vishal Gulati

Braving a harsh winter, Sathi Sinnaya walked 763 km from London to Geneva, carrying a memorandum seeking justice for Sri Lankan Tamils. Paul Newman reports on the Mission Accomplished