The Weekend Leader - We Report News & Stories that Matter
Heroes of Nuapada

In the remote areas of Odisha without access to online education, migrant workers such as Khageswar, who have returned to their villages during the COVID lockdown, have turned tutors for the children of the villages, says Naba Kishor Pujari

Driving change

Munmun Sarkar, a humble e-rickshaw driver from Siliguri, is winning hearts by shifting COVID-19 patients on her vehicle free of charge, following all the safety protocols but ignoring the opposition from neighbours, says Gurvinder Singh

Crime & reformation

Sucked into the world of crime as a child, Laxman Ghole revelled in violence with police connivance. He came out of the maze after reading ‘My Experiments with Truth’ and is now a Gandhian helping jail birds kick the past, says Ketan Vaidya

Heart and soul

After exploring the world, bagging degrees, diplomas and a doctorate and making money, Geetanjali Chopra felt a void in her heart, leading to a soul-searching that concluded at Wishes and Blessings. Sofia Danish Khan met the social worker

The good teacher

Students of a Panchayat School in rural Tamil Nadu speak English with the right accent, thanks to Annapurna Mohan who spends her money on devising new methods of teaching. P C Vinoj Kumar meets the unusual teacher in Indian public education

Heal the poor

For someone who grew up being indifferent to deprivation, Falguni Nevatia’s attitude towards social work changed after marriage, more after her husband’s death. Gurvinder Singh tell us how her mammoth Rural Health Care Foundation functions

 
Water idea

Stepping out of the plush comforts of her Malabar Hill home in Mumbai, Amla Ruia turned ‘water mother’ to lakhs of people in India’s parched zones as she was impelled to reach out to the water-starved. Vedika Chaubey has her inspiring story

First call

They rush in where others fear to tread. They are ‘Alert’ volunteers who provide the first medical assistance to accident victims even before the ambulance arrives. Radhika Sudhakar speaks to their trainer and Alert founder, Kala Balasundaram

An eco-warrior

As mystery shrouds the disappearance of activist S Mugilan for over 100 days, #WhereIsMugilan hash tag trends in Twitter and people in Tamil Nadu are demanding an answer from the police. G Babu Jayakumar traces Mugilan’s path as an activist

Ahead of others

She was born 15 weeks in advance and has been surging ahead of her peers intellectually since then. P C Vinoj Kumar talks to child prodigy K Visalini, who has one of the world’s highest IQ and at 19 years ready with big plans for the country

Helping the Hungry

A computer science teacher from West Bengal's Asansol collects excess untouched food from college and office canteens everyday and distributes it among nearly 200 poor children. Milinda Ghosh Roy finds out what led him to start this initiative

Gandhigiri in Kollam

Kerala politician Niyaz Chithara, inspired by Gandhi’s message of ‘be the change’, has donated his ancestral property of one acre and 10 cents (4,451 sq m), valued at about Rs 8 crore (USD 1.1 million) to 20 landless families, says Sanu George

 
A Clean Sweep

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder, Sulabh International, known for his work to eradicate manual scavenging and construction of public toilets, swept an eminent three-member jury off their feet to emerge as The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year

Price of Freedom

Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi's life has been made into a film titled, ‘The Price of Free’. The film is about one man's groundbreaking struggle to liberate every child possible from slavery, says Nivedita, who also spoke to Kailash 

The Final Push

At age 22, during his final days of training at Indian Military Academy, Navin Gulia met with an accident that left him in the words of doctors – permanently 100 percent disabled. But Navin refused to live by those words, says Sofia Danish Khan

Milky Mist Cheese