She had a difficult childhood, but that didn’t stop Manika Majumdar in joining a Kolkata-based NGO to offer counselling for people with mental health issues. Partho Burman profiles the unsung hero who was taunted for working with ‘mad people’

When the sky turns overcast, people of Chennai no longer tune in to their television sets to listen to the weather forecast – they log in to Pradeep John’s Facebook page. P C Vinoj Kumar profiles Chennai’s popular independent weather forecaster

Former school coordinator Juin Dutta conducts informal classes for underprivileged children and runs a hostel for them at Vadodara with the help of volunteers. Kavita Kanan Chandra spoke to the gritty woman, who has bigger plans to achieve

A woman riding a 1600 cc superbike on a highway attracts a lot of attention, but Pooja Rajput who undertook a 2,000-km solo coastal ride on her Harley Davidson is unfazed and urges women to hit the road. Anjali Ojha spoke to the braveheart   

For many years now, V S Veerapathiran or Veera as he is fondly called, has been falling foul of people for his concern about protecting the environment. But nothing has deterred the green warrior from Kodaikanal. Usha Prasad profiles the man

Fiona Mackeown, mother of British teenager Scarlett Keeling, whose barely-clothed body was found at Anjuna beach in Goa in 2008, is raising funds on a crowd-funding website to secure justice for her slain daughter, says Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

You have heard of the men in blue; now get to know about the women in blue, the all-women patrol squad in Udaipur that is striking fear in the hearts of eve-teasers and making the streets and public places safer for women, says Renu Rakesh

Leading a team of NCC girls, Major Deepika Rathore scaled the Everest for a second time earlier this year. Salute the great mountaineers and move ahead, she told the group as they saw dead bodies sliding down from the top, says Abha Sharma

An online poll has been announced to shortlist the nominations from among seven individual and three pairs of nominees for The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year Award. The award comes with a cash prize of Rs.25,000, a trophy and citation

Mamoon Akhtar is offering hundreds of poor children in Howrah what he did not get as a child – a good English medium education, because his family could not afford it for him. G Singh spoke to Mamoon, who is also involved in other social projects

After introducing several customer-friendly initiatives in his auto, G Annadurai aka Auto Anna is now exploring the possibility of running an air-conditioned auto for the comfort of passengers

Twenty-five-year old Tabassum Ali is the first woman truck driver from Madhya Pradesh, but her story is not just about grit and guts, it is also about her love for her mother and sisters for whom she has dedicated her life, says G Singh

A businessman, Mahesh Savani, is trying to get in touch with the families of Indian soldiers who were martyred during the recent terror strike at Uri. He has pledged to support the education of the children of the martyrs, says Somma Banerjjee

Trees may not be able to speak, but they have found a voice thanks to a bunch of women activists in Jhansi, who believe that saving the existing trees is more important than planting fresh ones. Partho Burman reports on their unique mission

Having disabled parents, Neha Arora knew the difficulties that the physically challenged faced.  The young engineer has quit a promising career to brighten the lives of disabled people by organising special tours for them, says Jyoti Kanyal