Led by a woman, Zamin Devarkulam in Tamil Nadu is a model village for India. It has no fan club, party flag or liquor shop and many of its youth work abroad, says P C Vinoj Kumar, who was amazed by the security that CCTV cameras provide

She has worked with women in distress in Mumbai and victims of Bhopal gas tragedy. Now, her New Light is a project that has pulled children of Kolkata’s red light areas out of darkness. G Singh met Urmi Basu, a social worker extraordinaire

A former child worker, Zainab, is now an activist committed to children’s education. Azera Parveen Rahman tells us the story of empowerment of the 19-year-old girl from Chandora near Meerut

Claiming that there is a link between increasing incidence of rapes and other acts of sexual perversion to pornography, Kamlesh Vaswani, a lawyer from Indore, is waging a battle to get a ban on porn websites. Partho Burman spoke to the man

Turning a man seeking alms into a candy seller is something only school students who begged to differ on prevalent myths about begging can achieve. P C Vinoj Kumar has the paraplegic’s story

Irrigation wells, schools, a weavers’ cooperative and many such schemes have transformed villages in Maharashtra’s Sangli and Kolhapur districts. But Arun Chavan, the man behind it all, is not known outside the area, says Kavita Kanan Chandra

The new sarpanch of Sarakana in Odisha has ensured that there is no migration out of her village by people in search of work. Rakhi Ghosh tells us the success story of sarpanch Soudamani Das

The new 225 feet long bridge across river Ghaggar, linking the villages of Panihari and Alikan in Haryana, is a model project. Costing Rs 1.5 crore, the bridge is an example of a people’s initiative, funded by the public, says Partho Burman

Once a domestic help, it is just natural that Anuradha Bhosale dedicated her life to protect children from exploitation. Kavita Kanan Chandra tells us how she charted her path out of poverty through education and work among child labourers

At 97, Sudhanshu Biswas is a busy man. Taking care of 50 boys and 6 senior citizens, meticulously monitoring if they are served food on time and so on, at his home near Kolkata, he keeps visitors waiting. G Singh found the waiting worthwhile

Having an alcoholic dad and a husband was enough motivation for Bhanu to help persons having alcohol and drug dependence problems to turn a new leaf. P C Vinoj Kumar reports on her CONCERN

A Chennai woman’s simple gesture of donating the money she gets from selling old newspapers, collected from homes, to two orphanages is an inheritance from her parents, who always took care of poor youth at their home, says P C Vinoj Kumar

What R Saravanan could not do to his sister in 2005, he does for others. P C Vinoj Kumar met the founder of Dhanalakshmi Raja Educational and Charitable Trust that sends poor kids to college

A daily wage labourer’s daughter, who could not attend college, is now a life coach, motivator and mentor for children. P C Vinoj Kumar meets Logammal Arumugam, who is also behind the vibrant Children’s Parliament in many Tamil Nadu villages

You may not find a politician like K Viswanthan anywhere. In a decade he and his wife served as panchayat president, Kattuputhur in Tamil Nadu solved its water woe, turned green, plastic-free, tobacco-free and much more, says P C Vinoj Kumar