The app man

A school teacher from Rajasthan was toasted by the Prime Minister at the Wembley Stadium during his UK visit. Partho Burman has the story of the self-taught Imran Khan who has developed 54 education apps, besides some websites, all for free

Road fixer

In the family that names children after freedom fighters, it was natural that he was called Gangadhara Tilak. But he continued the tradition of being a do-gooder, filling up potholes on roads, spending his own money and time, says S Sainath

Bridging villages

Boatman Sheikh Lalchand of Kulia village in Howrah district has singlehandedly built a bamboo bridge across River Mudeswari, connecting people of three panchayats with the mainland. And the bridge has been rightly named after him, says G Singh

Train girls

A primary school teacher has been taking classes at the parking lot of Dum Dum railway station for girls who eke a living begging on the platforms. Dipanjana Dey has the extraordinary story

Another stork tale

Fascinated by the rare Greater ‘Adjutant’ Stork in the fields on her way to school in Assam, Purnima Devi Barman grew up to learn that it has become rarer and launched a campaign to protect the species. Kavita Kanan Chandra tells the story

Special service

Realising the trouble of special children travelling long distance for treatment as she commuted to work, Vaishali Pai took rehabilitation facility close to their homes, says Smita Deodhar

 
Model village

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

New life

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

Schooling girls

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

War on porn

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

Begged to differ

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

The transformer

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

 
Keeping them in

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

People’s bridge

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

Poverty’s child

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

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