The Roti Bank, started by Tara Patkar and few others, has brought down begging in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region. Narendra Kaushik tells us the story of the journalist-turned social activist who is changing the lives of the local people

If Chennai rains exposed the vulnerability of women and children in a crisis, rallying together to make things better is the best gift that communities gave themselves, says Kirthi Jayakumar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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