In a way, Darangi realized his engineering dream by becoming a mobile phone mechanic, thanks to ChildFund India, which has liberated many such youth from daily labour, says Prantick Majumder

It was no wild goose chase for Arun Athiappan, when he co-founded TicketGoose.com, a bus ticket booking portal. He always wanted to be an entrepreneur and has been losing sleep to come up with new ideas since he was 12, says P C Vinoj Kumar

By professionalizing the otherwise unorganized scrap market, two MBA students, Apoorva Chaturvedi and Yogesh Sood, have changed the image of the man coming home to buy old newspapers. Asad Ashraf logs on to kabaadiwala.com to check the profit

Nagaland women are cultivating in community lands and have formed self help groups to market their organic foods, says Ninglun Hanghal, who met some of the successful farmer–entrepreneurs

Lavender crop brings 20 times more profit than, say, maize. This was discovered by a lady doctor who went on to taste success in farming and also be a change-maker in Kashmir, says Sana Altaf

Sudden shocks of climate change rarely affect the farm of Sudha Gunwant in Almora. Taking Anuradha Sahni around the farm, a hub of biodiversity, she explains how she overcame the challenge

Suresh Poojari started as a general help in a small eatery on a monthly salary of Rs.4 at age 10. Now he owns a popular restaurant chain, a shopping mall and a 3-star hotel, says Quaid Najmi

Attibele Gram Panchayat, 40 km from Bengaluru, is witnessing another development like the IT city. Its women have been making a splash as popular panchayat leaders, reports Pushpa Achanta

In militancy infected Kashmir, life is not easy for women. But some women grassroots leaders are making life easy for others. Ashutosh Sharma meets two of them, Zaitoon Begum and Vimla Devi

In a Himalayan achievement, three women from the Northeast reached the peak of their mountaineering career. Ninglun Hangal tells us the stories of Anshu Jamsenpa, Bidyapati Ningthoujam and Wansuk Myrthong, who were on top of Everest recently

The humble neem, which is part of Indian household remedies, is now being harnessed to fight cancer. Researchers in Kolkata are on the job and human trials could come next, says Sahana Ghosh

By launching a portal, Travelkhana.com, in October, 2012, Pushpinder Singh has helped over 50,000 rail travelers have palatable food during the journey. Akash Bisht explains how food from popular eateries get delivered at various stations

Kultikiri village in West Bengal has been electing only women to its panchayat for the past 20 years though the seats are not reserved. Saadia Azim finds out why women rule the roost here

The clocks of Sunil Saxena grew in size as his mother’s eye sight failed. His wish to make her read time without strain has led to the clock with a diameter of 72 inches, says Brij Khandelwal

Driven by a desire to succeed after he was told that he did not deserve a Pilot pen in class V, Ramesh Babu who worked his way up to own a fleet of 127 cars, including a Rs 3.3 crore Rolls Royce, yet remains a hairstylist, says P C Vinoj Kumar