Innovation

12 Unseen Moments of 2025 That Didn’t Go Viral But Deserve a Place In Our Hearts

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From caring for animals and preserving mango diversity to healthcare on wheels and sustainable bricks, discover the changemakers whose work quietly transformed India.

By Niharika Dabral

From caring for animals and preserving mango diversity to healthcare on wheels and sustainable bricks, discover the changemakers whose work quietly transformed India.

30 Dec 2025 16:20 IST

Niharika Dabral

12 overlooked stories from 2025 where everyday Indians built ponds, prosthetics, eco-bricks, mobile hospitals and hope.

1/12

Gauri Maulekhi, Championing animal welfare on pilgrimage routes

For years, Gauri Maulekhi has cared for injured horses, donkeys, and mules that labour tirelessly under harsh conditions carrying devotees, luggage, and goods to remote temples and fairs. Thousands of horses, mules, and donkeys suffer from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. Gauri’s animal rescue work isn’t just about medical care, it advocates for policy shifts, humane transport regulations, and public awareness about animal rights and dignity. She set up Happy Homes Sanctuary, the sole equine sanctuary in Uttarakhand, to provide refuge to disabled, injured, and abandoned animals. In 2025, as conversations around ethical tourism and worker welfare grew, Gauri’s work highlights an urgent yet often invisible front of welfare, the animals whose toil enables cultural traditions.

2/12

Haji Kalimullah Khan, Preserving India’s mango diversity

In an age when innovation is often equated with the digital, 84-year-old Haji Kalimullah Khan shows that curiosity, patience, and craft can be just as transformative. Kalimullah, known across India as the Mango Man, has spent decades mastering the art of grafting, the horticultural technique of joining different plant tissues. Through this painstaking process, he’s created a living marvel: a single mango tree that now bears more than 350 distinct varieties, each with its own taste, colour and character. With no formal scientific training, Kalimullah relied on instinct, trial and error, and deep love for the mango tree to nurture this botanical tapestry. His son, Nazimullah, stepped in to help manage the orchard, turning family responsibility into a shared passion. Kalimullah’s orchard matters not only as a cultural treasure but also as a model of sustainable plant breeding rooted in local wisdom, community exchange (seed sharing across cities), and intergenerational knowledge.

3/12

Sharvan Patel, building ponds to quench wildlife's thirst

Moved by the sight of blackbucks, peacocks, and migratory birds struggling for water, photographer Sharvan Patel set out to address wildlife water scarcity in Rajasthan’s parched grasslands. He revived khailis, traditional shallow ponds, in his village and what began as one small structure ballooned into a community-funded initiative that led to the construction of over 130 ponds. Soon, volunteers and donors contributed through Sharvan’s “small giving, big impact” model that builds and maintains the khailis ponds. Sharvan’s initiative reconnects people to the ecosystems around them and fosters community ownership of conservation. With climate extremes intensifying, his work points to low-cost, scalable community innovations that strengthen ecological resilience and preserve biodiversity.

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4/12

Ity Pandey, bringing healthcare to the tracks, one coach at a time

In the rural expanse of Maharashtra’s Bhusawal division, Divisional Railway Manager Ity Pandey turned a bold idea into a lifeline for thousands. Observing that railway workers and their families scattered across remote stations faced long, difficult journeys just to reach medical care, Pandey repurposed an old 3-AC train coach into Rudra, a fully equipped mobile hospital that travels to underserved locations every fortnight. With basic diagnostics, ECG tests, blood work, gynaecological exams, and general consultations on board, Rudra brings essential healthcare where it’s needed most. The initiative was realised without extra funding by simply using existing railway resources. As access to quality healthcare remains uneven in remote India, Rudra exemplifies how innovative, grassroots solutions can bridge systemic gaps. It also demonstrates how institutional leadership combined with empathy can transform lives.

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Dr Preetam Sarkar’s team turns fruit seeds into biodegradable packaging

In a world drowning in plastic waste, Dr Preetam Sarkar’s team at NIT Rourkela turned leftover fruit seeds into biodegradable packaging that decomposes naturally. By extracting natural starches from discarded fruit seeds, including jackfruit, jamun and litchi, they have developed a biodegradable film that can replace conventional plastic packaging. These films fully decompose within about 60 days, leaving no harmful microplastics and even nourishing the soil as they break down. The research offers an affordable alternative to conventional plastics, cutting down landfill load and microplastic contamination.

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Suraah’s ‘Ulta Pulta’ school is redefining education

In the foothills of Uttarakhand, Suraah’s founders, Shrey and Jyoti Rawat, rewrote what school can mean for tribal children. Instead of chalkboards and exams, they offer experiential education where children learn maths through forest walks, language through storytelling, and social skills through theatre and community projects. This alternate model embraces curiosity, self-expression, and cultural context, making learning joyful. Many students who were previously disinterested in conventional classrooms now show confidence and a love of learning. Suraah’s approach demonstrates that education isn’t just curriculum delivery, it’s about cultivating independent thinkers, not just test-taking minds.

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7/12

95-year-old shares secrets to a fulfilled life

At 95, Dr Bankey Lal Sharma embodies a life well lived. From teaching philosophy for decades to nurturing his own mind and body through daily yoga, meditation, and reflection, his story is a testament to healthy living. He speaks candidly about loneliness after losing loved ones, choosing instead to see solitude as a space for self-discovery. His mantra, which is finding joy in others’ happiness and nurturing inner peace, offers a gentle guide for modern life. In a world increasingly driven by distraction and external achievement, his perspective reminds us that mental well-being is an active practice, not a passive outcome.

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Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme, local communities preserving forest homes

In Arunachal Pradesh’s lush Pakke Tiger Reserve, communities and conservationists are partnering through the Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme to protect one of the region’s most charismatic birds. Rather than enforcing restrictions from afar, this initiative engages villagers as stewards, compensating them for protecting hornbill nests from disturbance and habitat loss. By blending traditional ecological knowledge with scientific support, villagers gain both incentive and pride in protecting their forests. This approach has led to increased nesting success and stronger community ownership of biodiversity conservation. This model demonstrates that lasting ecological stewardship emerges not from exclusion, but from recognising local communities as partners in preservation.

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Pandey’s ‘Shores of Silence’, the documentary that saved sharks

Wildlife filmmaker Mike Pandey’s iconic documentary ‘Shores of Silence’ captured the plight of whale sharks, the gentle giants that are hunted for fins. The film didn’t just document whale shark killings; it mobilised awareness and influenced policy. Within three months of the film’s release, whale sharks were added to Schedule 1 of species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, which prohibited their hunting, poaching, and trade in India. The film inspired organisations such as WTI to launch awareness campaigns about whale sharks. By 2025, WTI reports that 100% of fisherfolk can identify the species and understand its legal protection, while 96% recognise its harmless nature. This is a remarkable shift from 2005, when awareness ranged between 42% and 81%.

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10/12

Ragi Ladoo Initiative, boosting maternal and child health in tribal Chhattisgarh

In Chhattisgarh’s Korea district, an innovative nutrition strategy led by district officials is transforming maternal health by using nutrient-rich ragi ladoos to combat low birth weight and anemia among tribal mothers. Each pregnant woman receives two fortified ladoos per day, made with locally sourced ingredients such as ragi, jaggery, peanuts, and sesame, designed to provide essential micronutrients for both mother and baby. Women from self-help groups earn incomes of Rs 10,000–Rs 12,000 monthly by preparing these specialised ladoos. Delivered through Anganwadi centres with the help of Poshan Sangwaris and SHGs, the programme has reached over 2,000 beneficiaries, with more than 300,000 ladoos produced and distributed so far.

11/12

KalArm Bionic Arm, affordable prosthetics made in India

The KalArm is a low‑cost, advanced bionic arm developed by Hyderabad‑based startup Makers Hive to help people with limb loss live more independently. Instead of costing Rs 35–60 lakh like many international prosthetics, KalArm is priced around Rs 4.5 – 6 lakh, which is roughly one‑tenth the global cost. Users like Vamsi, who once survived on a Rs 2,000 monthly pension, now earn up to Rs 30,000 a month, cook, cycle and work confidently with the arm fitted. Another beneficiary, Azim, regained his livelihood and dignity, now driving an auto‑rickshaw after losing both hands. KalArm supports daily tasks with 18 grip patterns, lifts up to 8 kg, weighs just 950 g, and includes app‑based training and updates. Makers Hive’s unit can produce up to 3,600 hands a year, with 85+ sold so far and plans to expand internationally, especially to underserved regions.

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Tapas Foundation, turning landfill waste into eco-bricks

Delhi’s Bhalswa landfill, a hazardous heap of garbage causing pollution and health risks, is being transformed by the Tapas Foundation. Through its Upcycling the Legacy Waste project, the foundation has upcycled over 100 tonnes of landfill waste into about 50,000 eco‑friendly bricks. These bricks are kiln‑free, reducing carbon emissions compared with traditional clay bricks, and use only about 10–12 % cement, making them more sustainable. Some of the bricks have already been used in landscaping, footpaths, and infrastructure projects, and the rest are ready for further sustainable initiatives. The project also creates local jobs, helps reduce pressure on landfills, and supports a circular economy model.

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