NGO

After 10 months of being trafficked by a family friend, Nasima Gain was rescued and returned home, but society shunned her. Today, the West Bengal resident runs many initiatives to help human trafficking victims reclaim their lives.

Having led a traumatic childhood ridden with poverty, Shamashuddin Baligar founded Vanasiri Rural Development Society (VRDS) in 2005 to help people from rural Karnataka find employment.

Inspired by John Lennon’s song Imagine, four Bengaluru friends launched Imagine Trust, which donates pre-loved clothes to the poor every week.

Pradeep Kumar Rath (66) knew when he retired that he wanted to dedicate his time to nurturing our environment. So, he founded NGO ‘Paribesh Suraksha Abhijan’ to plant trees. He has planted over 60,000 trees with the help of rural women and children.

Bengaluru student Sia Godika started ‘Sole Warrior’ to collect old footwear from people, upcycle them, and donate them to the poor. To date, her volunteer-run NGO has collected over 15,000 pairs of footwear.

Founded by N S Hema, who lost her legs and one arm to polio, the Association of People with Disability is an NGO that provides horticulture training to people with disabilities to help them become skilled landscapers and gardeners.

In Kerala, a collective named Nanma Maram, or the tree of goodness, started as a community kitchen, but today works to empower the poor with education, jobs, palliative care, affordable healthcare, and more.

After closing their community kitchens where they served nutritious meals to more than 1,500 children daily, the Foodshaala Foundation began programs in schools across India, empowering students from low-income families to give up junk food and improve their diet.

A few years after her daughter was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, Shraddha Soparkar set up the Madhuram Charitable Trust, through which she has funded the therapy of 800 children with disabilities.

Siva Swamy and Mahalakshmi, a retired couple in Coimbatore’s Pachapalayam, run Kalvi Thunai – a free education centre for underprivileged children.