changemakers

In his latest blog entry, Bill Gates says 'Indian is winning the war on human waste' and praises the nation's efforts towards making a cleaner India.

There are many volunteer-based programs in Bengaluru that are helping towards sustainable living and community building. However, what they may lack is proper structure, guidance and funds.

A group of women of Gutung village in Golaghat district of Assam have formed a Mothers’ Committee to monitor the activities of the primary school in their village. Over a period of time, they have evolved themselves into change makers, and helped the community as well. Chandra Kiran Katta explores the amazing results of this unique initiative.

Empowering children to be changemakers of tomorrow can go a long way to solving many of India’s pressing problems. Richa Shukla writes about how a campaign in parts of Kolkata helped teach kids about hygiene and cleanliness, and inspired them to influence their communities.

Over 400 Jagriks (Jagruk+Nagriks) have undertaken an arduous journey to better understand the Indian Constitution and its tenets and apply them in their lives, under Samvidhan Live: the Jagrik Project. Kanika Sinha talks about how watching these 400 journeys progress helped her better identify with the Constitution and apply its principles in her life.

A manual scavenger's son, Bezwada is fighting to eliminate this demeaning profession from its roots. He has organised rallies, filed PILs, approached policymakers, and says he will not rest till the last manual scavenger quits the profession.

From being the first woman medical graduate of India to becoming the first woman member of a Legislative Council, Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy’s journey is nothing short of inspiring.

Young graduate Sai Rath is using computers to empower teachers and complement classroom learning in rural Bihar.

Sheeba Ameer saw her daughter suffering through the pain of cancer and eventually losing her life to the dreaded disease. This grieving mother is now providing affordable cancer care to other patients through her organization Solace.

Hemant Patel has personally witnessed what hunger can do to people — not once but twice. The first time was when his own daughter was sick and he had no money to feed her. And the second time was after the 2002 riots in Gujarat when he saw hundreds of people sitting outside a hospital with no food. In the 13 years since then, Hemant has been going regularly to government hospitals and slums to provide meals to the poor. This is his story.