nature

After more than 3,600 hours of hard work, a team of 72 craftsmen and paper-artists turned kilos of waste into a powerful medium of positive change. Find out how! #Unique

Besides building a natural habitat for sparrows, Inderpal and his family have also been working towards environment conservation and protection. They have planted around 800 trees in their colonies, and on the outskirts of the city.

“I would remain unfit for such an award till the flesh and blood of Mother India, in the form of precious topsoil from the Himalayas, flows down to the sea due to tree felling,” says the visionary man, explaining his rejection of the Padma Vibhushan award in 1981.

"If you truly love something, you will appreciate everything about it, so in my case, I dedicate myself entirely to the mountains on every trip." #TrueTalent #PadmaAwards #PadmaShri

With the prize money, Dr Karnad plans to develop ‘SharkWatch’, a citizen-science programme, to record data on shark fishing and landings at major fishing harbours along the Coromandel coast.

“We were surprised to see more and more people inquire about the food and other products. Some even exclaimed that they would follow this trend in the next weddings to follow!”

It all began when Pompayya noticed the scrubby patch of land on the other side of the canal, that bordered his property, lie empty and transform into a general purpose dumping ground.

"We were soaking in sweat on that freezing morning. I was worried more about Arjun and Vishnu than myself. On returning, we described the entire episode to the officials. After we did, the two other guards got a high fever."

Nestled amidst lush wilderness, Uttar Pradesh's Chuka beach offers splendid isolation to any traveller looking to go off the beaten path.

Over the past one year, the volunteers have planted about 8000 saplings on the once barren hill. They even took over the nurturing of plants and reported a survival rate of 98 percent!