Tamil Nadu

“He (and his team) would carry a typewriter around on their village visits. At every hamlet, he would instantly issue an on-spot official decree to set up a government school & appoint teachers from among the educated in the village."

“We looked around to source cloth and found it to be very expensive. It was during this time that the boys decided to collect old bed-sheets from hotels and use those to make the cloth bags,” informs Varsha Aswani, the proud mother of these teen boys with an eco and social conscience.

Making kindness a way of life, she is determined to ensure that society's forgotten ones have a chance to live a life of dignity. #Respect

"I was rejected because of my disability. College authorities would even tell me to be less ambitious," says the gritty girl who aims to be a doctor.

"I may not be a professor or an expert, but I am happy I can make people invest time in reading," says Ponmariappan. Pretty cool, right?

“I am not doing it for photographs or limelight. I simply want people to realise the importance of trees."

In October, a 2-year-old lost his life after he fell into an unused borewell. The tragic incident was a wake-up call for villagers. The borewells are now rainwater harvesting structures!

“Yes, Sivakasi is famous for its firecracker market, and while the damage done by them is undeniable, you will find that vehicles are the biggest cause of increased air pollution,” says 44-year-old M Ravishankar. #AirPollution #Innovation

The 50-year-old who hails from Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district has mastered a low-cost and unique leaf-culture technique that frees farmers from seed plantation!

The former Chief Election Commissioner, who completed his education in his hometown and Chennai, told me about the time he could not secure an admission in an engineering college when he was asked about the actor Shivaji Ganesan.