Real Heroes

NSG_Blackcats

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Hero is a term used for human beings who have excelled in a particular filed or who have inspired many by their achievement. If you ask any Indian who is his/her ideal or hero, majority of the population will choose a cricketer or Bollywood star or entrepreneur. The reason being the work of these people is highlighted both in print and electronic media.

In this thread I will try to highlight the work done by real heroes. These heroes may not be getting a lot of media coverage but their achievement and dedication is amazing.

Regards
 

NSG_Blackcats

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Dr. Prakash and Manda Amte​





Dr. Prakash and Manda Amte is the son and daughter-in-Law of the great Dr. Baba Amte. Dr. Prakash and Manda Amte were winners of the coveted Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2008 for their social work. The honour came in recognition of the work the doctor couple has been doing for the tribals at Bhamragarh in the thickly-wooded, Naxal-infested corner of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, where they have established a hospital and school. Their journey began in 1973, when Baba Amte, whose Anandwan rehabilitation project in Chandrapur district for the leprosy-afflicted had attracted worldwide attention, expressed the desire to work for the tribals of Bhamragarh.



Fascinating story of Drs. Prakash and Manda Amte
While the War on Terror and Harry Potter compete for the media spotlight, public health and social justice work in a remote tribal village in India hardly makes front-page news. Deep in the heartland of India in an isolated village called Hemalkasa, a couple has been quietly performing miracles every day, for almost three decades to improve living conditions for the local tribes. What they have accomplished in this period is mind-boggling. Come and hear fascinating stories of their life and work that you won't find in mainstream media!

Quiet and unassuming couple, Prakash and Manda, provide medical care to more than 40,000 tribal people [adivasis] every year, as well as education for their children. Their commitment to tribal community has provided an opportunity to these children to become medical doctors, veterinarians, engineers, lawyers and professionals in other fields, who have returned back to serve their community. Wild life orphanage is another initiative of the Amte family. Prakash received the title of "Padmashree" from the Government of India for his exemplary service to the Madia tribes and the orphaned wild life in the region. Prakash and Manda Amte are among the very few Indians to be honored with a postal stamp by any foreign country, such as the Principality of Monaco.

YouTube - Fascinating story of Drs. Prakash and Manda Amte (Part - 1)
 

Sabir

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Nsg I will love you from bottom of my heart for taking this initiative. There are people who are working silently in different fields, in different parts of the country. They hardly bother whether they are getting any attention from media or not.But there works must be highlighted ...just to show the new generation what is real India and what it requires...Thank you Sir...
 

NSG_Blackcats

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^^^Sabir, thanks a lot for your appreciation mate. We need a lot of real heroes in India and all over the world. I need your and other members contribution in making this thread a success.
 

Sabir

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Satyendra Kumar Dubey



Satyendra Kumar Dubey (1973 - 27 November 2003) was a project director at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He was assassinated in Gaaya, Bihar after fighting corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project.

He was a Civil Engineer from IIT Kanpur ( M. Tech -Civil Engg. from IT-BHU in 1996.)In July 2002 he was employed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

Dubey became the Assistant Project Manager at Koderma, Jharkhand, responsible for managing a part of the Aurangabad-Barachatti section of National Highway 1 (The Grand Trunk Road). This highway was part of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Corridor Project, the Prime Minister's initiative, which aimed to connect many of the country major cities by four-lane limited-access highways totalling 14,000 km, at an overall cost more than USD 10 billion.

During this period, Dubey got the contractor of the project to suspend three of his engineers after exposing serious financial irregularities. At one point, he had the contractor rebuild six kilometers of under-quality road, a huge loss for the road contract mafia.

Letter to the Prime Minister

Faced with the possibility of high-level corruption within the NHAI, Dubey wrote directly to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the project. While the letter was not signed, he attached a separate bio-data so that the matter would be taken more seriously.
Despite a direct request that his identity be kept secret and despite the letter's sensitive content, accusing some of Dubey's superiors, the letter along with bio-data was forwarded immediately to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Dubey also sent the same letter to the Chairman of the NHAI.
Soon Dubey received a reprimand: the vigilance office of NHAI officially cautioned Dubey for the impropriety of writing a letter directly to the Prime minister. In the process, through connections in the NHAI and the Ministry, it is likely that the letter may have reached the criminal nexus running the highway construction projects in Bihar.
.
Great Loot of Public Money: Contents of Letter

The letter said the NHAI officials showed a great hurry in giving mobilisation advance to selected contractors for financial consideration. "In some cases the contractors have been given mobilisation advance just a day after signing the contract agreement."
"The entire mobilisation advance of 10 per cent of contract value, which goes up to Rs 40 crore (USD 10 million) in certain cases, are paid to contractors within a few weeks of award of work but there is little follow up to ensure that they are actually mobilised at the site with the same pace, and the result is that the advance remains lying with contractors or gets diverted to their other activities," it said.
Dubey also highlighted the problems of sub-contracting by the primary contractors like Larsen and Toubro.
"Though the NHAI is going for international competitive bidding to procure the most competent civil contractors for execution of its projects, when it comes to actual execution, it is found that most of the works, sometimes even up to 100 per cent are subcontracted to petty contractors incapable of executing such big projects," he said. Everyone in the NHAI is aware of the phenomenon of subcontracting but looked the other way.
"A dream project of unparalleled importance to the Nation but in reality a great loot of public money because of very poor implementation at every state." wrote Dubey.
Finally, he ends: "I have written all these in my individual capacity. However, I will keep on addressing these issues in my official capacity in the limited domain within the powers delegated to me," the letter said.

Assassination

On November 27, 2003, Dubey was shot dead while returning from a wedding in Varanasi
The news ignited tremendous public hue and cry. The matter was raised in Parliament, and the Prime Minister shifted the onus of investigation from the Bihar Police (who might themselves be implicated), to the CBI.
The CBI registered a case against unknown persons under 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code and various provision under the Arms Act on December 14 2003.
According to the police's First Information Report (FIR) after his murder, Dubey had been facing several threats following his action against corruption at Koderma. A subsequent FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named both Soni and Kapoor.
In August 2003 when he was transferred to Gaaya, a transfer which he opposed since he felt that it did not serve the interests of NHAI.
At Gaaya, he exposed large-scale flouting of NHAI rules regarding sub-contracting and quality control. At this time he took a departmental test and was promoted as deputy general manager, which made him eligible to take charge as project director. Since there was no project director's post in Gaaya, he was likely to be posted to Koderma soon.
There was widespread sentiment (based on their pattern of operation), that the criminal nexus, opposed to having him as director, may have been behind his murder.
 

RPK

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Kiran Bedi (Hindi: किरण बेदी) (9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. She became the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972, and was last posted as Director General , BPR&D (Bureau of Police Research and Development, Ministry of Home Affairs). She retired from IPS in December, 2007, after taking voluntary retirement. She is also the author and director of Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo.

During her service, she was also the Inspector General Prisons of Tihar Jail, - one of world's largest prison complexes, with over 10,000 inmates,[1] from 1993 to 1995,and her prison reforms policies lead to her winning, the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Subsequently, she has founded two NGOs in India: Navjyoti for welfare and preventive policing in 1987 and India Vision Foundation for prison reforms, drug abuse prevention, child welfare in 1994.

In 2007, she applied for seeking voluntary retirement from service, and the application was accepted by the government

Early life
Kiran Bedi was born in Amritsar, Punjab state, India. She is the second of the four daughters of her parents, Prakash Lal Peshawaria and Prem Lata Peshawaria.

She did her schooling from the Sacred Heart Convent School, Amritsar, where she joined the National Cadet Corps (NCC). She also took up tennis, a passion she inherited from her father, a tennis player.[6] Later, she obtained her B.A. in English (Hons.) (1964-68) from the Government College for Women, Amritsar. She then earned a Master’s degree (1968-70) in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh, topping the University.

Career
Even while in active service in the Indian Police, she continued her educational pursuits, and obtained a Law degree (LLB) in 1988 from Delhi University, Delhi. In 1993, she obtained a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the Department of Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, where the topic of her thesis was 'Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence'.

Kiran Bedi is a keen tennis player. She won the Junior National Lawn Tennis Championship in 1966, the Asian Lawn Tennis Championship in 1972, and the All-India Interstate Women's Lawn Tennis Championship in 1976, besides this she also won the all-Asian tennis champion, and had won the Asian Ladies Title at the age of 22.

Career
She began her career as a Lecturer in Political Science (1970-72) at Khalsa College for Women, Amritsar, India. In July 1972, she joined the Indian Police Service. On her web site, she states that she joined the police service "because of my urge to be outstanding".

She served in a number of tough assignments ranging from Traffic Commissoner of New Delhi, Deputy Inspector General of Police in insurgency prone Mizoram, Advisor to the Lieutanent Governor of Chandigarh, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau and also on a United Nations deputation, where she became the Civilian Police Advisor in the United Nations peacekeeping department, and for which she was awarded with the UN medal. She is popularly referred to as Crane Bedi for towing the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's car for a parking violation (the PM was on tour of United States then).

Kiran Bedi influenced several decisions of the Indian Police Service, particularly in the areas of control over narcotics, traffic management, and VIP security. During her stint as the Inspector General of Prisons, Tihar Jail (Delhi) (1993-1995), she instituted a number of reforms in the management the prison, and initiated a number of measures such as detoxification programs, yoga, vipassana meditation, redressing of complaints by prisoners and literacy programs. For this she not only won the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award, but was also awarded the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship', to write about the work done at Tihar Jail.

She was last appointed as Director General of India's Bureau of Police Research and Development.

In May 2005, she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Law In recognition of her “humanitarian approach to prison reforms and policing”.

On 27 November 2007, she had expressed her wish to take Voluntary Retirement from job to take up new challenges in life.On 25 December 2007, Government of India decided to relieve Bedi, who was holding the post of the director general of Bureau of Police Research and Development, from her duties immediately.

"Yes Madam, Sir" a documentary of Kiran Bedi's life, directed by Australian Megan Doneman, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival September 5, 2008

After retirement Kiran Bedi launched a new website, Redirecting to Safer India website..., on January 3, 2007. The motto of this website is to help people whose complaints are not accepted by the local police. This project is undertaken by the non-profit, voluntary and non-government organisaton, India Vision Foundation.

Kiran Bedi now hosts the TV show Aap Ki Kachehri Kiran Ke Saath on Star Plus. she has done a lot of help to so many people through this show.

Contributions
Navajyoti (which literally means New Enlightenment), set up in 1987,[3] and India Vision Foundation, set up in 1994, are the two major voluntary organizations established by her with the objectives of improving the condition of the drug addicts and the poor people. Her efforts have won national and international recognition, and her organizations was awarded the Serge Soitiroff Memorial Award for drug abuse prevention by the United Nations.

She also started one site named Redirecting to Safer India website... to log complaint regarding any crime if the police at the concerned area denies to accept complaint. Then the NGO behind this site mails complaint to the DGP of concerned area.This mail can also be used as the legal document in case of filing a case in the court of judgement.

She has written her autobiography, 'I Dare. It's Always Possible', which was released in 1998.

Personal life
Kiran Bedi married Brij Bedi in 1972, the year she started her career in the Indian Police Service (IPS), and three years later, in 1975, they had daughter Saina. Among her other three siblings, Shashi is settled in Canada, Reeta is a Tennis player and writer, and Anu is also Tennis player.

Bibliography
Its Always Possible: Kiran Bedi. Oct 1999, Indra Publishing. ISBN 0958580537.
"What Went Wrong?", collection of The fortnightly column written by Kiran Bedi.
The Motivating Bedi by Kiran Bedi.
Awards
Kiran Bedi has received a number of Awards, including the following:

President’s Gallantry Award (1979)
Women of the Year Award (1980)
Asia Region Award for Drug Prevention and Control (1991)
Magsaysay Award (1994) for Government Service
Mahila Shiromani Award (1995)
Father Machismo Humanitarian Award (1995)
Lion of the Year (1995)
Joseph Beuys Award (1997)
Pride of India (1999)
Mother Teresa Memorial National Award for Social Justice (2005)
Books on Kiran Bedi
‘I Dare!’ biography of Kiran Bedi by Parmesh Dangwal.
Kiran Bedi — The Kindly Baton, by Dr Meenakshi Saksena,
"Government@net" by Sandeep Srivastava and Parminder Jeet Singh.
 

NSG_Blackcats

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Shanmughan Manjunath (1978-2005)​



Education
Born is Kolar, Bangalore. He earned his engineering degree from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore. He had done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.

He Opposed corruption and murdered
While working for the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in Lucknow, he had ordered two petrol pumps at Lakhimpur Kheri sealed for selling adulterated fuel for three months. When the pump started operating again a month later, Manjunath decided to conduct a surprise raid around November 19, 2005.

Having not heard from his son for three days, at around 9 that night, his father, M Shanmughan, had sent an SMS: "How are you?”. There was no reply because that very night, during his inspection, Manjunath had been shot dead in Gola Gokarannath town of Lakhimpur Kheri. His body, riddled with at least six bullets, was found in the backseat of his own car, which was being driven by two employees of the petrol pump. Both were arrested and the main accused, pump-owner Pawan Kumar ('Monu') Mittal, was held on November 23 along with seven others.

Murder Trial
Following the murder, there was immense media spotlight on the case. S. Manjunath's batch mates from IIM Lucknow (where he was affectionately called machan) also kept the story alive. Fortunately, the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust took up the case with dogged determination. The Trust lawyer Mr. I.B Singh, the Public Prosecutor Sri Chandramohan Singh, Trustees, volunteers and supporters worked hard to ensure quick justice.16 months after the murder, all eight accused were guilty by the Lakhimpur Khiri Sessions Court . The main accused Monu Mittal and 7 accomplices were convicted of murder by Sessions judge, Lakhimpur Kheri. Bail appeals by the convicted killers are being heard in the Lucknow High Court - the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust lawyer Mr. I.B Singh continues to work closely with the case.

Aftermath
Indian Oil Corporation paid Rs. 26 lakhs compensation to the family. The matter of adulteration in diesel was taken up by the Energy Coordination Committee chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. One of the policy remedies being considered is to minimize the subsidy in the price of kerosene (used as cooking fuel by the weaker classes), and to explore alternate mechanisms for implementing the subsidy. Subsequently, several tanker trucks, laden with thousands of liters of kerosene, were seized en route to a district neighbouring Lakhimpur Kheri .

The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust
A pan IIM initiative, "The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust" was registered on 23 February 2006, Manjunath's birth anniversary. With immediate objectives of fighting the case, they have a broader agenda of improving governance in Indian public life. On 26 March 2007, the main accused Pawan Kumar Mittal was awarded death sentence, while the other seven accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award
The Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award carries a citation and a Rs. One Lakh Cash Award; to honour those who have reported and worked to rectify systemic corruption. The first Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award was awarded on March 24, 2007 to Prof. R.P. Singh, Vice Chancellor Lucknow University for his extraordinary courage in taking on criminals and politicians to clean up Lucknow University and implement the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. The award was presented in a public function by Chairman & Chief Mentor of Infosys Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy.

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti president Akhil Gogoi received the prestigious 2nd Shanmugam Manjunath Integrity Award from the Magsassay awardee Kiran Bedi at a function held on March 28, 2008 at the IIT Delhi Seminar Hall. Mr Gogoi who hails from upper Assam’s Golaghat district has been awarded for his fight against corruption.

Source :- WekePidia
 

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Dharnidhar Boro (Forest ranger in Kaziranga National Park)​



Dharnidhar Boro is a forest ranger in Kaziranga who often goes beyond the call of duty in his passion to save the wildlife. He and his fellow rangers at the Kaziranga National Park fight a day-to-day battle to save the Indian one-horned rhino. And though it's clearly an uphill battle, Boro's spirit and commitment are strong.

According to a survey the number of rhinos in India's wild is less than half that of the tigers and one tenth of the elephants. But despite these numbers, Boro and his men have reasons to be proud of their achievements. Today Kaziranga has almost 1,900 rhinos, the number may not be very large but its significant considering in the early 90s, their numbers had dwindled to less than a thousand.

“It’s we the forest officials and NGOs who are taking care of the nature. If we destroy them, it is not possible for the human being to survive in this world. So this is a great job and all forest officials should be proud that we got to serve in forestry,” says Boro. But the pride is hard earned. Boro is on duty 24x7, which means that there are no offs and no leaves. And it’s this dedication that even keeps his fellow forest guards going.

“All creatures are created by God so they also have an equal right in world. We must give them respect and their rights. If we lose one species day-by-day in this world, then we cannot think of surviving in this world. So we must take care of their living site and them also,” says Boro. So as long as Boro and his men are patrolling the jungles, there is hope that the majestic Indian rhino will survive in the grasslands of Kaziranga.

Video
 

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Subhashini Mistry​





Subhashini Mistry lives in a village called Hanspukur just about 20Km south of the city center of Kolkata. Her husband died of gastro enteritis in the 70s. He was a poor labourer. Soon after his death, she decided that she would not let anyone else face the kind of difficulties she had to face due to lack of healthcare. She had to bring up her five children and keep her own body and soul together. Over the next twenty years she toiled as a housemaid, manual labourer and vegetable seller and saved 20000 rupees. Meanwhile she educated her son Ajoy Mistry and got him to be a doctor with help from philanthropists. She got the residents of Hanspukur to pool in more money and established a trust called "humanity trust" and bought about half an acre of land and established a hospital in a small hut.

Today the hospital has a 5000sqft building. A new floor is being built. No treatment costs more than Rs.5 and no surgery costs more than Rs.5000. Ajoy's wife doubles up as the manager and nurse. "I do not know much, all I know is that people should not suffer the way I did, I was able to do what I did by my inner strength given by god, says" Subhashini. She does not sell vegetables in Sealdah market anymore, but her daughter does. Ajoy does not take a salary for his work but sustains by a monthly allowance given by a philanthropist and little money he gets paid if and when he makes house calls.

More about Subhashini Mistry
 

NSG_Blackcats

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Hirbaiben Lobi (age 55)​



Hirbaiben Lobi Ibrahimbhai was born in the village of Jambur (Talala Taluka, Junagadh District, Gujarat state), a Siddi community of tribal people mainly descendants of slaves brought centuries ago from Africa. Orphaned as a child, she was raised by her grandmother. Although inheriting a large debt, she refused to sell her tiny piece of land. Rather, she encouraged her husband to work harder, and with help from listening to radio programs on agricultural development, eventually succeeded in freeing the land from creditors. In 1992, Hirbaiben began motivating women to form women's development groups creating three groups that deal with issues of health, hygiene, savings and credit, and agricultural improvement. Realising the importance of education. Hirbaiben set out to find funds for a day care center and primary school, and convinced the village to assign land that had been allotted to private housing, to be used for a school so village children could study past the primary level. Together with other Siddi women she manufactures and sells organic compost proving that women can prepare a high quality product that can compete on the market. She also had the courage to contest the position of Sarpanch (head of the village government) and, although she lost, she is called the "Sarpanch" of the village and even senior government officials listen to her.

The Siddis, one of Gujarat's most backward communities, have for centuries led life in the shadows, marginalised and illiterate. Now, the future seems brighter for this tribe, thanks to Lobi. Illiterate herself, she is leading a quiet revolution across 18 villages in Saurashtra. Her initiatives include a cooperative movement, family planning, and small savings group. Competing successfully against established brands, her vermicompost manufacturing group sold compost worth Rs 700,000 last year. Helping to build a community school for the Siddis, she's now planning a college. Lobi has won the Women's World Summit Foundation Prize (2002) and the Jankidevi Bajaj Award (2006) for Rural Entrepreneurship.
 

NSG_Blackcats

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Babar Ali (11th Class student from West Bengal)​



Babar Ali from West Bengal has just one passion in life, education for all. That's why 16 year old Babar is perhaps India's youngest school principal. Another day has ended at this school in West Bengal's Murshidabad district. But for one particular student it's time to start a new chapter.

This is the extraordinary story of Babar Ali who studies in Class 11. Since 2002, every evening, between 1600 hours and 1900 hours, he takes on the role of a principal perhaps India's youngest at a school - the Anand Siksha Niketan in Gangapur village.

Principal, Ananda Shiksha Niketan Babar Ali says, “Unlike other kids I never wanted to play football or cricket. In my younger days I used to play the role of a teacher and student". What started off as child's play took the shape of a school on October 29, 2002. At the tender age of 9, with a little help from his parents, Babar set up a room to teach on his ancestral land.

Ali says, “When I was in Class 5 I started this school with 8 students, it has been a long journey since then, from 8 students we have almost 600 students now". But getting 600 students to enroll was no easy task. In this hamlet, abject poverty means education is a luxury few can afford. So Babar makes sure that the education at his school is absolutely free.

Today the school has classes from 1 to 8 and a staff strength of 10 including 5 teachers aged between 13 and 18, students themselves of classes 9th to 12th. There are some hard realities that Babar faces even today. The government provides funds for the midday meal and books till class 4. For other expenses he has to depend on donations from well wishers…which are never enough. Ali says, “We still don't have a school building.” Plans are many, so are the hardships. But Babar knows that all these years, running the school have never been a burden on his young shoulders.

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Sarath Babu might not have topped school had there been electricity in his house. “I studied in the light of a kerosene lamp. The lamp illuminated only my books, while the rest of the room was dark. I had no choice but to concentrate on my books,” laughs 29-year-old Sarath, who lived in a thatched hut in Chennai’s Madipakkam slum. His mother sold idlis to support a family of six.

But there were other distractions in Sarath’s life. Every morning he went from door to door in his slum colony, selling idlis. Fights at the three liquor shops near his house were a regular evening ritual. And every Diwali, he agonised over how he would face his class fellows. “They would be wearing new clothes to school. I hadn’t worn a new shirt in years,” recalls Sarath.

But ultimately the clothes didn’t matter. Sarath topped his school in Class XII, got an engineering degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani — the fees was paid by pawning his sister’s jewellery — and studied management at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. He now runs a catering business in Chennai. Last year, Sarath’s firm, FoodKing Catering Services Pvt Ltd, posted a turnover of Rs 9 crore. The slum boy aspires to run a food catering empire some day.

You could call Sarath a modern-day Dhirubhai Ambani. But Sarath is not alone. A growing number of youth from low income families is breaking the glass ceiling of good education and social pedigree and carving out high flying careers for themselves.:icon_salut:

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | 7days | Upward ho!
 

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After 15 yrs of trying, deaf candidate gets into IAS

NEW DELHI: Maniram Sharma has won a 15-year-old battle for justice. On Thursday, this deaf IAS candidate learnt he has made it to the service. With Maniram Sharma
this, Maniram has not just won a personal battle but a milestone victory for disabled persons like him who have been kept away from the premier government service. :goodstuff:

Maniram's case has been highlighted by TOI over the past couple of years — how his efforts were thwarted on one ground or the other, till he finally went through surgery to make his aided hearing so good that he gave his IAS interview this time by the oral question-and-answer method. Despite this, his induction into the service was just not happening.

While other successful candidates got their call on August 17, he didn't. Finally, on September 3 he was informed that he had cleared the exam on all counts but still had to wait for another month to get his appointment. ``I still can't believe it has happened. It has not sunk in. After suffering so many disappointments, it's difficult to imagine it has actually come true,'' Maniram told TOI.

Maniram's IAS saga began in 1995 when he failed in his first attempt to clear the preliminary examination. He was then 100% deaf. Since then he has cleared the exam three times — 2005, 2006 and 2009. In 2006, he was told he could not be allotted the IAS as only the partially deaf were eligible, not fully deaf persons like him. So, he was allotted the Post and Telegraph Accounts and Finance Service.

To improve his hearing, Maniram had a surgical cochlear implant, costing Rs 7.5 lakh that now enables him to hear partially. He appeared for the IAS again this year and cleared it, scoring the highest in the hearing-impaired category. Yet, he faced several more hurdles as the government put technical hurdles questioning his level of disability.

Anyway, this story has a happy ending. And Maniram has no complaints. ``If I could wait for 15 years, I could surely wait for a few more months. But the uncertainty kept me on edge,'' he said without rancour. He is off to his village Badangarhi in Alwar district, Rajasthan, to convey the news to his family. ``I have decided to go in person to tell them. My whole village will celebrate.''

Maniram's Badangarhi is a remote village which doesn't even have a school. He started losing his hearing at the age of five, becoming totally deaf by nine. His parents, both illiterate farm labourers, could do little to help. Yet, Maniram continued trudging to the nearest school, 5km away, and cleared class 10 standing fifth in the state board examination and cleared class 12 ranking seventh in the state board.

In his second year in college, he cleared the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) examination to become a clerk-cum-typist. He studied and worked during his final year and topped the university in Political Science. He went on to clear the NET (National Eligibility Test).

He then gave up his RPSC job and became a lecturer. Not satisfied with that, he became a Junior Research Fellow and completed his Ph.D in Political Science during which time he taught M Phil and MA students in Rajasthan University. Having completed his Ph.D, Maniram got through the Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) and while in service he started trying for the UPSC.

After 15 yrs of trying, deaf candidate gets into IAS - India - The Times of India
 

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Virsinh Rathod, Naroda (Gujarat)​



When the Jikar Hasham chawl next to his home in Ahmedabad’s Naroda was set ablaze by marauders on February 28, Virsinh Rathod couldn’t sit idle. "I’ve lived with Muslim neighbours and I have Muslim tenants. This area had never been attacked before. I had to do something," says the middle-aged lawyer.

He risked his life and made his way into the slum. "I was told that some families had escaped the mob and were hiding inside the chawl. I wanted to bring them to safety," he says. Rathod brought over 20 families to his home and then transported them to the relief camp. Over 2,000 others were also transported to the community relief camps in the area in trucks hired by him.
 

NSG_Blackcats

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Dr.Chandrasekhar Sankurathri​

From tragedy to helping others - What would you do if your spouse and children were murdered by terrorists?



This is the story of what Dr. Chandra Sankurathri did when his family died in the Air India 183 bombing. First, he grieved for his wife Manjari and children, Sirikan (7) and Sarada (4). He grieved long and deeply. Then he found a way to make sure they were never forgotten – in this best way possible. This scientist went back to his wife’s birthplace in India and using funds he raised by opening a charitable organisations which bears her name: the Manjari Sankurathri Memorial Foundation (MSMF), he opened a school for kids who would otherwise not be able to get an education! He named the school for his daughter, Sarada.

Though the doors of life closed on his daughter, a school bearing Sarada’s name opened the doors to a new, better life for hundreds of children. What a worthy legacy! But, Dr. Chandra did not stop there. He noticed that many of the poorest people in the region could not earn a living because they were blind. Being a scientist, he analysed the problem and soon realized that the leading cause of blindness were cataracts or other treatable conditions.

Devoting much energy to this, he added an eye clinic to the school: the bus, once it brought the pupils to school, could then bring the blind to the clinic where they are treated.The clinic, named after his son, quickly grew into the Srikiran Institute of Opthalmology.

Blogs about: Dr Chandra
 

NSG_Blackcats

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M P Anil Kumar​







BEST Air Force Cadet at the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasala; best student of aerobatics at the Air Force Academy, Secunderabad; commissioned into the IAF as a fighter pilot in 1984; 700 flying hours to his credit. Another magnificent man in his flying machine? Yes, but when M P Anil Kumar goes down in history, it will be as a fighter, not a fighter pilot. His legacy will not be victory, but the will to win.

Anil Kumar is no Hrithik Roshan, but for lakhs of schoolchildren in Maharashtra, he commands equal awe and affection, thanks to ‘Kumar Bharat’, a chapter in their textbooks. The amazing first-person story of ambition, grit and survival has earned the 38-year-old a permanent place in the hearts of successive batches of impressionable schoolchildren.

It all began with an innocuous contest of triumph-over-adversity accounts. In 1993, in response to The Indian Express invitation, Anil Kumar picked up his calligraphic pen with his mouth and wrote five impeccable pages on how he realised his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, and then saw it shatter because of ‘‘a silly accident’’.

He narrated the turn his life took on June 28, 1988, when, after night-flying duty, he was heading back to the Air Force Station, Pathankot. Suddenly, he had hit a road barrier and flown off the bike, sustaining a cervical injury that made him a tetraplegic. Two years at the Military Hospital later, Anil Kumar ( in the meantime discharged from service ) admitted himself into the Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre, Khadki (in Pune), rather than going home to Thiruvananthapuram. This is where he saw the contest announcement, and decided to put in his entry.

The article was published as he sent it, in his own writing. Readers wrote in by the dozen, but the biggest tribute came with the inclusion of the article in the Standard X English textbook of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Education from the 1995 academic year.

‘‘Now I get 200-odd letters a year, besides e-mail, mostly around December-January, which is when they study the chapter ‘Kumar Bharat’’’ says the gritty soldier. For many schools, a visit to the Khadki Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre is now part of the curriculum. ‘‘Standard X students from 8-10 schools come visiting every year,’’, says Dr (Lt-Col) S P Jyoti, medical superintendent of the Centre. ‘‘Students come from all over Maharashtra.’’

Anil Kumar, on his part, thoroughly enjoys the interaction ‘‘Once, I remember, I was recounting my struggles to a bunch of schoolgirls,’’ he says. ‘‘Suddenly, one girl broke down, and then the rest followed. Their teacher and I were at a loss. Then one of the girls, one of the very few not weeping, consoled her classmates and the cheer returned. While they were leaving this girl hugged me, and burst into tears. She told me that her father, too, had been paralysed and had subsequently died. It was a touching moment.’’

Anil Kumar makes sure he respects their emotions in the only way he knows: by responding to every letter. ‘‘Since I expect a reply when I write to someone, it is my duty to reciprocate. I use a computer now and send print-outs, but many students want a sample of my writing. So, I write a couple of sentences in each letter.’’

It is an act that gives him immense pleasure, being in itself a symbol of his victory over the bleakest chapter of his life. ‘‘I looked upon writing as a way out of the stupor the accident had left me in. It was to reaffirm my faith in myself that I decided to learn to write holding a pen in my mouth,’’ says Anil Kumar. ‘‘Initially, my scribbles were illegible, but I eventually perfected the art. Now, thanks to Wing Commander Murlidharan, my superior officer in the Air Force, I use a computer with a vertical keyboard that I can operate with a pencil.’’

While 80 per cent of his mail is from girls, Anil Kumar is as much an idol as a counsellor to them. ‘‘I get a lot of letters on personal problems. But since I’m not qualified to advise them, I tell them so. On more general matters, I’m forthcoming,’’ he says. ‘‘Once, a boy’s mother wrote to me, saying that her son, who was disinterested in studies, had turned over a new leaf after meeting me. For me, that was the ultimate compliment.’’

Must Read - The pilot who is a fighter
 

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