A software engineer couple in Chennai have been troubleshooting all 'trash' problems

A software engineer couple in Chennai have been troubleshooting all 'trash' problems. Chennai grapples with over 3,200 tonnes of solid waste everyday and much of it is recyclable. This struck two young software engineers, Sujatha and Jegan, the couple who started Kuppathotti.com in November, 2011. Kuppathotti, when translated in Tamil means a 'trash can'. This eco-friendly initiative also helps some souls to make a quick buck. The process is simple - If you're in Chennai, all you need to do is log on and register. A call from the website follows to schedule a visit to your house. Pile up your empty milk covers, bottles, books, plastics, metal and paper waste. The Kuppathotti agents will then weigh them and even pay you for your junk. For many like Hindi tutor Vasantha Ranganathan, this effort by the youngsters has come as a boon.

Ramesh Kothwal saving the lives

For nearly two years, 30-year-old Ramesh Kothwal has been responsible for saving the lives and providing shelter to several destitutes in Hyderabad. Physically handicapped and with no one to call his own, Adikrishna has now found happiness in a small shelter, Bharathi Memorial foundation, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Started by Rajesh Kothwal in 2010, the ashram now takes care of around 70 destitutes, including 14 children. "The doctors, nurses and the ward boys used to the neglect the destitutes and treat the ordinary people. The patients were untidy with human excretion on their clothes and hair grown. They were completely neglected and hence, I thought I will treat them. I requested the nurses and the ward boys and learnt how to inject. It took three to four months to learn. I learnt how to do it but I needed a legal certificate, so I took special training in the male nurse training course from the Indian Red Cross Society for 1 year," Rajesh said. Inspired by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, Rajesh helps people lead a life with some dignity and much required medical care. In fact, most of the inmates of the ashram suffer from terminal diseases like HIV, polio and Tuberculosis. While some have been abandoned by their own families at government hospitals, others like 86-year-old Krishna used up all his life's savings to get his daughters married and was then found by Rajesh near a garbage bin at a railway station
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Suresh Nandmehar a cobbler by profession and a journalist by passion.

Suresh Nandmehar is a cobbler by profession and a journalist by passion. The class 10 dropout from Bhopal is the writer, printer and publisher of the magazine 'Baal Ki Khaall'. The idea came to him in 1999 when he and fellow cobblers were evicted from lane next to Bhopal Municipal Corporation. 

K Soundarajan

The mathematician is the 2011 winner of Infosys Foundation Science Prize.

                              K Soundarajan: making Maths easy
Kannan Soudarajan is someone who revolutionised the mathematical world with his number theory. He is the winner of the Infosys Foundation Science Prize 2011. 

                          A social soldier fights for underprivileged kids

Captain Navin Gulia from Gurgaon is a source of inspiration and is helping many spread their wings despite being confined to a wheelchair. Gulia has been instrumental in giving a new sense of freedom to many differently-able and underprivileged children. At the special centre ADAA, 'Apni Duniya Apna Aashiyana' in Gurgaon, there are many differently-abled and underprivileged children waiting to take their first steps of freedom. In 1994, after a nasty injury, Captain Gulia was left paralysed from waist below and was confined to a wheelchair. His army career was cut short, but grit and determination kept this soldier going. Captain Gulia set up ADAA in 2005 and so far, the centre has helped more than 2000 underprivileged children.

                                    IITian who brought light to several homes

a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, has brought light to some of the poorest and darkest corners of Karnataka. Priya is a resident of a village just a few kilometers away from Bangalore's international airport. Her home has never had electricity. Till a few months back, she used to prepare for her examinations without electricity. Then, a miracle happened. And the man who came to her rescue was Harish Hande.

             Sports teacher a real-life hero!

Kabir Khan is Irfan Ahmad. From honing sporting skills and spirit of his students to making sure they stay fit, to helping them land This is Dausa's very own 'Chak De' moment. And doing a real-life government jobs, he's telling them the importance of learning to lose gracefully, this sports teacher is a real-life hero! For 20 continuous years, students from this government school have been participating in state, district and national games. 

Ushering a revolution in farming with ‘Bullet Santi’, a multi-purpose machine

             Ushering a revolution in farming with ‘Bullet Santi’, a multi-purpose machine 

Jagani  motorcycles costs about Rs.40000 to assemble a Santi

The adage, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ rings true in the case of Mansukh Jagani’s (44), who modified his Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle into a modern plough that has now become popular among farmers in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
This is how the story began. Back in 1994, a severe drought in the region forced Jagani’s family to sell their bullocks. Not only was the cost of fodder going up, finding experienced labour to harness the bullocks and till the land was becoming difficult. There was migration of farm labourers to cities and it was adversely affecting agriculture. 

Sivaraj is an eco rickshaw warrior

Sivaraj is an eco rickshaw warrior

Having spent most of his schooling years at a residential school in Coonoor in the Nilgiris, Sivaraj Muthuraman did not want to stay in the campus hostel when he joined BBA at Loyola College in Chennai.

He and his friends rented a house and enjoyed their newfound freedom by exploring the city and nearby places on their modified Pulsar 180 bikes.

Sivaraj offers free rides on his eco cabs in Chennai

“I spent about rupees two lakhs in modifying my bike. All my friends were so crazy about our bikes and loved to go on long rides. We went around the city so much that I know every nook and corner of Chennai,” says the 28-year-old innovator of ‘eco-cab’, which is a modified cycle rickshaw that can be pedaled as well as run on solar and electric energy.

It was his passion for bikes and his interest in modifying them that made him to attempt a bold innovation later on in life.

Abdul Kareem, 66, of Parappa, Kasargod, Kerala had a liking to ‘Kavu’, the sacred forests of Kerala, right from his childhood. He would frequently visit his wife’s house in Puliyankulam village and it was during such visits that he noticed the barren hillside land nearby. In 1977, as if on an impulse, he bought five acres of the land for Rs 3750. The people nearby and even his family were not able to comprehend his action, and he became a laughing stock in the locality. The property had only a single well that remained almost dry throughout the year. Since it could not provide enough to water the saplings that he planted, he would carry water in cans from outside sources on his two-wheeler. This continued for three years, at the end of which, nature started responding to his unrelenting efforts and the trees actually started growing. 

Tea-stall owner provides free education to slum children

Cuttack: A tea-stall owner in Cuttack doubles up as a teacher to provide free education to slum children. Every morning, the tea-stall owner, Prakash Rao, serves free milk to a bunch of kids who gather near his stall. If it weren't for the 55-year-old's initiative, the young ones wouldn't have seen the inside of a classroom.