Mahadeva will ensure you rest in peace

Mahadeva, a resident of Bangalore, has been burying the dead for the past 40 years, but instead of being bogged down by the morbid job, he believes he's blessed. For 40 years, Mahadeva has given a dignified exit to at least 75,000 dead people, most of them unclaimed. "This is the only work I know. No one cares about these bodies and they would rot somewhere. So I feel it's like a duty of mine to give them a proper burial, make them feel happy, at least in their after life," said Mahadeva. He has also cremated some high-profile people like Sivarasan, one of those responsible for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. His work has thankfully not gone unnoticed. Bangalore police works with him and calls him whenever there is a case of an unclaimed dead body.

Khap Panchayat makes education mandatory for girls

    Rajasthan: Khap Panchayat makes education mandatory for girls
Khap Panchayats are infamous for their scarily unreasonable diktats. But in a village in Rajasthan's Barmer, a rare order by one such Panchayat, 20 years ago, came as a blessing for girls. The Panchayat made it mandatory for everyone to send their daughters to school or face a penalty. The girls are now all grown up.

Kalyanmoy Deb

Kalyanmoy Deb

Computational optimization; optimal design; process optimization; optimal modeling and optimal system design; multi-objective optimization and multi-criterion decision analysis; large-scale optimization; evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) for handling practicalities -- uncertainties, constraints, multi-modalities, noise, and mixed variables; meta-modeling in optimization; hybrid optimization algorithms using evolutionary and classical methods;  evolutionary computation in search, optimization of control of engineering problems; multi-modal optimization; design of self-adaptive evolutionary algorithms; combinatorial optimization; computational intelligence; neural networks; fuzzy logic systems; machine learning; practical applications of optimization in science, engineering, finance and in multi-disciplinary domains.

Dr Siddiqi's project can ensure food for millions

                     Dr Siddiqi's project can ensure food for millions

     Dr Siddiqi's

  Dr Imran Siddiqi's research on hybrid plants can ensure enough food for millions of Indians. He has also won the Infosys Prize for 2011 in Life Sciences. Dr Imran Siddiqi isn't fooled by appearances. India's green revolution gave food to millions. But many of the plants in Dr Siddiqi's research are hybrids with different breeds crossed together, to ensure a bumper yield. But if one takes seeds from such hybrids and replant them - the next generation of plants don't produce nearly as much grain. "What this means is that farmers have to go back and buy new seeds for every planting. This is what seed companies make their money on,

Dr Pratap Bhanu

Dr Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Pratap Bhanu Mehta is President, Center for Policy Research, New Delhi.  He was previously Visiting Professor of Government at Harvard University; Associate Professor of Government and of Social Studies at Harvard. He was also Professor of Philosophy and of Law and Governance at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was also been a Visiting Professor at NYU Law School.  His areas of research include, political theory, constitutional law, society and politics in India, governance and political economy and international affairs. Mehta has a B.A. First Class in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University (St. John's College); and a Ph.D in Politics from Princeton University. He is the recipient of the Malcom S. Adishehshiah Award for 2010 and of the 2011 Infosys Prize for Social Sciences -

children turn reporters to highlight issues

                                         children turn reporters to highlight issues

A group of children in Bihar have found a unique way to highlight their everyday problems. They have turned reporters to create awareness about child marriage, child labour and other issues. All of 12, Kajal's awareness about issues is exemplary. The child crusader, part of the child reporter brigade in Bihar's Vaishali district, has been taking on the cause of child labour, child marriage, environment protection and civic consciousness in her village. The child reporter brigade publishes a quarterly broadsheet newsletter 'Hamari Baat, Hamari Awaaz', which touches upon several social issues. But being a reporter is no child's play. Thanks to the efforts of the young reporter brigade, the state education department had to appoint a teacher after it was reported that there was no Hindi teacher in the school. Education authorities were also forced to damage-control after the newsletter reported about irregular teaching in Shivnandan School in Rajapakar

     US-returned Moily's son provides financial empowerment to villages

Union Minister for Corporate Affairs M Veerappa Moily's son, gave up his cushy job in the US to contribute back home. He has empowered hundreds of villagers in Karnataka through the milk collection network, known as the MokhshaYug Access, he has set up. Mahalakshmi is happy and contented - her dream of buying all the latest kitchen gadgets have come true. The 34-year-old resident of Karnataka's Banavara village works for the Milk Route - a business initiative set up by the MokshaYug Access. Mahalakshmi said, "Working for milk route has really helped me, I earn a lot and I can buy whatever I want. I feel independent now."

 Man saves wild animals battling for life

 India's urban spaces are more than just concrete jungles. They harbour animals like jackals, mongoose and nilgai. But life in a metro can also be tough for these creatures. A porcupine was rescued from an 18-feet well, a wolf snake gave the athletes a scare when it showed up in their rooms during the Commonwealth Games and a nilgai that was injured by speeding traffic. One man, Kartick Satyanarayan has been rescuing and rehabilitating the troubled wild creatures of the capital city for over a decade. "It's important that we bring more awareness so that they realise that these creatures are not there to bite them or attack them, but they are just performing their ecological role," Kartick said. Kartick's team runs a wildlife helpline and the moment it gets a distress call, it springs into action. So far, the team has saved nearly 9000 animals including many unusual and rare ones
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