Ten years after Mumbai experienced the life-changing terrorist attacks on 26/11, The Better India pays homage to the heroes who fought bravely that day and their efforts to rebuild afterwards. #IndiaRemembers

The events of November 26, 2008, shook the Mumbai Police establishment to its very core.

However, despite multiple intelligence failures at every level of government, inadequate training and insufficient resources, Mumbai’s finest bravely stepped up to the task of taking on just ten dreaded Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, who went about intimidating the city with great precision, organisation and speed.

The devastation was palpable with over 160 dead, hundreds injured and millions more scarred for the rest of their lives. The Mumbai Police also lost its fair share of distinguished officers like anti-terrorist cell chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte, Inspector Vijay Salaskar and Assistant Police Inspector Tukaram Ombale. However, one of the brave police officers who bravely stepped up to the plate, but yet lived to tell the tale, was then Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Mumbai) and President’s Police Medal for gallantry winner, Sadanand Date.

On the night of 26/11, Date had received a call at his residence, which would kick off a chain events leading to the capture and arrest of dreaded terrorist Ajmal Kasab. After a long day at work, he had come back home without his standard issued weapon, according to this DNA report.

On hearing developments in the city, he made a beeline for the nearest police station at Malabar Hill seeking to pick of an AK-47 assault rifle. However, all he could find was an old 9mm carbine, and after gathering around a few constables rushed towards the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, where terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail were mercilessly shooting at innocent civilians.

By the time, Date and his team had arrived, the duo had left CST and were now perched at the terrace of the nearby Cama Hospital. Just before Kasab and Ismail were about to move out from there, Date and his team of constables began firing at them.

With little inkling of what the terrorists had in their possession (hand grenades, AK-47s and hand-held GPS), Date and his team walked in blind against well-trained LeT operatives. While attempting to shut the terrace door, the terrorists lobbed a grenade at the police team which blew up.

Date was struck by the splinters which flew into his hands and legs. Despite grievous injuries and loss of blood, Data continued to fire at the terrorists while sending messages to ATC chief Hemant Karkare and AC Ashok Kamte giving them their location. Meanwhile, the police team under Date continued to hold off the terrorists for an hour before he fell unconscious after losing a lot of blood.

Both Karkare and Kamte, and eventually Ombale, who finally caught hold of Kasab, would lose their lives in battling these terrorists, but they did manage to eliminate one and capture the other.

Following the horrors of 26/11, however, Mumbai Police underwent significant structural changes which included among other things increasing manpower, improving the weapons at their disposal and raising the bar on local intelligence collection, besides instituting special units dedicated to handling terror-related incidents in the city.

As the Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Sadanand Date instituted the establishment of the Mumbai Police Anti-Terrorism Cell (ATC). Along with establishing a branch of the Mumbai Police sworn to secrecy, he was also responsible for overhauling the traditional, yet outdated, policing methods that had earlier come to define it.

“ATC’s functioning is designed in such a way that apart from the force’s top officials, information collected also gets shared with Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and State Intelligence Department (SID) through official channels, ensuring better dissemination of information to concerned agencies,” said an ATC officer, speaking to the Hindustan Times.

However, the remit of the ATC isn’t merely relegated to anti-terror intelligence gathering and action, but also for other critical criminal cases. Established in October 2012, the primary objective of the ATC is to ensure that such gaping loopholes in the collection of local intelligence, an unfortunate feature of the 26/11 attacks which had allowed terrorists to operate in the city under the cover of anonymity prior to the episode, are not found.

Before 26/11, terrorists were able to hide behind the cover of anonymity, obtaining SIM cards using fake documents, renting a property without acquiring the necessary documentation and conducting illegal ‘hawala’ transactions without any fear of identification.

Made up of one police officer and three constables who undergo intense training in such intelligence gathering in each of the city’s 93 police stations, the ATC is tasked with detecting these criminal elements and shattering the cover of anonymity under which they operate under.

Six years after its formation, the ATS has developed an intricate network of locals, shopkeepers, real estate agents, hoteliers, citizen groups and housing colony associations, among others, who feed them information about any activity they deem suspect.

“With the ATC cells, we have strengthened our ground level intelligence collection system. The concept worked very well, and as a result, we can now see that anonymity in the city has been reduced by many folds. It has become difficult for an outsider to sneak into the city easily and accommodate himself in a hotel, and then carry out reconnaissance to execute terrorist acts,” said another senior police officer, in a conversation with the Hindustan Times.

Also Read: Gone But Not Forgotten: These 4 Hero Dogs Saved Mumbai from a Hidden Danger on 26/11

With their pulse on the city (also gathered through social media), the ATS has established a close working relationship with other central and state agencies like the Intelligence Bureau, Mumbai Police Special Branch, ATS and Special Investigations Department (SID).

In addition to undergoing special training with the GSG-9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9), a special unit of the German Federal Police, Date also played a significant hand in establishing the Mumbai Police’s elite commando unit, Force One, dedicated to fighting terror elements, alongside senior officer S Jaganathan, in 2009, modelled along the lines of the elite National Security Guard (NSG).

“The police force is now equipped with Quick Response Teams (QRTs) across cities in the state. These teams consist of men who are trained better and have better weapons,” Date told The Week earlier this month.

“The jawans of Force One are far stronger and fitter than the average policeman. They are trained to handle specialised and superior weapons, equipment and situations, and the training lasts for a year. Top experts impart the training in all counterterrorism aspects at the national and international level,” he added, in a conversation with the magazine.

Force One has received training from elite anti-terror units like the famous Israeli Special Forces and acquired sophisticated equipment, arms and explosives like the MP5, Glock pistols, armoured-amphibious patrol vehicles, Brügger & Thomet MP9 and AK-103, among others.

It has also become better equipped with navigating urban environments, detecting suspicious activities and dealing with these threats. With 250 specially-trained personnel passing out of their Arey Malik Colony campus in Goregaon, northwest Mumbai, this unit is gathering further strength.

In a recent audit exercise evaluating every state’s counter-terrorism capabilities, the NSG found the police units in Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to be among the best equipped. Having said that, maintaining security and ensuring the police is well prepared to deal with another 26/11-like incident is an ongoing exercise. No one can rest on their laurels just yet.

Also Read: Exclusive: Shot On Her Leg, This Girl Was Just 10 When She Testified Against Ajmal Kasab!

Today, Date is a senior bureaucrat at the Department of Justice in the Union law ministry. However, he has left behind a legacy to hopefully ensure the Mumbai Police is better prepared and equipped to deal with terror threats against the city. He is a true braveheart and institution builder.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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This article has been sponsored by Amazon.in

On average, Anita (name changed), a resident of Mumbai, sees at least three courier agents servicing her apartment complex every day.

She even started nodding at some of them, given the growing familiarity. But it took a few months before she noticed that some of them, in bright orange polo t-shirts and yellow vests, were deaf.

Intrigued, she set out to find out more about them.

As she discovered, they were employees of Mirakle Couriers, an organisation that hires low-income deaf men and women and generates employment opportunities for them, working to empower and help them achieve financial independence.

Over the past couple of years, Mirakle Courier agents have started fanning out across Mumbai, breaking many stereotypes.

This is because Amazon Transportation Services has partnered with Mirakle couriers to provide last mile delivery services to customers in Sakinaka, Powai, and South Mumbai. Today, this initiative has reached a stage where the impact it has on the lives of the marginalised is ever-increasing.

Who are Mirakle Couriers?

Founded in January 2009 by Dhruv Lakra in Mumbai, Mirakle Couriers is an organisation that hires and works with deaf people. Having started with just two boys in the team, they now have 64 employees on their payroll.

The employees at Mirakle have come in from different backgrounds and some have experienced harassment and trauma. Post-Mirakle Couriers, their lives have changed. Today, they are the earning members of their families – are respected, independent, and love the jobs they are doing.

Mirakle meets Amazon Transportation Services:

The Service Partner program is one of the last mile models by Amazon Transportation Services in India wherein entrepreneurs act as Amazon.in’s local distribution network providers and create the last mile delivery footprint.

With over 700 Service Partner nodes across the country, Amazon.in works with diverse entrepreneurs. One such initiative is the unique delivery station of Amazon.in in partnership with Mirakle Couriers.

With the intent of creating a workplace that is truly inclusive, Amazon.in launched their first-of-its-kind ‘Silent delivery station’ in Mumbai in January 2017.

What is a Silent Delivery Station?

A Silent delivery station is a dedicated station that is almost wholly managed by delivery associates who have hearing impairments.

They deliver packages covering a radius of 2-3 kms from the delivery station by bus or on foot. They are trained on all safety procedures and customer experience behaviours by the team at Mirakle Couriers via sign language.

They use the same technology as other delivery associates with some modification in processes to ease their delivery experience.

After the success of this Silent delivery station, Amazon.in opened the second Silent station in Mumbai in June 2018.

These two stations have provided opportunities for more than 30 delivery associates with hearing impairments in the city.

Beyond Employment

It is not just about livelihood. The crux is the change in self-awareness of the differently-abled. From being seen as a burden by their families, they are now seen as breadwinners and contributors to the family.

Neelam, one of the associates working at the Silent delivery station is rather exuberant and she communicates, “It’s very different to work here. There are deaf boys and girls. Everyone knows sign language and we all work together. We are a strong team, and I’m happy to work here.”

This is an initiative that can inspire many in India to create opportunities for those who need them the most. Kudos to the team at Mirakle Couriers and Amazon for showing the way.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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Ten years after Mumbai experienced the life-changing terrorist attacks on 26/11, The Better India pays homage to the heroes who fought bravely that day and their efforts to rebuild afterwards. #IndiaRemembers

It’s been ten years, but the memory of the dreadful night of 26th November 2008 continues to haunt Divya Salaskar.

21 at the time, the only daughter of Vijay and Smita Salaskar, Divya recalls:

“Dad never came home early. That night, however, he did. When I asked him, he said, ‘I wanted to surprise you.’ I remember asking him to take me for a long drive and ice-cream. My mother intervened saying, ‘Let him eat, and then you can go.’ She had made egg curry for him. I cannot stand the smell of eggs, so I told him, ‘Call out to me once you are done eating, I’ll be in my bedroom.’ Little did I know that it would be the last memory I ever have of my father. Just sitting by the dining table, smiling at me, eating his food.”

The world may have immortalised encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar as a brave martyr who laid down his life, fighting terrorists during Mumbai’s 26/11 attacks.

But to Divya, he was her best friend, her ‘control room’ for every problem under the sun, and most importantly, just her ‘Dad’.

An officer of the 1983 batch, Vijay Salaskar also served as the head of the Anti-Extortion Cell, was credited with gunning down 75–80 criminals in encounters.

In an exclusive interview with The Better India, Divya narrates how 26/11 changed not just the lives of those inside hijacked spaces, but also their loved ones who watched the horror unfurl on their television sets.

“It was horrible. Nobody told us about his death. We watched the news late, at 11:40 pm. Looking at the fumes rising out of Taj, my mother became a lot more anxious.

At 11:57 pm, she quickly dialled Dad and asked him, “Where are you? This doesn’t look good.”

In a hushed voice, he replied, “I am at the spot.”

Those were words we had heard often.

So I calmed my mother and told her that the news was getting repetitive, that we’ll get to know more when Dad returns in the morning. But at 1 am the phone rang. We switched on the TV.

One news snippet kept running at the bottom of the screen: ATS Chief Hemant Karkare killed in the attack.

It took time for it to sink in.

The next news shattered us. It continued in a loop.

Encounter Specialist Vijay Salaskar dies in the attack.”

Her father was dead. It haunted Divya every night for the next six months.

The witness who survived to narrate the tale of Salaskar’s death was his constable of 15 years, Arun Jadhav.

He narrated how Vijay Salaskar, alongside Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Ashok Kamte and Additional Commissioner Hemant Karkare had received information that the then Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Mumbai), Sadanand Date, was wounded while resisting the terrorist action at the Cama and Albless Hospital for Women and Children.

They were a ten-minute drive away from the hospital at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). They took a Toyota Qualis and made a beeline for Cama to check upon Date. While Salaskar took the wheel, Ashok Kamte sat in the passenger seat, Hemant Karkare sat in the second row, and the four Constables, including Jadhav, were in the back row of the vehicle.

It all happened in the flash of a few minutes.

Two terrorists, one of whom was the notorious Ajmal Kasab, stepped out from behind a tree and opened fire with his AK-47 automatic rifle.

They had killed six policemen and left Jadhav terribly wounded in the gunfire. They dumped the bodies of the three officers on the road.

Jadhav was underneath a pile of corpses in the same vehicle, helpless as he saw Salaskar and the two top cops, left dead in the Rang Bhavan Lane.

The terrorists drove the vehicle towards Metro Junction, firing at police and journalist vehicles. They drove off towards Vidhan Bhawan when one of the tyres of the vehicle burst. They abandoned the vehicle to procure another.

With a shattered right arm, Jadhav wept into the wireless set asking for help. “I am Salaskar Saab’s Arun Jadhav.”

The headquarters promptly rushed him and the recovered bodies to St George Hospital.

“All my mother remembers is that they got Dad’s body home. She is completely blank about the next few days. And I am grateful she doesn’t remember,” says Divya.

She continues:

“Everything was painful and chaotic. People were rushing in and out of our home. Most of whom I didn’t even know. I had this one person who had always protected me and told me everything was going to be alright. But he was gone. It changed me. I was only 21, hardly a grown-up. But overnight, I turned my age. A big part of our family of three had been snatched away. I had to take charge of a lot of things.”

Even the Mumbai Police was shocked at the death of the top cop. It took two more days for the attacks to end.

Once the situation had calmed, they extended Divya and her mother all the help they required, whether it was documentation work or procuring Salaskar’s things.

“I think the Mumbai Police has always been there for us.”

Read More: Meet IPS Officer Sadanand Date, the 26/11 Hero Behind Mumbai’s Anti-Terror Cells

Divya adds how her mother found refuge in slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare’s wife, Kavita Karkare. Apart from comforting each other through the difficult time, the two women fought for the rights of the less-privileged widows of other martyred constables for financial help from the government.

Kavita’s death due to a brain haemorrhage in 2014 was a grieving time for Smita too.

Divya, on the other hand, found a different way to cope with the void her father’s death had created. “I got an opportunity to study in London and so I left the city in September 2009. I am an introvert. So I tried to cope with his death by distancing myself. But Mummy and Mrs Karkare spoke a lot. They found a good amount of comfort in each other.”

As the years passed and they learnt to deal with the loss, Vijay would always pop up in their conversations. Not sad ones, just the happy memories. Whether it was about an early dinner at their favourite restaurant on Gudi Padwa or his favourite food being prepared at home.

I ask her, if the wounds healed over the years. “No, they haven’t and probably never will. Because there is no letting go with his memories. But it is better this way,” she says.

Divya adds how she has been travelling for the last few months for Lliam Worthington’s One Less God which, inspired by the Taj attacks, narrates the struggles for survival of guests trapped in a room during the terror attack.

Before bidding adieu, she says that she wants her father to be remembered as a man with a golden heart. And for the spectacular work he did.

“We have made a small shrine at home for him, with his picture, his Ashoka Chakra (awarded posthumously in 2009) and some of his trophies. He would always extend a helping hand to anyone in need. After his death, there were several women, mostly mothers of young boys, who narrated stories of how Dad had caught, warned and let off their sons after they got into bad company. He not only counselled them but also used his connections to get them jobs and improve their lives. He was in the force. But he had the most gentle soul.”

You may be gone, but you continue to live on, Vijay Salaskar. A twenty-one gun salute to you!

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Ten years after Mumbai experienced the life-changing terrorist attacks on 26/11, The Better India pays homage to the heroes who fought bravely that day and their efforts to rebuild afterwards. #IndiaRemembers

Date: 26th November, 2008.

Location: Cama and Albless Hospital for Women and Children, Mumbai.

Staff Nurse Anjali Kulthe was on night duty in the antenatal ward, in charge of about 20 women who were due to deliver their babies.

It was around this time that the staff nurse, through the window of her ward on the first floor, saw terrorists Ajmal Kasab and his tall partner, Abu Ismail.

The duo, who had jumped from the gate of the hospital at the rear-end, entered the premises and gunned down two guards, namely Bhanu Narkar and Baban Walu.

Rattled by the sight of the two lifeless bodies that lay in a pool of blood at the entrance, the staff nurse quickly ran and slammed the heavy double doors of the antenatal care ward.

The terrorists were sprinting up the floor. She moved all the pregnant women and some of their family members into a small pantry space at the far end of the ward.

Speaking to Mid-Day, she recalls, “Ismail fired two bullets in our direction from the window. One bullet ricocheted off the wall and grazed an ayah’s hand, due to which she started bleeding profusely.”

But Anjali knew that her every move had to be calculated. If she wanted to save the women and their unborn children, she had to stay alive too. That night, the brave nurse risked her own life not once, but several times.

Once the terrorists had moved upwards, Anjali quickly alerted a doctor on duty, who dialled the police to seek help. She then rushed the ayah to the casualty ward to tend to her wounds.

The firing continued for over an hour, where the terrorists started throwing hand grenades at the police team that had arrived a little after 10 pm.

With every explosion, the building shuddered, keeping the patients and the staff on their toes.

Just as Anjali and the other staff hoped everything had ended, one of the patients in the ward came into labour.

A delay would have cost two lives. So Anjali decided to risk her own to help them.

The two armed men continued to wage terror on the terrace, holding several doctors hostage. Little did they know that there were a few dedicated staff, who despite being uncertain of their own survival, were bringing new lives into the world, in a quiet delivery room on the second floor with just a tube light.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Anjali says, “Holding the patient’s hand, I walked up along the stairway wall, my mind only on the unborn baby’s safety,” she says.

The woman was able to safely deliver her baby with the assistance of doctors.

The staff that night had shown exceptional bravery and presence of mind, as they became human shields for all their patients. According to the report, they switched off lights, locked ward doors, hid patients in washrooms, and conducted deliveries in silence.

The gunshots did not stop. It was all they could hear.

After 50 minutes of firing, Kasab and Khan eventually fled, injuring several policemen after lobbing hand grenades.

The situation was brought under control after a long haul of 12 hours. While the rest of Mumbai had started moving on from the previous night’s terror, Anjali found it too difficult to accept.

In an interview with LiveMint, she said, “I could not understand how everybody was so normal and how they could go about life as usual. I wanted to shout and tell everyone that something was wrong.”

Her uniform had become her source of strength. But the next morning, as she changed into regular clothes, she just stared into the mirror and broke down.

“When I changed into my civil clothes, I realised I was as ordinary and vulnerable as any other person on the road. I could not understand why I had taken all the risks and responsibility the previous night. I also could have been killed or hurt like anyone else,” she told the publication.

For a month, even the slightest noise wouldn’t let her sleep. Their matron, who had specialised in psychology, had to intervene to help her.

“For a long time, I was not assigned any serious cases or night duties. She (the matron) also encouraged me to talk, and counselled me.”

Several other staffers who had survived the attack were unable to work during the nights for at least two months.

Read More: Exclusive: Daughter of 26/11 Martyr Vijay Salaskar Opens Up on Her Dad’s Death

After a month passed, Anjali was summoned to the Arthur Road Jail. She would have to identify Kasab. The cause of her nightmare would soon stand right before her.

She was afraid at first, but the police convinced her to testify. Her family wasn’t pleased with her decision. She went for the identification parade anyway.

Anjali was under the impression that her identity would be kept under wraps. But to her horror, she had to point out the suspect in front of everyone, including Kasab himself.

She touched his shoulder and identified him.

But instead of fear, all she saw on the man’s face was a smug smile. He congratulated her on her accuracy, saying, “You are right. I am Ajmal Kasab.”

“I felt scared after this. His casual and frivolous manner infuriated me. But more than anything else, I worried about my safety and my family. I got nightmares once again,” Anjali told LiveMint.

The next time she was summoned to testify against the terrorist in court, she donned her uniform for confidence. A session of cross-interrogation by Kasab’s defendant ensued. But she was brave and did not flinch even once.

“When I walked out of the court, some policemen saluted me. I don’t think I could have answered so fearlessly and boldly if I had gone in normal clothes,” she says.

And though ten years have passed, the memories don’t seem like ones that will fade away. The state-run hospital has learned its lessons to step up security. In addition to higher boundary walls and CCTV cameras, there are guards at the rear exit, a special security room at the main entrance and also guards at the entrance of every ward in the hospital.

Visitor-checking has been amped up too. The hospital now keeps the entry to the terrace and the rear exit locked.

But even years after the attacks, Anjali’s one regret continues to be that the nurses “did not receive their due share of appreciation” for all they did that night.

So, let us take this moment to pay tribute to these unsung heroes in white coats. Your sacrifices will be remembered.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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It was about 10:00 p.m. on 26 November 2008—there was only one hour left for Vishnu Zende’s 3:00–11:00 p.m. shift as a railway announcer to end—when he heard an unusual sound.

The ‘unusual sound’ was a loud bang on the Main Line of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station in Mumbai, and it immediately rang alarm bells in Zende’s head. Suspecting that it was a blast, Zende promptly informed the Railway Protection Force (RPF) as well as the Government Railway Police (GRP).

However, within minutes, the railway announcer would realise that this wasn’t an accidental or isolated blast. The CST railway station was under a terrorist attack!

Speaking to The Better India, Zende recalls the fateful day.

“As soon as I heard the loud sound, my first instinct was to think it was a bomb blast. I immediately started making announcements to guide people away from the blast site and contacted the railway police so they could take charge of the situation.”

Right after the announcement was made, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and Abu Dera Ismael Khan, two of the terrorists involved in the Mumbai terror attacks walked across the platform, armed with assault rifles and an “evil grin.”

“I saw the men walking with guns … to the suburban railway section and firing indiscriminately. They were throwing hand-grenades,” he told the Hindustan Times.

The gravity of the situation is not lost to us, ten years after the attack. Even as the railway announcer realised that his life was in direct danger, he decided to stay and make full use of the resources at his disposal—his knowledge about the railway station, an overview of the platforms from his cabin and a microphone fit to make announcements on all the platforms.

Right then, while the terrorists were showering bullets on innocent people, a suburban train arrived at the terminus. Hundreds, if not a thousand people, would have disembarked at the station, and come face-to-face with the two terrorists who were determined to kill every human being they encountered at CST.

“Rage was boiling in me as I watched the terrorists firing at the passengers. So, I continued making announcements so the innocent people could be safe.

While we could see the terrorists, thankfully, since we were sitting on the first floor, they could not see us,” Zende told TBI.

For the next 25 minutes, he made continuous announcements in Hindi and Marathi, asking passengers to take the rear gate of the Main Line instead of the exit gate. He knew this gate was much safer than the usual exit.

“Yeh lal shirt wale bhai sahab, kripya aagey mat ayiye, peechhe jayiye (The gentleman in the red-t-shirt, please don’t come forward, go back)” he announced, careful not to invoke too much panic into the hundreds of passengers although the situation was as grave as it could get. “The passengers rushed out, following my instruction,” he told HT.

You may also like: On 26/11, This Brave Nurse Saved 20 Pregnant Women from the Terrorists’ Bullets!

It wasn’t as though Zende (and his colleague) were completely safe in their cabin. The terrorists were calling out people who were hiding and could have also shifted their focus on the railway staff who was busy saving passengers.

“While firing indiscriminately, Kasab also waved his hand at us, signalling that we (railway staff) come out of the control room,” Zende recalls.

However, he did not stop making the announcements until he saw that the platform was vacant, save for the terrorists. “When Kasab found nobody to kill at the platform, he also fired at a dog,” he said.

A short while later, when the glass wall of his cabin shattered, Zende took refuge under his desk. The terrorists had aimed for the cabin, and the bullet missed the railway announcer by inches. By then, thankfully the station was empty, and Zende knew that had done his job.

You may also like: 26/11: Among the First to Enter the Taj, Brave Cop’s Crucial Help Aided Commandos!

“With the sound of bullets only getting louder with every shot fired, I knew my time had come. We were all terrified, but we tried to keep calm and not make things worse. I told my family I was safe for now, but I honestly did not know what was going to happen,” told the Indian Express.

Even as 52 people were killed at the railway station that fateful night of 26/11, Zende’s courage and bravery saved potentially hundreds of others. He later became a witness in the 26/11 case. “I saw two faces of Kasab,” he told TOI, adding, “One with the evil grin during the firing and a dispassionate one, bereft on any emotion, inside the courtroom.”

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Hansa Jivraj Mehta, a leading freedom fighter and champion of women’s rights, was singlehandedly responsible for amending a critical feature of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The change was small, yet monumental.

Appointed by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the United Nations Humans Rights Commission, Hansa sought a small amendment to Article 1 of the UDHR, which stated, “All men are born free and equal.”

After her recommendation, Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights read, “All human beings are born free and equal.”

Bringing the notion of gender equality into a document which has become a model for liberal and sovereign democracies all over the world is not a contribution one should ever take lightly.

“The world can thank a daughter of India, Dr Hansa Mehta, for replacing the phrase in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It said, ‘All men are born free and equal’. Now it is changed, ‘All human beings are born free and equal’. How appropriate, how fitting it is,” said former United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon back in 2015.

As we celebrate Constitution Day, it’s important to remember Hansa’s remarkable contribution to the discourse on gender equality that took place in the hallowed confines of the Constituent Assembly from 1946 to 1949.

On November 22, 1949, just weeks before the introduction of the Indian Constitution, each member of the Constituent Assembly gathered under the Parliament and shared snippets of this incredible journey of framing this nascent nation’s new Constitution, which took 11 sessions across 165 days.

During this gathering, Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri, a member from Assam Province made a tasteless statement comparing the plight of women with cows.

“We have in this Constitution cow protection to some extent, but there is no provision at all for protection against cows. There is also no provision in this Constitution for protection against women. We really need protection against women because in every sphere of life they are now trying to elbow us out. In the offices, in the legislatures, in the embassies, in everything they try to elbow us out. They succeed for two reasons: one, our exaggerated sense of courtesy, and then because of their having some influence in the ear of those persons who have authority,” said Chaudhuri.

Responding to this callous statement, Hansa retorted sharply, yet politely, saying, “The world would have thought very little of the men if they had asked for protection against women in this Constitution; I am very happy to see that the Constitution does not include that provision. Otherwise, men would have had to hide their faces before the world.”

Born into affluence on July 3, 1897, Hansa’s father Manubhai Nandshankar Mehta was the then Dewan of Baroda. She went to England as a young child and studied Sociology and Journalism before returning to India.

Her introduction to Mahatma Gandhi in 1918, while he was lodged in Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat, by another leading woman leader of the freedom struggle Sarojini Naidu, was a massive turning point in her life. This meeting lit the spark that would result in her joining the struggle for freedom against the British colonialists.

She got involved in the Non-Cooperation and Swadeshi movements, organising protests against establishments that sold foreign-made goods, and courted arrest accordingly. In 1924, she would go onto marry Gandhi’s one-time personal physician Jivraj Narayan Mehta, much to the chagrin of her Nagar Brahmin community. They severely objected to her decision to marry a “Vaishya Mehta.”

Fortunately, her decision to marry outside her caste received strong support from Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the Maharaja of Baroda State. In her book Indian Woman, Hansa recalls how the Maharaja convinced her father to attend the wedding and “grace all the functions.”

Hansa’s decision to marry the then Chief Medical Officer of Baroda, however, did not impede her social and political activism. In fact, the couple soon moved to Bombay, and her involvement in the freedom struggle only grew deeper.

As stated in this Indian Express profile, “The Servant of India,” a weekly publication of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, reported Hansa’s arrest in 1932.

“Dr Jiv. ‘N. Mehta and his wife Mrs Hansa Mehta have both been taken into custody. Dr Mehta is not known to be an active politician, and his detention in jail can be explained only on the ground of his harbouring a Congress worker in the person of his wife,” the publication reported.

Following her release, she got deeply involved in the political processes which would go onto define the future of Indian polity. The introduction of the Government of India Act, 1935, which called for provincial autonomy, pulled her towards electoral politics.

She contested and won the first provincial elections from the Bombay Legislative Council seat in 1937. She served two terms on the council (1937-39 and 1840-49) and would subsequently join the Constituent Assembly (CA).

Her inclusion in the CA’s Fundamental Rights sub-committee was particularly critical as it allowed her to champion the cause of gender equality and progressive common civil code instead of personal laws that have come to define minority religious communities today.

However, she was championing the cause of women’s rights long before joining the Constituent Assembly. As a member of the All India Women’s Conference, this prolific educator was involved in the process of starting the “Lady Irvin College in New Delhi, a women’s college for home science, educational research and teacher training,” according to this Women Architects of the Indian Republic blog.

She also strongly advocated the education of the girl child, besides writing many books for children in her native Gujarati, often translating famous pieces of English literature like Gulliver’s Travels and Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Merchant of Venice.

Just before joining the Constituent Assembly, she was also instrumental in drafting the Indian Women’s Charter of Rights and Duties during the 1946 (and 18th) session of the AIWC in Hyderabad. Embodying the spirit of progressive politics, the charter sought among other things equality with men in terms of pay, civil rights, access to health and education, distribution of property and fair marriage laws. Nonetheless, her role in the CA would come to define her legacy.

“The women’s organisation to which I have the honour to belong has never asked for reserved seats, for quotas, or for separate electorates. What we have asked for is social justice, economic justice, and political justice,” she told the Constituent Assembly on December 19, 1946.

In the fundamental rights sub-committee of the CA, she worked alongside luminaries like Dr BR Ambedkar, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Manoo Masani, pushing for the inclusion of the Uniform Civil Code in the Constitution.

She believed that it was the responsibility of the state to establish a single progressive Indian identity over the plethora of religious ones pulling in many different directions.

“The Civil Code that we wish to have must be on a par with, or in advance of, the most progressive of the personal laws in the country. Otherwise, it will be a retrograde step, and it will not be acceptable to all,” Hansa said in the CA. Unfortunately, her motion to establish a UCC as a right was met with stiff resistance, even from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Also Read: Dakshayani Velayudhan: The First & Only Dalit Woman in India’s Constituent Assembly

“Any evil practiced in the name of religion cannot be guaranteed by the Constitution. Unfortunately, we were told that raising this question will hurt the religious susceptibilities of some people,” she said during her speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 22, 1949. Instead, a compromise was reached, and the UCC found its way into the set of Directive Principles.

Hansa was also involved in the process of drafting a Hindu Code Bill, which sought to “amend and codify certain branches of Hindu law.”

Through this exercise, Hansa sought to safeguard the civil rights of women from the interpretation of religious texts that found favour among orthodox, yet influential, members of the community.

“Mehta played an integral role in a women’s movement that pushed for the abolition of child marriage (the Sarda Act) as well as the devadasi system, for better educational opportunities for women, and personal law reforms,” says this Mint profile.

On the reforms suggested by Dr Ambedkar for the Hindu Code Bill on contentious issues of property rights, inheritance laws, divorce and adoptions, Hansa issued her support. However, imperfections did remain, and she acknowledged it in a subsequent speech.

“This Bill to codify the Hindu Law is a revolutionary Bill and though we are not quite satisfied with it, it will be a great landmark in the social history of the Hindus. But since this Bill was drafted, many things have happened, and one of the biggest things that has happened is the achievement of our political freedom. The new State is going to be a democratic State and democracy is based on the equality of individuals. It is from this point of view that we have now to approach the problems of inheritance and marriage, etc., that are before us,” she said.

As the clock struck midnight on August 15, 1947, Hansa presented the newly-independent nation’s first national flag on behalf of its women.

“We have donned the saffron colour, we have fought, suffered and sacrificed in the cause of our country’s freedom. We have today attained our goal. In presenting this symbol of our freedom, we once more offer our services to the nation,” she said.

Following Independence, she served in the United Nations Human Rights Council, on the board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and her husband Jivraj Narayan Mehta went on to become Gujarat’s first chief minister. She also went onto become the vice-chancellor of a recognised Indian varsity in the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Her legacy as a freedom fighter, reformer, educator and staunch champion of women’s rights was cemented with the awarding of the Padma Bhushan in 1959.

This is a legend that Indians, particularly women, should never forget.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Sailaja Vissamsetti was a 14-year-old, studying in Class 7 when her parents decided that it was time for her to get married.

Even though she was at an age when most children are in school and worrying about the next exam or trying to convince their parents to let them watch the latest movie, she took this development in her stride.

In an exclusive conversation with The Better India, this quinquagenarian narrates a few stories from her life which show that has achieved far more than most of us can even imagine.

Early years and influences

“I was the eldest of four siblings in the family, and it was essential for my parents to get me married off early, as they had three other to worry about after me,” Sailaja says as we begin our conversation.

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that she agreed to get married at such a young age. When I ask her if she resisted, she says, “At that time we didn’t know how to resist. In fact, honestly speaking, I did not even know I could resist. We lived in a time when it was imperative that I got married to make way for the rest to follow. I just did what was asked of me.”

Sailaja married her maternal uncle who was almost 12 years older to her.

“Marriage was the be-all and end-all at that time. Now things have changed, and I see how parents have started looking at the institution,” she says.

Sailaja describes herself as a very obedient child and a good student. “My only thought was to obey my parents. I did not want to cause them any stress of discomfort,” she says.

Married life

“A large age gap was the norm during my time. I had grown up seeing my parents, so I was used to it,” she says. Post her marriage, Sailaja moved to her husband’s home, which was just a few minutes away from her parents home.

Sailaja’s wedding took place a few months before her Class 10 examinations, so she appeared for them after the ceremony. Recollecting the events, she says, “My father-in-law, who was also my grandfather, was sceptical of my performance.”

“In fact, he wondered whether or not I would clear the exams. Thankfully, I cleared but missed the first class by just three marks.”

Sailaja was so passionate about learning that she would often borrow the books of her cousins and read them. She wanted to go ahead and give her intermediate examinations, but with no support from her in-laws, it was a difficult task.

Support from her parents

“It was only because my father stepped in and agreed to pay the fees, that I was able to study. At that time the NTR government had also given some concessions to girl students, and that surely helped me complete the two years,” she says.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” she says. “The first year examinations were just around the corner, and I was asked to stay home and not appear for them. My elder brother-in-law rallied around for me and gave me a lot of support and encouragement.”

She admits that managing the house and studies was very tough, but her sheer passion to study and excel kept her going.

She credits a lot of her success to her mother as well.

“Having been married off rather early herself, she understood my predicament and wanted to support me in whatever way she could. Even today, when I have an issue the first person I turn to is my mother. My parents are my biggest role models. My giving nature comes from my father, and the thirst I have for knowledge is thanks to my mother,” she says.

Returning to books after a 12-year gap

After completing her intermediary examinations, Sailaja took a long break of almost 12 years. During this period she gave birth to her two daughters and spent all her time managing her house, children, and in-laws.

“During that time if anyone ever asked me if I had completed my post-graduate degree, I would say with a lot of pride that my elder daughter is my UG degree and the younger one my PG degree. At that time I thought that was all I could do,” she says.

The trigger for Sailaja to return to her books, was seeing her younger brother get accepted into a college to pursue a management degree.

“That was one time when I felt very sorry for myself. I saw how well he had done for himself and saw myself as having done nothing.”

Single sitting degree

What this essentially meant was that a candidate could appear for all the examinations that are usually conducted year after year together, at one shot.

“I was lucky that Osmania University was conducting the last such examination. I requested my mothers help in watching the girls while I studied and appeared for the examination,” she says.

Sailaja attempted and cleared the 13 mandatory papers to get an undergraduate degree in sociology.

“I remember disrupting everyone’s routine at that time. I moved my kids, asked my mother to help me, troubled my brother and his wife to take me for all my exams. But at the end I am happy I did that, it has given me a purpose in life,” says Sailaja.

A beauty parlour from home

After completing her degree, Sailaja wanted to do something on her own, but at the same time did not want to take up anything outside her home. “My husband has always been very encouraging, and it was perhaps that push that led me to take up a course in beauty,” she recollects.

She started with one mirror in one room, and eventually ended up running a beauty parlour for the next 12 years.

“I would get to meet so many different kinds of people. It gave me such important life lessons,” she says.

Studying Psychology

Sailaja says that she wanted to stay relevant and that was one of the reasons why she decided to study psychology. “My daughters were grown up and were of marriageable age. I knew that I would go through the empty nest syndrome, so psychology seemed like an apt answer,” she says.

“At the time when my practicals were going on, I had just become a grandmother, and I remember my friends joking about how I was getting a lot of hands-on experience, while they were just stuck to theory,” she says.

There will always be someone who tells you that you cannot, but Sailaja’s answer to them is loud and clear in all that she has achieved. “My in-laws would often wonder why I am doing all this. My answer to them is because it makes me feel content.”

Founding Sahaja

Sahaja Foundation, an initiative started by Sailaja in 2017, aims at providing meaningful guidance to the youth. Some of the things that they touch upon through the various sessions are stress management, time management, suicidal ideation (prevention), and dealing with online abuse.

“Lessons on moral science have been replaced with computer science. I started the organisation, in an attempt to bring back the importance of moral science and value classes. Having a degree in psychology has helped in lending credibility to what I do,” says Sailaja.

Without wanting to rest there, Sailaja also runs her own YouTube channel named ‘Mana‘sahaja’maina kathalu’ where moral stories for children (in Telugu) are posted every Tuesday and Friday.

“Seeing the high levels of dependency children feel towards tablets and other devices, I found this as a good way to connect with them,” she says.

To subscribe to the channel, click here.

We wish that many others take inspiration from Sailaja and achieve whatever it is that their hearts desire.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Hailing from the state of Kerala which boasts of the highest literacy rate in the country, the cause of education has always been close to 2011-batch IAS Officer, Nikhil Nirmal’s heart.

In August 2018, West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee expressed concerns about the quality of education being imparted to students in the state. At the time, the young officer, who was posted as the District Magistrate of Alipurduar, came up with an innovative idea—the ‘Aloran’ initiative.

What started as a personal project by the bureaucrat, has impacted the lives of over 20,000 students across 73 schools in the last three months.

These students are children of labourers who work in the backward and distressed tea garden areas of the district.

In the course of several meetings, the tea garden workers revealed the poor quality education their children were receiving. While 20 of these tea-gardens were categorised as ‘distressed,’ five of them were shut down due to extreme losses.

Uncertain income and employment forced the labourers to take up menial work and manual scavenging. Acute poverty also paved the way for social evils like child trafficking, sexual abuse, child marriage, organ rackets and alcoholism. Many of these kids were pushed into child labour to supplement the family income as well.

The DM realised that only a personal intervention on the part of administration could bring about the much-needed change. And that’s how Aloran was born.

Speaking to The Better India, Nikhil Nirmal explains the initiative.

“I first started visiting schools without any prior notice, and this step received shocked reactions. I immediately noticed several problems—attendance was low, teachers wouldn’t turn up, and there was very little vigilance from the education department. However, we realised that they couldn’t be blamed because they were themselves grappling with a severe shortage of officers. For 840 schools in 11 circles, they had only four Sub-Inspectors.”

The bureaucrat decided to take matters in his own hands, not by just visiting the schools, but also checking the quality of mid-day meals, by eating with the students and evaluating learning outcomes.

Kickstarted on Teacher’s Day in 2018, the Aloran Initiative is running in closed and ‘stressed’ Tea Garden areas in 73 schools of the Alipurduar District—specifically in five blocks of Alipurduar I, Falakata, Kalchini, Kumargram and Madarihat.

How does the initiative work?

A ‘zero-cost’ model, government officers of various ranks including the Deputy Magistrate, Deputy Collector, and extension officers visit these 73 schools every two weeks.

They keep a close check on the attendance of students and teachers, check the quality and quantity of mid-day meals and infrastructure and sanitation facilities.

“The prime motivation for these kids to even come to the school is the mid-day meal because many of them cannot afford a proper meal at home. So, we pay special attention to the quality and quantity of food being served.

If a student is noticed to be absent for more than ten days in a month, the officers also visit their home and have a one-on-one discussion with their parents explaining the importance of education. Many times, when the kid is absent for a long haul, there is a fear that they may have been trafficked as the district shares a border with Bhutan,” Nikhil explains.

He adds how these government officers are referred to as ‘mentors’ and not ‘inspectors.’

“The role of an inspector is to only visit, inspect and file a report to his superiors. But we aim to become mentors to these students and help them explore their creativity and chase their dreams.”

The initiative that has been running for the last three months, without any assistance from any third parties like a private agency or NGOs has already seen an impact.

“Many officers have walked up to me and told me what a refreshing and positive experience it is to interact with the students one day in a week.”

The district has a system where every school has to send an SMS to say that the mid-day meal is running, and this gets registered on an everyday basis by the Central government. The district that once saw results as low as 35 per cent (with respect to the percentage of active MDMs) has shown a rise of 95 per cent within three months. Other results reflect in the steady improvement of student attendance. The teachers too have started coming in regularly.

The government has also passed a circular to ensure that the students in these distressed areas don’t go hungry during the Pujo week when most schools and government institutions are shut for 20 days. Additionally, schools under the Aloran initiative run midday meals on all days, including public holidays.

The personal visits by government officers have ensured that issues like regular wear and tear, repairs and infrastructure building in these schools are looked into, immediately.

“Many times in schools closer to the forest, it has been observed that wild animals enter the premises and damage the property. So our visits ensure that these issues are attended on priority,” says Nikhil.

Through CSR initiatives, RO water purifiers have been installed in the schools to ensure clean and safe drinking water for the students.

In addition to these amenities, the initiative is also helping needy students avail of government schemes they are entitled to.

A classic example of this is how a visually impaired student was able to benefit from the Manabik Pension Scheme of the West Bengal government which provides a pension of Rs 1000 per month to disabled persons of any age. Since the girl lacked a disability certificate, she couldn’t avail of it earlier. However, the administration referred her to the nearest hospital, acquired a certificate and helped her out.

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The DM has also created a WhatsApp group for officers to ensure the smooth functioning, on ground activities, progress and grievances of the initiative. There are monthly review meetings to analyse the progress and brainstorm new ideas to improve the system.

The initiative has also received help from the state government. The North Bengal Development Department has given the district Rs 2 crore to improve school infrastructure per block. Additionally, the Gatidhara scheme, under which the government provides subsidies to vehicle owners who use them as ambulances or to ferry school students, is helping as it is a good alternative to school buses.

The students also get school bags and sports kits. Besides, the vegetative fencing and kitchen garden, apart from providing nutrition, are also serving as livelihood opportunities for their families.

Nelson Mandela had said that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” and Nikhil believes in weaponising these young with just that.

“I often share with the students how education helped me complete college and crack the civil services and that helped me further impact 20,000 students. Had I worked as a labourer my impact would be limited. So, I encourage them to not to restrict themselves to working in tea gardens or becoming labourers and instead pursue higher goals. To be teachers, engineers, doctors, and civil servants.”

He signs off by saying, “Aloran started as a personal initiative, and I hope the officers after me continue it. The true long-term impact of this will reflect 10-15 years down the line when some day, one of these kids walks up to me and tells me, ‘Sir, I have become (career of their choice). and the Aloran initiative in my school helped me reach here.’”

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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A massive fire erupted in a Pune slum on 28 November 2018. The blaze, which started in a narrow lane around 1:00 p.m., soon escalated into an inferno, that affected hundreds of houses. According to a report in Maharashtra Times, out of 400 huts, nearly 200 have been reduced to ashes.

Fortunately, no casualties were reported from the site, thanks to the residents of the slum who came forward to help the authorities who were trying to fight the fire.

LPG cylinders in the huts that were near the origin of the fire, helped it expand far and wide. Speaking to the Indian Express, Chief Fire Officer, Prashant Ranpise said that at least eight LPG cylinders exploded in the blast.

As soon as the residents realised this, they started removing cylinders from their homes to prevent any further damage.

#Update: 30 fire tenders at Patil estate to control the fire. Five more tenders arriving from outskirts pic.twitter.com/nsodatOL7R

— Pune Mirror (@ThePuneMirror) November 28, 2018

Cylinders are quite heavy to move around, and this was a dangerous move, but they soldiered on. Meanwhile, others helped to ensure that this process was carried out smoothly.

Sandesh Bhosale, an employee of a software company in the vicinity, told the Times of India, “People were seen rushing out of the slum with LPG cylinders and all sorts of belongings. I joined the police diverting the traffic. I took help of four security guards of our office and started cleaning the roads near the slum.”

Bhosale wasn’t alone. IT companies in the area also lent a helping hand by relieving some of their teams so that they could help out. Speaking to Pune Mirror, an IT professional said, “Our seniors relieved us, and requested as many of us as possible to help in any way. We are helping to manage traffic flow, to give space to rescued residents and aid fire extinguishers in accessing the fire without hindrance.”

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Samarth Siddique, a manager at Bajaj Finserv, went a step ahead. Speaking to the publication, he said,

“Our team helped elderly people evacuated and carried their cylinders out. We also focused on getting the children to safety, and carried water pipes along with the fire brigade and area residents to douse the flames.”

The fire was finally brought under control around 3:45 p.m., but the residents of the huts that were destroyed in the fire, had no idea where they would spend the night. Hungry, tired, and distressed over the loss of their home and belongings, they eventually found shelter in the Babasaheb Ambedkar School which is quite close to the slum.

The inferno has left hundreds of the residents of the slum homeless, taking away important documents, precious belongings and even daily necessities. While it is now essential to rebuild infrastructure and rehabilitate the displaced population, we must appreciate the ordinary citizens who rushed to the aid of the victims, without a second thought.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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In 1990, Prem Ganapathy was among the multitude of people from across the country who set foot in the maximum city.

Lost and alone amidst a perpetually moving crowd in a sleepless city, he reached the Bandra Terminus with Rs 200 in his pocket. No older than 17, the young boy’s first day in the city of dreams was one he would remember for the rest of his life.

Hailing from a family of seven siblings in Nagalapuram in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district, Prem wanted to complete his higher studies. But the financial crisis at home doubled with the responsibility of supporting his parents and six siblings caused him to abandon college education.

A mere Class 10 pass out, he first ventured to Chennai. Despite struggling day in and out, he was only able to earn Rs 250 a month, through a string of odd jobs.

At this time, an acquaintance offered him a job in Mumbai. He was also promised a salary of Rs 1,200 per month. This was more money than he had imagined.

Speaking to the Economic Times, he recalls, “I knew my parents would never approve of my decision to shift base, so I left for Mumbai without informing them.”

Little did Prem know that this acquaintance had a different plan. He met Prem and robbed him of the Rs 200 he had, leaving the young boy stranded in Bandra!

“I hardly understood the language and did not know anyone in the city, but returning wasn’t an option since I was penniless. So I did the only thing I could–I decided to stay on and try my luck,” he adds.

A job hunt ensued the next day. His first job was washing dishes at a local bakery at Mahim. “You will get a salary of Rs 150 per month,” he was told.

While it wasn’t the salary he had hoped for, the need for a roof above his head outweighed other aspirations. The owner allowed him to work during the day and sleep inside the bakery at night.

For the next two years, the young boy toiled hard and picked up all kinds of menial jobs at various restaurants. His aim was clear–work, work some more and save as much money as possible.

“In 1992, I managed to save up enough to start my own food business of selling idlis and dosas. I rented a handcart for about Rs 150 and ploughed in another Rs 1,000 to buy utensils, a stove and basic ingredients, and set up shop on the street opposite the Vashi train station.”

That was the beginning of Ganapathy’s journey. One which would see him building a food empire of Rs 30 crore.

Within a few months of starting the food cart, Prem arranged for two of his brothers, Murugan and Paramashivan, to come to Mumbai. Younger to him by two and four years respectively, the duo helped him with handling the food cart.

Competing with all kinds of eateries around, Prem was determined to stand out. And it was his work ethic that made his stall a people’s favourite.

“We were very particular about (the) quality and cleanliness, and unlike the people running other roadside eateries, we were very well-dressed and wore caps. I got the recipes for dosas and the sambhar from my native place, which attracted a lot of customers. Soon enough, the business was booming, and we were generating a net profit of around Rs 20,000 every month,” he beams, speaking to ET.

They soon rented a small space in Vashi. While it served as a makeshift kitchen during the day, the booming space also became their living quarters at night.

The trio took additional efforts to make the special masalas themselves.

If you are a Mumbaikar, you would know that the life of hawkers and street stall owners can be more difficult than exciting. And while the daily profits can be high, the biggest threat to their functioning is the municipality vehicle that seizes entire carts.

“We faced the risk of the cart being seized by the municipal authorities as handcart food stalls do not get licenses to ply their trade. In fact, our cart was seized several times, and I had to pay a fine to have it released. Thankfully, the harassment ended when we saved enough to open a restaurant,” says Prem.

The first restaurant he started was in 1997, by leasing a small space in Vashi. Paying a deposit of Rs 50,000 and a monthly rent of Rs 5,000, they named it Prem Sagar Dosa Plaza. They also recruited two more employees to work at the restaurant.

Prem Sagar Dosa Plaza was a raging hit among college students, many of whom became his good friends. It was with their help that Prem started using the internet to search for new recipes from across the world and experimenting with different mouth-watering combinations of ingredients for the stuffing inside the dosas.

From schezwan to paneer chilly and spring roll, Prem introduced over 26 varieties in the first year. And by 2002, they had conceptualised and mastered 105 varieties of dosas.

Prem dreamt of starting an outlet in a mall. But when he tried connecting with several suburban malls, he was repeatedly turned down as the authorities maintained that the space was reserved for other top food giants.

“My luck turned the day Centre One Mall decided to open up in our vicinity. Its management team and staffers had often dined at our restaurant and enjoyed our fare. They suggested that we set up an outlet in the mall and we happily complied,” he tells ET.

Soon, they had several clients approaching them to explore franchise opportunities. But the dosa connoisseur had a condition–he would supply the batter and other ingredients.

And so, the first Dosa Plaza franchise outlet opened at Wonder Mall in Thane, in 2003.

There was no looking back after that.

The restaurant’s website lists over 70 outlets of Dosa Plaza within India and abroad, with seven being spread across New Zealand, Dubai and Oman.

Read more: Labourer’s Son Used to Earn Rs 150/Month. His Company Is Worth $500 Mn Today!

After everything that went wrong on his first day in Mumbai, Prem could have simply taken the first train out to return home, but he decided to stay and fight it out. It is stories of individuals like him that give hope to aspiring entrepreneurs. Where you come from doesn’t matter, when you have your eyes set on the goal and know where you want to go!

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Earlier this week, two Indians—an Indian Navy Commander and Captain (both helicopter pilots)—were conferred with the prestigious Asian of Year award for 2018.

The award was presented to them by The Straits Times, a well-known Singapore daily, for their heroic service and bravery during in rescue operations during the devastating floods in Kerala.

Earlier this year, 42-year-old Commander Varma received widespread recognition for his rescue work in the port city of Kochi, where he airlifted a heavily pregnant woman, who ended up giving birth as soon she landed on safe ground.

Also Read: Navy Pilot Airlifts Pregnant Woman, Gets Giant ‘Thanks’ From Kerala Rooftop!

Meanwhile, 54-year-old Captain Rajkumar winched 26 people up from a rooftop in Kochi, where they were stranded. During this death-defying rescue act, he navigated between trees and other houses in the vicinity. Last year, he had won a medal for rescuing a fisherman. However, what ended up on social media was a viral video of his Sea King helicopter pulling up a wheelchair-bound pregnant woman.

In total, Captain Rajkumar brought 32 people to safe ground on his helicopter.

However, these two weren’t the only heroes as the Indian Navy pilots undertook high-risk missions to save their fellow citizens marooned by the devastating floods in August.

“This year, the editors are pleased to honour the many men and women of courage and commitment who stepped up in the moment of greatest need,” said a press statement by The Straits Times.

Also Read: Fishermen Become Cornerstone of #KeralaFloodRelief, Win Hearts with Amazing Effort!

The other two who won the award were Ng Kok Choong, a Singapore national and paraglider, who died while conducting rescue work in the earthquake-affected Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, and Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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When 14-year-old children are asked about their ambition in life, the standard answers range from doctor, engineer, astronaut and perhaps soldier.

However, Veer Agrawal, a 9th-grade student from American School of Bombay, says he hasn’t thought much about a particular profession, but that he would like to work towards helping those in need, particularly the disabled.

Considering his recent achievement, Veer is well on his way towards giving back to society.

Earlier this week, news reports emerged about how Veer raised Rs 14 lakh through a crowdfunding website (http://vhelptowalk.org/) to help 300 amputees from economically disadvantaged backgrounds walk once again.

Giving these amputees the joy of mobility by funding their artificial limb fitment process is a real act of kindness and compassion.

Funds raised through this endeavour enabled the physically disabled who had gathered at the ‘Jaipur Foot’ camp conducted by the Seth Bhagwandas J Agrawal Charitable Trust, a non-profit working in the field of health and education in rural Maharashtra, from November 23-26 at Risod in Wahim district, to move around with relative ease once again.

For the camp itself, around 350 physically disabled people from low-income families had arrived, of whom 300 left with artificial limbs, while a dozen received wheelchairs thanks to the money Veer had raised.

Fitting an amputee with the ‘Jaipur Foot’ costs about Rs 5000 per patient. The artificial limb is customised to suit the patient as per their size. Post fitment the patient is able to walk normally again. Those at the camp had either lost limbs due to accidents or severe medical conditions.

Speaking to The Better India, Veer shared what inspired him to undertake such an initiative.

“When I was about 5 years old, I had got into a serious car accident. Even though I was bedridden for over three months, the pain was so intense that I couldn’t really comprehend the magnitude of what had happened. Now, whenever I look at myself in the mirror and see that scar on my body, it reminds me of the pain I went through. Now that I have grown older, it’s given me a better understanding of the pain that amputees go through on a daily basis. That’s what inspired me to go ahead with this initiative,” he says.

“I did some research on the severity of the condition that disabled people go through. After reviewing some of these severe cases, I proceeded with this initiative,” adds Veer.

Veer first came across the ‘Jaipur Foot’ camp initiative through a distant relative. For the fundraising process and website development process, however, he does acknowledge the assistance he received from his family and friends, particularly his father.

However, the one thing that gave Veer particular pleasure was seeing the joy in amputees while they moved around in their newly-acquired prosthetic limbs.

“The sheer joy I saw in the eyes of these people filled me with a deep sense of happiness and pride. Many of them had lost both their legs. Some children at the camp without certain limbs were younger than ten years of age. There is this one particular kid I met who had lost both his fit. While we couldn’t fit any prosthetics on him, we managed to give him a wheelchair. His family members had said that he couldn’t sleep all night thing about the possibility of receiving a wheelchair. Seeing him on a wheelchair was a fulfilling experience,” Veer tells The Better India.

Also Read: IAS Officer’s Zero-Cost Model Educates 20,000 Kids Battling Poverty, Trafficking

Meanwhile, a recipient of the prosthetic limb, Devka Bhabhachine, expressed his thrill in being able to walk again. “The Jaipur foot has completely changed my life and given me an independence I did not have before. I was initially a little anxious about how to use it. At the camp, we were taught how to use the leg, how to take care of it and the correct ways to wear and use it. I am very thankful to the organisers, especially the young Veer. I hope that he continues his good work and reaches out to more people who need it,” says Devka.

Veer, however, isn’t satisfied with his work here. He wants to do more, and his act of kindness earlier this month could inspire other youngsters from doing the same.

To learn more, please visit http://vhelptowalk.org/.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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Between adversity and our response is a space. In that space are the power and freedom to choose to crumble, or to elevate both ourselves and others.

Stephen R. Covey

Life hadn’t been too considerate to Swarnalatha when she was growing up. One of four sisters born to a devout patriarchal family based in Bengaluru, love and care that any child would inherently need seldom came their way.

But she learnt to be strong and independent early in life. She started earning at the age of 14 by taking tuitions for kids in the neighbourhood. She soon took up a Diploma course in Computer Science after finishing school.

When things seemed to be finally taking a good turn, Swarnalatha’s life was to fall apart yet again.

Towards her second year in college, she was sexually abused by her uncle, which not only left her physically but also mentally broken. Despite the incident leaving her with a fractured jaw, none of her family members believed her and instead treated her as the culprit.

“I had to leave college mid-way, and it took me about two years to recover from the trauma that I had to endure. It was harrowing, especially when my own family members refused to stand by or even believe in me,” Swarnalatha remembers, as she speaks to The Better India.

But she wasn’t going to let the incident scar her for life and decided to complete her Diploma. But it took her a year to save enough money after doing odd jobs to do so.

Unfortunately, her father passed away during this time.

Since her elder sister was married and had already left home, the responsibility of supporting the family fell on her shoulders. At 18, she took up her first job and began juggling between multiple jobs to meet their household needs.

It was during this time that Swarnalatha met Guruprasad and fell in love.

This, however, was met with much opposition from their respective families but the couple decided to get married nevertheless. While Guru’s parents did come to terms with their union eventually, Swarnalatha didn’t have much luck—she was disowned by her family.

But with Guru on her side, life seemed to have finally looked up for her. She had a loving husband and a great job, and four years into their marriage, they were blessed with a son too.

Little did she know that testing times were slowly going to make their way into their lives.

“It was 2009. My son, Gagan, was about two-years-old, when one fine day, I felt a bit feverish at 10 am and took leave from work. When I began to feel worse, I took a Paracetamol, thinking it was just another fever. By 3 pm, I could not feel anything from the neck down. Fortunately, I had informed Guru about the situation, and he rushed me to the nearby hospital. Following multiple tests, they concluded that I had multiple sclerosis,” Swarnalatha says.

Until the diagnosis, the couple had never heard about this condition, and once they grasped the entirety of what it was and what it could do to an individual, they were completely devastated.

“There is no cure. It really was shattering when you see all your aspirations—professional and personal—sinking right in front of your eyes, and there is nothing you can do about it,” she says.

While the steroid-powered medication did help her regain 60 per cent of her mobility, the rest was gone forever.

“I was depressed and nothing was helping. Somewhere into the fifth month since my diagnosis, we moved to Coimbatore, and it was then that the condition began to deteriorate. From walking on my own feet to holding people for support, I moved to a walking stick. Then came the walker and finally, the wheelchair. It was debilitating. I lost many friends during this period and was also asked to resign from the MNC where I was working owing to my condition, but I was not going to give up,” Swarnalatha shares.

Light came back to their lives when Swarnalatha gave birth to Gaana, their daughter, in 2011.

“A lot of people were in opposition while I was carrying her. But for me, it was a sign that if one has the will, there would always be a way. I had always wanted a daughter, whom I wanted to treat like a princess, and give all the love that I had never received growing up,” she says.

To motivate and keep herself engaged, she began organising puppet shows and other activities in their residential complex. “This helped me to overcome my depression and people really appreciated my efforts,” she shares, happily.

However, her condition worsened shortly after and she had to be hospitalised for 93 days.

“This was indeed a period of transformation for me. From elderly to young children, I met a lot of people, who had fewer opportunities. I felt blessed because I was well educated and had even worked for a while. It was during this time that I decided to put my privilege for the better benefit of others. I was educated, so I had a voice, but what about those who didn’t?” she implores.

This idea was reinforced when Guru’s father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and there were two people in the house with disabling conditions that many hardly knew.

In 2014, Swarnalatha and Guru laid the foundations to this dream by founding Swarga Foundation.

“Through Swarga, we wanted to improve the lives of individuals with multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular disorders by increasing awareness among the general public and thereby, transforming the general attitude in society towards differently-abled individuals,” she explains.

She continues, “This transformation will increase empathy and improve access to opportunities that are currently inaccessible due to lack of infrastructure and misinterpretations of disabilities among the general public.”

And in the last four years, the Foundation has managed to achieve many milestones and that too, at the policy level.

“To improve the accessibility of Coimbatore Railway Station, we teamed up with the Salem Railway Division and voluntarily became a member of the ‘Station Improvement Group’ in 2016 to address accessibility issues,” she shares.

Making their own apartment complex disabled-friendly, and ramps at all public spaces, the Foundation then moved on to renovate three wheelchair accessible toilets across six platforms of the Coimbatore railway station.

They also completely modified a regular toilet at a platform lounge into a unisex wheelchair-accessible toilet, and renovated an elevator that was now wheelchair-friendly too. In addition to that, they have also made eight government schools in the city disabled-friendly, which managed to bring not just differently-abled students but also teachers back to the campus!

So, how does the Foundation meet its funding for all their initiatives?

In 2016, they flagged off a pioneering calendar series that featured 12 remarkable people and their extraordinary stories of endurance. “The concept was not only widely appreciated but also helped us fund almost all of our initiatives through sales. In addition to that, many corporates have come aboard and supported us in different initiatives,” Swarnalata shares.

Another amazing initiative spearheaded by Swarga Foundation includes the ‘Sarathi’ project.

Launched in 2017, it is Tamil Nadu’s first wheelchair accessible transportation service that provides hassle-free travel to any destination of choice for those with mobility impairments and senior citizens. The van is not only wheelchair-friendly, but it is also equipped with a built-in chemical toilet, a sofa-bed with a guardrail, as well as a temperature-controlled cabin.

Yet another initiative led by the Foundation was their free physiotherapy sessions, which then opened up doors for Sowkhiya physiotherapy centre to be established last month.

“This is a 2,000 sq. ft. outpatient therapy centre managed and run by Swarga Foundation. Qualified physiotherapists will be providing free therapy services to individuals with neurological disorders and anybody requiring physiotherapy,” she says.

Swarnalatha has come a long way since that fateful day 11 years ago.

Having spoken about her journey as a motivational speaker at various platforms including TEDx and India Inclusion Summit, she is paving the way for other people with varying forms of disability embrace their impairment and make the best out of their lives too.

In fact, she loves engaging in different activities including singing and photography, and has tried her hand at writing short stories too.

Not stopping at that, she has also participated in various beauty pageants, even emerging among the top finalists. “My achievement was to prove that no disability can be an obstacle to a mind that is determined to achieve,” she asserts.

Throughout her journey, Swarnalatha shares that Guru has been her ultimate pillar of support, who stuck with her through every setback life gave her. Both Gagan and Gaana are old enough to understand their mother’s condition and are achievers in their own lives, Swarnalatha proudly shares.

“To all those people who said that I wouldn’t be able to have a normal relationship with my children, their achievements are proof that life will always have a way,” she adds.

You may also like: Dear States, End Your Cruel Apathy And Give The Disabled Their Legal Due!

As of the future, the 39-year-old envisions establishing a rehabilitation centre for those grappling with multiple sclerosis. “This would bring a respite to many who were abandoned by family members and spouses and give them another shot at life,” she concludes.

We salute the indomitable spirit of Swarnalatha and how she braved through the obstacles that snowballed into her life and emerged victorious through them all. We also hope that her story will inspire not just those with disabilities but also remind each one of us never to take our abilities for granted.

To know more about Swarga Foundation, check their website here.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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For Abdul Jabbar, two consecutive nights of December 1984—December 2 and 3—will forever remain etched in his memory. The construction worker, who was also an activist in his spare time in the Rajendra Nagar locality of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, was asleep at his home when 27 tonnes of deadly Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the nearby Union Carbide India Ltd plant.

This industrial disaster has killed nearly 20,000 people since that night according to some unofficial estimates, of which 3,000 died instantly, while lakhs remain severely disabled suffering from debilitating conditions like lung cancer, kidney and liver failure and eye disorders.

Jabbar was a quiet, yet confident 28-year-old at the time of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. When the strong smell emanating from the MIC gas made its way into Jabbar’s house, he picked up his mother, started his scooter and drove on for almost 40 km to keep her in a safe place. “We ran 40 kms away from Bhopal to Abdullah Ganj to save our lives. It was the day when humans ran in desperation,” he told Two Circles, an online publication.

Despite taking his mother to safety, the damage was done. He soon lost his mother, father and an elder brother to the after-effects of this disaster. Even he did not escape the after effects of this lethal leak, suffering lung fibrosis and losing vision in both eyes by half.

When Jabbar returned to see the fallout of what had happened on the streets of his locality later that night, he saw dead bodies strewn everywhere—a scene straight out of the apocalypse. This soft-spoken and unassuming man was filled with rage at the sight of his people suffering.

How he has channelled that anger for more than three decades, is a story ever Indian must know.

He began by taking the injured to the local government hospital for treatment while assisting in the process of taking dead bodies away for their post-mortem.

Nearly three years later in 1987, he started the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (Bhopal Gas Female Victims’ Association), an advocacy group for the victims, survivors and their families, conducting organised demonstrations seeking not merely allowances and compensation, particularly for widows who lost their loved ones to the disaster, but also employment opportunities.

“I started this campaign from my locality when I witnessed injustice around me. Politicians who were beneficiaries of carbide corruption were not coming forward to help us. So, we the victims had to take matters in our hands,” he tells Two Circles. His first campaign slogan was the famous “Khairat nahi, rozgar chahiye” (We don’t require charity, we want jobs) for the victims and survivors depending on their individual capacity for work instead of mere rations.

He wasn’t satisfied with the minimal amounts of cereal and milk for the victims being distributed by the government, A pyrrhic victory of sorts came in 1989 when the Union government reached a meagre $470 million settlement with Union Carbidem which the Supreme Court agreed with, besides recognising only 105,000 victims for compensation. More than a decade later, however, the same court ordered the government of the day to disburse a further Rs 1,503 crore and admitted that there were over 570,000 claimants who were to be compensated.

For more than three decades, Jabbar has gone around conducting protests and filing court petitions seeking greater medical rehabilitation for victims, and the prosecution of local Union Carbide officials. If Jabbar and his like didn’t make all that noise, many of the victims and survivors would have gotten nothing.

Beyond the daily battles he wages on the streets and courts, he also started a skill development centre for those suffering from serious medical ailments. Thanks to the Swabhiman Kendra (self-respect centre) he started, more than 5000 women have jobs today.

“It angered me to see the government distributing milk and ration, but not employment. It was crippling them,” he told Livemint.

Beyond these herculean efforts, however, Jabbar ensures that the public’s memory of this horrific incident, how its victims continue to suffer today and the government’s inability to hold those responsible accountable, particularly its decision to let Warren Anderson, the chairman of Union Carbide Corporation, escape the country, remains fresh and alive.

Every Saturday, he organises weekly meetings at the Yadgan-e-Shahjahani Park to keep the victims going. Keeping public memory alive is a critical feature of Jabbar’s activism.

“[The] Bhopal gas disaster’s responsibility doesn’t just lie with Union carbide alone. [The] state government was equally responsible for giving permission for setting up a poisonous chemical plant in the heart of the city and, on top of it, not monitoring the dangerous plant.

[The] Central Government was responsible for giving immunity to Union Carbide officials and aiding their escape from the country. But none of the three parties [is] ready to accept any responsibility, as if it was the victims’ fault for inhaling the gas,” he tells Two Circles.

Till this day, he continues to fight for better compensation, medical, environmental (toxic chemicals that are still contaminating groundwater) and economic rehabilitation for the victims and survivors, believing that governments both at the State and Central level have done very little.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy isn’t one of the darkest chapters of Post-Independence India merely because of the human tragedy itself, but also because successive governments abandoned their own people to serve other interests. According to this news report, five to six lives are lost every day even today as a result of the leak’s after effects. Generations have been scarred by it.

“Our politicians are spineless. Even as 34 years have passed since the tragedy took place, no one stands by us. As a result, the gas-hit are leading a miserable life. So, this time we have planned to ask for compensation on notary.” Jabbar told News Click while the state of Madhya Pradesh was in campaign mode for Assembly elections.

In fact, citizen groups asked candidates contesting elections particularly in areas of the city most affected by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, for a notarised pledge promising compensation, failing which they will take legal action against them.

Also Read: Meet IPS Officer Sadanand Date, 26/11 Hero Behind Mumbai’s Anti-Terror Cells

“The personal cost has been great: one broken marriage and a struggle to pay bills, while the Bhopal leak damaged both his eyes and his lungs. Yet he (Jabbar) continues to show an unassuming nobility, tending to victims rather than MPs or press, and giving his all to an often-forgotten fight,” says this Guardian profile of Abdul Jabbar.

While successive governments may have failed the survivors and victims, Jabbar and many of his ilk aren’t yet quite willing to give up their fight.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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About 30 km from the capital city of Lucknow, in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district, is the village that Ram Saran Verma calls home.

Three generations of the Verma family toiled in their Daulatpur 4-acre field to live a simple and frugal life.

Ram, on the other hand, had different dreams. He wanted to pursue higher studies after Class 10. But the financial situation at home pushed him to trade his education for a plough and take up agriculture.

Now, a little over 50, he has been dubbed UP’s “hi-tech farmer”, who works on farms spread across 150 acres and also earns Rs 3-4 lakh a month!

Felicitated with 20 awards at the district, state and national levels, including the Jagjivan Ram Kisan Puruskar, his farm in Daulatpur attracts thousands of farmers from within India and abroad.

The Better India got in touch with the farmer to document his incredible journey over three decades.

When Ram first set foot on his family field as a young farmer, he observed how his father, a traditional farmer, grew staples like wheat and rice, alongside sugarcane and mustard. While the cost of production was high, the labour required was intensive. And the returns hardly earned any profits.

He decided to break away from traditional farming and use innovative techniques to increase the yield.

In 1984, he managed to save up Rs 5,000 and decided to travel to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, where he interacted with successful farmers, agricultural scientists and experts.

After travelling for nearly two years, he returned to Daulatpur. When he spoke to his father about setting up a banana plantation, the older farmer did not approve.

Nevertheless, Ram went ahead and decided to plant bananas on one acre of land.

In the first year itself, he started earning profits. What set him apart after 1988 was the distinction of being one of the first farmers in the state to introduce tissue culture for banana farming.

What is tissue culture?

It’s a lab process where tissues of the selected crop are used for cloning. It can be used for the mass production of quality crops which ensures a higher yield in a short period.

Tissue culture ensures that bananas are identical in quality, look and size. And while they have a high demand in the domestic market, farmers can earn additional profits by exporting them too!

The 1-acre plantation yielded 400 quintals of bananas. While the cost of production was about Rs 1 lakh at the end of 14 months, the farmer earned a profit of over Rs 4 lakh, four times higher than his initial investment.

He also started growing red bananas which are known to be rich in protein, fibre and low on sugar. While the variety is popular in the southern states, Verma attempted to grow them in UP.

Reddish-maroon in colour, the fruit has a tangy taste and is slightly smaller, compared to the traditional yellow bananas. He planted 1,000 saplings of the same variety in his farm way back in 2012.

This variety that takes 18 months to grow, is sold at Rs 80-100 per kg. The traditional variety took about 14 months and earned only about Rs 15 per kg. While the yield of Ram’s reddish-brown variety was lower, his profit per kilogram far outweighed the returns from the traditional variety.

The young farmer did not stop; he continued his experiments.

If there is one method of profitable farming the man vouches for, it is crop rotation–the technique of growing different types of crops in the same area in sequenced seasons. It not only reduces soil erosion but also increases soil fertility and crop yield.

After harvesting bananas, he grows potatoes for 90 days, followed by hybrid tomatoes for 120 days and later, mentha (mint) for the next 90 days. This cycle continues.

In 1990, he planted 8,000 tomato saplings on a 1-acre plot. The plant grew 6-ft high due to the use of staking. It is the method of providing support to the vine, keeping the fruit off the ground, which improved yield by 30 per cent.

While traditionally-grown tomatoes produced 200 quintals per acre, Verma’s variety yielded 400 to 500 quintals, earning him Rs 4 lakh/acre.

His success attracted the attention of farmers within his village and across 50 districts of the state. So he decided to share his knowledge and techniques with all those who asked for help.

From a 1-acre farm in 1986 to practising agriculture on 150 acres, Ram Saran Verma has come long away. Apart from maintaining an elaborate farm, many other farmers in his village have leased their lands to him, where he helps them benefit from hi-tech farming. The yield and the profits are shared.

About 50,000 farmers in his neighbouring districts have benefited from the methods. He also hosts training sessions and workshops for farmers from within and outside the country.

“Over 10 lakh farmers have visited my farm till date. But my biggest pride continues to be that people in our village are not migrating to cities in search of jobs. Instead, people from the cities come to our village for employment. We have over 20,000 men and women working on 150 acres, earning good wages daily. In addition to this, most of the farmers who are using our techniques, are earning profits.”

To allow his peers to connect to him, this tech-savvy farmer also launched a website: http://www.vermaagri.com/, which has information about the various methods and tips. The site has 1.5 lakh visitors each day.

The farmer has also travelled to over 30 countries and held annual farmer fairs where he conducts demonstrations to help the community benefit.

Read More: Brilliant! Desi Jugaad Helps 21-YO MP Farmer Earn a Profit of Rs 96 Lakh

He aims to change the way the world looks as farmers, he says, and how it perceives farming as a profession. He suggests, “Don’t shy away from getting your hands dirty. It is only when we toil that we reap the benefits. Maintaining soil quality through crop rotation is the key. Understand your climate and use good quality or native varieties of seeds. If you are willing to experiment and give your 100 per cent, farming will only earn you profits.”

If this story inspired you, get in touch with Ram Saran Verma at vermaagri@gmail.com or contact him on +91-9839376028/+91-9415142408.

Visit his website here.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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The night between December 2 and 3, 1984, went down as the world’s worst industrial disaster after 42 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate leaked from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal, killing 15,000 people and impacting the lives of over five lakh!

As hundreds of people ran across the streets in the middle of the night, gasping for breath, frothing at their mouths, and a burning sensation in their eyes, two pet cats emerged heroes.

The loss of lives and the after-effects of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy can never be reversed, but this is a small attempt at highlighting how a pair of cats managed to save the lives in a family.

34 years ago, Fahmida Sayeed was sleeping alongside her daughter and her five-month old cat, Polly, on a double bed. Their home is in Ameer Ganj, about 6-km from the now abandoned Union Carbide Plant.

According to The Times of India, when the toxic leak turned the areas around the plant, including Ameer Ganj into a gas chamber, Polly alerted the family.

Speaking to the publication, Fahmida says, “On that fateful night, my daughter Faiza and I, and our five-month-old cat Polly slept cozily under blankets. It was rather cold so fortunately, I had closed all doors and windows, leaving one ajar near my head for fresh air. Had I left them open, it could have been certain death for all of us.”

It was at the time that strange hoarse cries from Polly woke her up from her deep sleep.

In the dimly lit room, the cat started jumping on the bed, growling, coughing and foaming at the mouth.

Fahmida, who has poor vision, as a result of the tragedy, continues, “It was suffocating in the room. When I looked up, I saw thick white clouds curling inside the room through a window I kept ajar. By this time, Faiza also got up coughing. Polly woke both of us and suddenly dived under a thick lehaaf (blanket). This was indication that we must do the same as animals have strange instinct of self-preservation. Faiza followed suit and hid herself under the blanket and slept.”

Fahmida too should have done the same, but the gut-wrenching cries of people from outside, running across the streets, coughing and hastily moving cars, pushed her to do otherwise.

“It appeared as if the Day of Requital had dawned. I opened the door leading into a drawing room with the intention of opening the front door to look around. I was not able to breathe and thought my last moment had come. Was it a case of clear atmosphere or poisonous cloud dissipated? As I was on verge of collapse, a strange thing happened. I heard a sound of someone scratching at my bedroom door. In a flash, there was ‘meow meow’.”

While she thought it was Polly yet again, she was confused as to how the cat got out in the thick smoke. She rushed to the door to open it.

And there was a gush of fresh cool breeze that revived her from the verge of collapse. It wasn’t Polly though.

Read More: Gujarati Businessman Dismantles His Mercedes For An Incredible Six-Hour Rescue

“I saw my sister’s cat Shanu looking up at me. She had saved my life. My sister Farida aapa told me afterwards the cat woke them up in time. Shanu was jumping, coughing and frothing at the mouth just like Polly,” she told TOI.

That night several people lost their eyesight. But Faiza, who suffered from acute myopia, was saved, thanks to Polly; and Fahmida was gifted a saving gush of fresh air, thanks to Shanu.

34 years later, the struggle for adequate rehabilitation, compensation and medical treatments continues. But, Faiza, Fahmida and Farida remember the furry heroes who turned their saviours that night.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

When Akshansh Gupta was born, he did not move for four hours. Panic set in, as the doctors presumed he was dead.

But his body showed some movement, and they all heaved a sigh of relief.

But as he was growing, his parents realised that his growth pattern was different from other kids of his age.

When referred to doctors in his hometown of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, he was wrongly treated for polio. Only after a while the family realised that the young boy was suffering from cerebral palsy.

Today, at 35, the young man with 95 per cent disability in his body has not only earned a PhD in Computer Science but is also working on a start-up, with two fellow PhD scholars–K R Anandam and Prabhat Ranjan.

Christened IRADA (Integrative Research Analysis and Development Academy), it will provide career counselling and research guidance to school students and PhD scholars.

In an interview with BBC News, he recalls, “My condition during childhood was severe. I couldn’t hear and mostly kept staring at one spot for too long. I really felt very isolated. My mother sent me to a normal school and not a special one. And people around me kept doubting my potential.”

While his lower limbs don’t function at all, his arm movements are still not quite in control. Moreover, speaking in a decipherable manner is difficult for him.

The questions were many – how would this young boy, with more than 95 per cent disability, manage to make something of his life? How would he sit in school for long hours?

But Akshansh was determined to complete his education.

“I feel that once you, in your heart, are determined to do something, you will achieve it. Until you do that yourself, you cannot expect the world to support you. My friends never treated me differently. I like spending time with them,” he told BBC.

Fondly known as Bunty Dada among his friends at his alma mater Jawaharlal Nehru University, he was awarded a doctorate at a special convocation held in the Vice-Chancellor’s office.

An overwhelming moment for the young man, it was a reflection of the meticulous efforts he had put in the five years at JNU from his room in Kaveri Hostel. His thesis was on ‘Brain-Computer Interface’, which also gave him the opportunity to travel abroad to Malaysia to present a paper on the subject.

Speaking to The Times of India, he adds how he opted for computer science, considering it to be relatively easier due to the nature of practicals and laboratory work it entails, given his condition.

But before you think his BTech or MTech were easier, it is important to highlight the struggles the young man faced as a child even during primary schooling in Jaunpur.

“When I saw my siblings go to school, I wanted to do likewise. But in my condition, which school would admit me?” he says.

Then, with admirable lack of rancour, he adds, “In general, in our country, the attitude towards people with disabilities is quite negative. The first thing people ask is, ‘Kya karega padhke?’ (What will you gain by studying?)”

Read More: Change Through Humour! Meet Nidhi Goyal, India’s First-Ever Disabled Woman Comedian

The strongest support for him through these difficult times were two women. His late mother, whose garlanded photograph he places next to deities; and Meera Sahu, a teacher who finally got him admitted to a school. His mother was the one who insisted he get an education.

Another pillar of support was Mahajan, an uneducated rickshaw puller who ferried Akshansh 15 km to the Umanath Singh Institute of Engineering and Technology in Jaunpur every day, where he earned his BTech degree in computer science.

“Mahajan and I talked about the world beyond Jaunpur, and that was when I decided I want(ed) to step out. My family was reluctant, but they eventually agreed,” Akshansh told TOI.

His friends and classmates speak highly of the young doctor.

Piyush Maurya, an MPhil student and his hostel mate at JNU, told the publication, “He has an extraordinary mind. He always wanted to prove that disability was a myth.”

Another friend, Ummal Kher, told BBC, “What Akshansh has achieved proves that persons with disability are not the ‘others’ of the society. They are an integral and central part of it. And given a chance, can do a lot of justice to the opportunities they are presented with.”

What is ironical though is that despite having a BTech and MTech degree, he struggled to find a job.

When TOI asked him if he held a grudge against the system for framing disability policies without consulting the affected people, he refused.

“Because we are not vote-banks,” he said.

Currently working as a research associate at JNU, he has vacated the University hostel and lives outside the campus with a caretaker.

But we are hopeful that his new venture will take off, and he will receive the required support to reach as many students as he can!

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Goldy Singh isn’t your average cab driver from Delhi. In a city not necessarily known for its warmth, a trip on his second-hand WagonR is an experience filled with joy, positivity and optimism.

Aside from driving his cab for 12 hours every day, he is also an avid YouTuber, posting daily videos on a whole range of issues—the life of those at the lower rung of the service industry like Ola drivers or Swiggy delivery boys, everyday hacks, technical advice for cab drivers spending long hours on the road, motivational talks, and even food recipes, among others.

Every video begins with a “Hello doston, Kaise ho? Majein mein?” (Hello friends, how are you? All well?) and all of them are laced with good humour and bucket loads of positivity.

He delivers these videos in primarily Hindi, Punjabi and some broken English, through his smartphone.

Just in 2018, Goldy has acquired more than 31,000 followers from India and around the world. Clearly, he is gathering quite a bit of interest.

Goldy began his journey on YouTube at the start of this year, when cab drivers were strongly expressing their discontent against ride-hailing apps like Ola and Uber over payment-related issues.

This discontentment would spill over into a full-fledged strike by cab drivers in March.

When the issue was picking up steam at the start of the year, Singh decided that he wanted to educate those aspiring to become cab drivers about the advantages and pitfalls of working in this line.

Titled ‘The Real Income of Ola and Uber’, the video dropped on January 31 and became an instant hit, generating over 3.5 lakh views.

The inspiration for starting his YouTube channel came from his brother, who saw the potential Goldy had in reaching out to millions with his positive mindset driven by a strong work ethic.

Delhi is an unforgiving city, particularly to those living under difficult financial conditions who also have to navigate the city’s rough ethos on a daily basis.

Born in 1984, a year in which the city was engulfed in horrific anti-Sikh riots, Goldy grew up in an environment where hard work and earning your keep was the order of the day.

Studying up to Class X, he soon gave up school and began working a technician, fixing refrigerators and fitting air conditions for companies like Samsung, for which he worked eight years.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck when Goldy suffered a serious accident while installing a split air conditioner. He couldn’t do the heavy lifting anymore and dabbled a bit installing LED TVs before eventually falling upon driving.

‘Koi Kaam Bada ya Chhota Nahi Hota’ (No task or work is big or small) is a slogan you often hear in his motivational videos—a sentiment that comes from how society doesn’t look upon too favourably on taxi drivers.

Without options, however, Goldy invested everything into driving taxis.

Early last year, he obtained a commercial license and, on a lease, acquired a car from a private firm in the city. However, it was gruelling work with not much financial gain, spending just four hours a day at home.

It’s not as if he didn’t enjoy the work or meeting new people. The problem was that long hours of driving were taking a physical toll on his body.

He wanted control of his own destiny.

Egged on by his mother, a tailor, Goldy bought a second-hand car in July 2017 and signed up for Ola and Uber.

In the video below, Goldy emotionally describes how her mother invested all her life savings—Rs 1 lakh—and with some financial assistance from friends, Goldy was able to buy a second-hand WagonR, calling it his “lucky charm”.

In his circumstances, most people would be satisfied by just working, earning and feeding their families on a regular basis. However, Goldy achieves that and so much more, earning the goodwill of not just his passengers, but other drivers and followers on social media.

Late last year, he began serving water, and subsequently tea, coffee and fruit juices to customers, along with sweets for children, for free.

Speaking to Scroll, Goldy explains how this was inspired by the Sikh practice of Dasvandh, which urges followers of the faith to spend 10% of their earnings for the betterment of society.

Setting aside 10% of his earnings into the hands of his family, Goldy had saved up a decent amount but found little opportunity to spend it.

Since he spent most of his time in his cab, he decided why not spend the money for the betterment of his passengers?

By February 2018, he had a pink-coloured menu card designed for passengers titled ‘Guru Ka Langar’, where all items were listed out.

Nonetheless, this avid YouTuber through his channel wants to primarily assist fellow drivers by addressing their problems, offering them a popular platform where they can speak without fear.

Besides, there are clips of him motivating his fellow drivers and helping them get through the day on the rough streets of Delhi, besides the odd admonishment of some unhealthy practices.

Whatever engineering he has learnt through his education and past work experience, he puts them into use.

For example, there is one video where Goldy is seen explaining to other drivers how they can help make their air conditioners work better for just Rs 20. There are other videos where he is seen explaining license and permit-related issues drivers undergo.

He is not looking to revolutionise the app-based cab system or unionise drivers but wants both company owners and passengers to think differently or better understand the plight of cab drivers they ride with on a daily basis.

Without effective unions to push for their demands, these app-based cab drivers often end up becoming the forgotten cogs in the wheel of India’s growing service industry.

Even the cab driver-strike earlier this year fizzled out without a trace. This is because many of them, like Goldy, who supports seven people, including his wife, son, parents and grandparents, missing a day’s work wasn’t even a choice.

What he is doing through his channel is telling a wide audience of people on the internet the trials and tribulations of cab drivers like him.

Beyond cab drivers, he even reaches out to delivery boys working for food apps like Swiggy or Zomato, offering them a platform to describe how they go about their daily lives, how much they earn, the process of applying for such a job and the expenses involved.

For young Indians with access to smartphones but no decent work, these videos offer a way out.

What makes Goldy such an effective YouTuber and presenter is his earnest, honest, affable and likeable personality. He does not attempt to mask his emotions, and even critics are addressed with a smile and sense of humour. While he hasn’t seen any real money through his YouTube channel, he hopes to do so soon. He is more than qualified.

Also Read: Bengaluru Startup Helps Ola & Uber Drivers Become Money-Smart!

For Goldy, earning respect for himself and family—which was his number one objective—has already been attained. For the future, however, there are ambitions to become an actor, maybe perform in a reality show or two.

He definitely has the personality to make it. Let’s hope someone gives him the opportunity!

Follow him on his YouTube channel here.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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Gurmeet Singh, the soft-spoken owner of a ready-made garment shop in Patna’s Chiraiyatand locality, is nothing less than an angel for the abandoned patients at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

Every night at around 9:00 p.m., Gurmeet visits the ‘lawaris’ ward (ward for abandoned patients), carrying food items he has purchased using his own money. The items include food from a nearby Radhe Krishna eatery near the Gandhi Maidan, sweets from a roadside cart and on occasion, eggs. He feeds the patients and enquires about their health and state of mind. After they have had their fill, he washes the bowls and trays by himself.

If he sees the condition of any patient worsening, Gurmeet also rushes to the nearest doctor available at the emergency ward and informs them about their plight.

“I need to tell them about this woman. Maybe she has a broken arm. These patients often fall off their beds at night and suffer fractures,” he says, reports The New Indian Express (TNIE) during a visit to the Patna hospital premises.

There have also been times when Gurmeet has gone through the prescriptions listed for these patients, noted them in a pad, and purchased them later.

Singh is in his 60s and has been doing this for the last 26 years with little fanfare. The media attention he has been receiving lately is a recent development.

Aside from serving food, enquiring about the health of the patients, Singh has also donated blood on many occasions. “Now, the doctors have told me not to donate blood any more as it will be dangerous for my health…my son and other relatives donate. But sometimes when [an] emergency comes, how can I not?” he told The Hindu in a 2016 conversation.

For many of these patients, the food that Singh brings in is their first meal of the day. “If Sardarji would not have been coming with food and medicine every night, many of us would have died,” said one patient in the ward speaking to the national publication.

Also Read: This Delhi Cabbie Is a YouTube Star With Global Followers & His Journey Will Inspire You!

Krishna Devi, a 70-year-old patient with a serious leg injury, speaks of how the “Sardarji and his dinner” are the only hope she has in her last days on earth after she was abandoned earlier by her son’s family.

Fortunately, Gurmeet’s selfless service to society received recognition in 2016, when he was awarded the World Sikh Award by The Sikh Directory, a UK-based Sikh organisation.

His actions have inspired two other good samaritans to step up and bring food to these abandoned patients at the hospital. Gurmeet’s kindness to these abandoned patients emerges from a spirit of giving, inspired by the practice of Dasvandh—a significant feature of the Sikh faith.

This feature urges followers of the faith to spend 10% of their earnings for the betterment of society in the name of the Guru. More than two decades ago, it was the sight of patients in real pain at the abandoned patient ward of the Patna hospital that compelled him to do something for them.
“I decided to visit them every night with dinner from that onwards,” says Gurmeet.

He hasn’t looked back since.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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In December 2017, firebrand IAS officer Dr Renu Raj, the sub-collector of Thrissur at the time, received an anonymous call.

“It was information from a hilly part of Thrissur. ‘There is illegal mining happening here madam’, the anonymous caller said. When I asked these informants to give the complaint in writing, they refused. They were scared about repercussions,” recalls the doctor-turned-IAS officer.

And yet, the gutsy officer was determined to solve the mystery. So she led a raid.

Around 4 am, alongside her team of officers, she embarked on the mission. As they were approaching the said area, they saw seven speeding lorries carrying granite stones.

They stopped the lorries and began to interrogate the drivers.

Before the befuddled drivers could contact their comrades to stop sending the other lorries, the team seized their phones and keys. Police officials were called to keep an eye on the seized vehicles.

“We followed the directions and found even more heavy-duty vehicles. We seized the trucks and kept policemen and revenue officials at the spot to ensure they couldn’t escape.”

The real shock was awaiting them 10-12 km ahead.

She explains,

“Quarries are dangerous because they have small entrances and a vast area inside. If you get trapped, it is difficult to exit, since the entry and exit points are the same, situated close to water bodies. We reached the quarry and had to climb up for another ten minutes. When we were reaching the top, we saw two people trying to escape from another side. It set the red flags. Something was fishy. When we ran to the area, we saw explosives, mining equipment, excavators and jackhammers, set up to explode the area for more granite stones.”

The team tried to chase the men in the settlements close to the area, but couldn’t find them. The police were notified, and all the explosives were seized. The bomb squad was alerted to ensure that the explosives did not detonate, and the quarry was shut down. It belonged to the family of a known Panchayat president, who was also the leader of a political party.

Starting at 4 am, the operation ended at 2 pm!

From raiding illegal old age homes to quarries owned by powerful men, in three years of being in service, the IAS officer Dr Renu Raj (from the 2015 batch) has made headlines. And we must say, for all the right reasons!

This is her story.

Born to a District Transport Officer of Kottayam District and a homemaker in Kottayam, Kerala, Renu was excellent at academics. After completing school in the city, and Class 12 in Thrissur, she joined the Government Medical College in Kottayam.

It was during her internships that she realised that she wanted to do more than treat people and their bodily ailments. It was as if a forgotten childhood dream was beckoning her to join the civil services.

She recalls, “I respect the noble profession of medicine. But as I met people from different backgrounds walking in and out of the hospital and tended to their illnesses, my interest in their backgrounds, living conditions, access to basic rights, etc grew. I felt I could do a lot more for them as a civil servant. And so, I decided to listen to my heart and pursue my childhood dream.”

After her internship, Renu moved to Thiruvananthapuram where she dedicated a full year to prepare for the coveted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam. She even worked part-time as a doctor until the mains result.

Speaking about her preparation, she adds, “Initially, I was all over the place and confused, just like beginner aspirants. I started studying for my prelims and mains together. I did not stress too much on the result at first, because I knew I had a professional degree to fall back on. Also, I did not prepare for too many exams; I had my eyes set on the goal and gave it my best shot.”

Renu, who was unsure at first about clearing the exam in the first attempt, had also registered for the second attempt. But when the results arrived, she was in for a surprise.

That year, Dr Renu Raj made national headlines with an All-India Rank of 2!

She adds how her parents have been her biggest pillars of support, who even shifted to Thiruvananthapuram when she was preparing, so she wouldn’t lose focus or have to fret over accommodation or food.

Fast-forward to her journey as a young bureaucrat.

What is the biggest stereotype about entering the service, I ask her.

“When we are outside the system, we often think that it is easy for bureaucrats to do whatever they want to do, leverage their power or make changes. While it is true that you can bring about change, you also need to understand that you are entering a system that has been in existence for years. And change happens, but only by following a procedure. The concept that everything changes at the snap of a finger is not true. It requires a lot of work and focus.”

She continues, “But you come to a very responsible position at a very young age. The position you stand in demands maturity and responsibility beyond your age.”

While she trained in Kochi for ten months before the academy training at Mussoorie, her first independent posting was in Thrissur.

It was here that she worked tremendously for senior citizens, a segment of the population in the state that is double that of the national average.

She informs, “During my posting, we would get almost 35-40 cases each month, of children abandoning their parents at old age homes, hospitals or temples.”

And while the Senior Citizen Maintenance Act of 2008 is existent in all states, compliance was an issue. The IAS officer created a group of ten conciliation officers. These were people from different walks of life, like retired government officers and educationists, who volunteered to mediate between broken families, convincing children to take their parents home.

“We could sort a lot of cases. In some, we were able to persuade the children to look after the parents and if not that, pay for their maintenance up to Rs 10,000 per month. In cases where the children still disagreed but had received land from their parents, we got the ownership back.”

To ensure that the grievances of the senior citizens were addressed, the Collectorate also started a different room with conciliation officers on the ground floor, since the building had no elevators. This was to accommodate the elderly who would find it difficult to climb the stairs.

When she received the information that an unlicensed old age home in Thrissur city was extorting money from the elderly to the tune of Rs 20,000 per month and non-refundable deposits to the tune of Rs 2.5-3 lakh without any receipts, she led a raid on the home.

She shares, “We were told that the home locked elderly persons inside a room. Bedridden and suffering from dementia and similar conditions, these elderly were not even given proper food. When we raided the premises, we found one male and two females, two of whom did not have any documents. We rescued them and sealed the home. The elderly were then sent to a government-run facility.”

The cherry on the top was that the team was able to track the children of these elderly, some of whom despite being abroad, came down. The conciliation officers were able to convince them to take their ailing parents home.

She recalls, “We did not fight or argue with them, just told them that all the money they were spending on their care could be used to give them a more homely atmosphere, if they hired caretakers at their own homes. The elderly citizens were moved and thanked us. It was very emotional.”

It was also under her tenure that a mega medical camp in collaboration with Amruta Hospitals was conducted, which saw a footfall of 2,000 senior citizens; treatment was given on the spot, and 250 free surgeries were conducted later.

The illegal quarry raid in December 2017 also brought her to public limelight. When asked about the reaction of the locals after the quarry was shut down, she says, “They collectively thanked us, adding how these explosions in the nights would scare their children. Even their windows were cracked, and none of them had the courage to complain. This operation brought our work to the limelight, and we were able to carry out similar operations elsewhere too.”

Read More: UP IAS Officer Makes Time to Teach Govt School Kids, Inspires 700 Citizens To Do Same!

Dr Renu Raj was pitted against powerful men. Were there repercussions?

She reveals, “I was told there would be problems, not just due to political pressure, but because many of the quarries that we shut down were owned by financially powerful people. But I found that once an officer proves that they are credible, nobody dares to threaten them directly. To be honest, I expected repercussions, but nothing happened. It reinstated my faith in the system too.”

The young officer, who has now taken charge of Devikulam (Munnar), is now focused on two problem areas in the district. Notably, she is also the first woman officer to be posted in the area.

“I am determined to follow a twin approach for Devikulam. The illegal encroachments and constructions will be one area I will look into, and the second is the social issues of the tea-plantation workers. Many of them struggle with employment, have no land or basic education. There are several tribal hamlets too. Only when we crack down on illegal encroachments, will we be able to reclaim government land and give it to the marginalised communities that need it the most. Also, I want to work for the development of women and children, a sector that often gets overlooked due to other existing issues,” she signs off.

And we wish the brave officer the very best! May her tribe grow!

If this story inspired you, get in touch with Dr Renu Raj at 94470 26452.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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