On September 11, 2011, Aparna Malikar, a farmer widow from Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, won Rs.6.40 lakh on the show
Kaun Banega Crorepati hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.
In the episode, Aparna spoke about her ordeal: She lost her husband in 2008 when he consumed poison after he was unable repay a huge loan. Aparna was only 25 then and had no clue about the loan. After her husband’s demise, her in-laws disowned her and she had to work as farm labour to take care of her two daughters.
Aparna’s story moved thousands of Indians, and even Bachchan blogged about it later. Abhijeet Falke, a 30-year-old IT professional from Pune, also watched the episode and was deeply touched by the story.
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![apulkee1]()
Aparna Malikar in the show Kaun Banega Crorepati[/caption]
“I could not sleep that night. I belong to Vidarbha too and really wanted to do something for these farmers,” says Abhijeet.
By the next morning, Abhijeet had a mission: to bring about a revolution in farming in Maharashtra.
“Aparna Malikar’s story was an eye opener. The way she fought against all odds for her children after her husband committed suicide was really inspiring. I came to the conclusion that such families need a helping hand from the more privileged ones like us in the society. We need to empathize with them. Hence came the name of the NGO in my mind – Apulkee, which means sense of belonging in Marathi,” says Abhijeet.
Abhijeet shared the thought with his wife and parents, who completely supported him. He then spoke to 15 to 20 of his IT professional friends who pitched in to help.
Apulkeee Samajik Sansthan, Pune, was founded in January 2012.
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Abhijeet Falke - The founder of Apulkee Samajik Sansthan, Pune[/caption]
The first challenge for the group of these enthusiastic IT professionals, who were clueless about agriculture, was to identify the exact issues related to agriculture.The first threemonths were spentin collecting data and researching online the problems faced by farmers.
Finally, the team decided to start working on three issues:
- Increase production with low production cost
- Provide market link to farmers by introducing direct sale without middlemen.
- Psychological support for the farmers
To drive their mission on the right track, these IT professionals designed an agriculture workshop after consulting agriculture experts all over Maharashtra. They named this agriculture workshop Udaan.
UDAAN – Apulkee’s unique workshop for farmers
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Udaan - The agriculture Workshop by Apulkee[/caption]
Udaan is a two-day residential workshop. Expert lectures on subjects like soil conservation, water management, use of advance techniques in organic farming, indigenous seed use, importance of marketing, government policies and schemes, as well as morale-boosting events are provided to farmers at this workshop.
Core & advisory committee members spend two days with farmers to understand their issues. The team identifies the villages that need their assistance and conducts this workshop there. During the workshop, the stay, food and lectures are absolutely free for farmers.
“We conducted our first workshop in Pimpri village of Wardha district of Maharashtra in March 2012. People warned us that farmers are never interested in such workshops and we should not have high hopes. But to our pleasant surprise our first workshop got an overwhelming response of around 650 farmers who stayed with us for two days,” says Abhijeet.
All these farmers were given a form where they had to mention their problems, weaknesses and their strength. Thus, a database was created based on which the Apulkee team could work further.
So far, Apulkee has conducted nine agriculture workshops through which almost 6,900 farmers have been trained and databases created.
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![apulkee3]()
Udaan got a huge response from farmers[/caption]
After further analysis, the team ascertained that the farmers viewed the availability of low-cost labor as one of the major issues in farming. However, when they did a ground reality check, it was found that automation was not sustainable for low land-holding farmers, making them dependent on labor. To solve this problem, Apulkee came up with “Agriculture Tool Bank” on no-loss and no-profit basis.
The first agriculture tool bank was set up at Arvi, in Maharashtra’s Wardha district, on May 25, 2013. A sports journalist associated with the organization, Sunandan Lele, approached Sachin Tendulkar about this noble cause and got a positive response.
The entire funding for the bank was done by Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh and a tractor for the bank was donated by Anand Mahindra.
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![apulkee5]()
Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh helped Apulkee to start a Agriculture tool bank[/caption]
In IPL 2013, a “Sixer for cause” campaign was launched. In this campaign, Apulkee received Rs.6,000 for its agriculture tool bank for every six hit by the Pune Warriors IPL cricket team. This tool bank has reportedly saved almost Rs. 13 lakh, benefitting 500 farmers, and approximately 950 acres land was yielded by the tools in the past three years.
Apulkee Deshi Seed Bank
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Apulkee's Deshi Seed Bank helps farmers to use indigenous seeds[/caption]
The next mission of Apulkee was to reduce the production cost. The team recognized some cost-effective and high-yielding indigenous seeds, and a seed band was established in the Katari Sawanga village of Nagpur district. The seed bank preserves around 300 varieties of indigenous seeds, which are provided to the farmers at a nominal cost.
The team also launched the “Deshi Seed Movement,” under which they ran a month-long program in May 2015, visiting farmers and villagers to spread awareness about indigenous seeds and appealed to them to start growing their own seeds in small piece of their own land. These seeds were also added to the seed bank later on.
Eradicating the middle men
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The farmers earned 3 times more through direct marketing[/caption]
By end of 2013, Apulkee Samajik Sanstha had become a team of 200 IT professionals. The first initiative to eradicate middlemen was taken by these 200 members by buying their fresh produce directly from the farmers.
The next major breakthrough came when Ravindra Thakre, an official from government-run agency Kaim in Amravati approached Apulkee to sell their products in Pune.
“When Ravindra called me, he said they were buying oranges in Pune at the rate of Rs.60 per kg, and those were not even pure. Mostly the oranges were mixed with kinnow fruit. Our farmers in Amravati were selling them at the rate of Rs. 4 per kg to the dealers,” says Abhijeet.
Apulkee then sent emails to all the IT companies in Pune, seeking permission to set up orange stalls by the farmers in their campuses. They received a go-ahead from 9 companies, including Wipro and Capgemini.
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Orange stalls by farmers inside the an IT company[/caption]
The farmers were overjoyed to sell their oranges directly to the consumers in Pune, sitting in the premises of these IT companies. These oranges were sold to customers at the rate of Rs.40 per kg and there was a total sale of Rs.44 lakh in just few days, giving a three-fold profit to the farmers and a Rs.20 per kg benefit to the consumer.
A similar campaign was held for Konkan mangoes and pomegranates.
Apulkee also exhibited the farmers’ processed products abroad.
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The farmers sold there product in the UK for the first time[/caption]
The products were exhibited in front of 800 NRIs in London, during Surmayi Sham, featuring well-known singer Suresh Wadkar on November17, 2012, at Cadogan Hall. The products included Waygav, Wardha farmers’ organic turmeric, Yavatmal district farmers’
turdal, and Konkan region farmers’ mango pulp.
Farmers were able to get international exposure as well as market links thanks to Apulkee’s events.
Psychological support for farmers and their family.
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Farmer widows are helped with sustainable business tools[/caption]
Apulkee is on a mission to stop farmer suicides but they did not want to overlook the problems of the family of the farmers who had committed suicide in the past.
Apulkee Samajik Sanstha launched Apulkee’s Farmer Self-Confidence Campaign onAugust 15, 2015. The main objective of this campaign is to support a deceased farmers’ family, by providing them means/tools to earn their livelihood on their own.
Instead of giving cash in hand the NGO provides tools like flour mills, sewing machines or goats to rear so that they can earn their livelihood.
As many as 139 farmers’ widows have been provided flour mills and sewing machines to start a sustainable business by Apulkee.
The NGO has also paid off the loans of 29 farmers completely and helped them secure their land by completing all the paper work. Today, Apulkee has 7,000 registered members across the globe. Most of these members are IT professionals.
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Loans were paid off to stop farmer suicides[/caption]
“We identify the farmers who are in need of help urgently and approach our members to crowd-fund for them. Thus IT comes to the rescue of agriculture and agriculture, of course, always comes to our rescue by providing us food,” says Abhijeet.
“I think I belong to the youth so I would like to address them. I just want to say that rather than asking the government or the system what it is doing for them, one should ask what he/she is doing for the country. Just dedicate 10 minutes everyday to work for the betterment of the country and see the difference,” he adds.
To know more about Apulkee Samajik Sansthan, Pune, you can visit their
website or call Abhijeet Falke at 8983357559.
Account Details for Donation -
Account number : 6049939042
Name of Acount : APULKEE SAMAJIK SANSTHA
Bank Name : Indian bank
Branch Name : Karve nagar, Pune
IFSC code : IDIB000C137
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Aparna Malikar in the show Kaun Banega Crorepati[/caption]
Abhijeet Falke - The founder of Apulkee Samajik Sansthan, Pune[/caption]
The first challenge for the group of these enthusiastic IT professionals, who were clueless about agriculture, was to identify the exact issues related to agriculture.The first threemonths were spentin collecting data and researching online the problems faced by farmers.
Udaan - The agriculture Workshop by Apulkee[/caption]
Udaan is a two-day residential workshop. Expert lectures on subjects like soil conservation, water management, use of advance techniques in organic farming, indigenous seed use, importance of marketing, government policies and schemes, as well as morale-boosting events are provided to farmers at this workshop.
Core & advisory committee members spend two days with farmers to understand their issues. The team identifies the villages that need their assistance and conducts this workshop there. During the workshop, the stay, food and lectures are absolutely free for farmers.
“We conducted our first workshop in Pimpri village of Wardha district of Maharashtra in March 2012. People warned us that farmers are never interested in such workshops and we should not have high hopes. But to our pleasant surprise our first workshop got an overwhelming response of around 650 farmers who stayed with us for two days,” says Abhijeet.
All these farmers were given a form where they had to mention their problems, weaknesses and their strength. Thus, a database was created based on which the Apulkee team could work further.
Udaan got a huge response from farmers[/caption]
After further analysis, the team ascertained that the farmers viewed the availability of low-cost labor as one of the major issues in farming. However, when they did a ground reality check, it was found that automation was not sustainable for low land-holding farmers, making them dependent on labor. To solve this problem, Apulkee came up with “Agriculture Tool Bank” on no-loss and no-profit basis.
The first agriculture tool bank was set up at Arvi, in Maharashtra’s Wardha district, on May 25, 2013. A sports journalist associated with the organization, Sunandan Lele, approached Sachin Tendulkar about this noble cause and got a positive response.
Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh helped Apulkee to start a Agriculture tool bank[/caption]
In IPL 2013, a “Sixer for cause” campaign was launched. In this campaign, Apulkee received Rs.6,000 for its agriculture tool bank for every six hit by the Pune Warriors IPL cricket team. This tool bank has reportedly saved almost Rs. 13 lakh, benefitting 500 farmers, and approximately 950 acres land was yielded by the tools in the past three years.
Apulkee's Deshi Seed Bank helps farmers to use indigenous seeds[/caption]
The next mission of Apulkee was to reduce the production cost. The team recognized some cost-effective and high-yielding indigenous seeds, and a seed band was established in the Katari Sawanga village of Nagpur district. The seed bank preserves around 300 varieties of indigenous seeds, which are provided to the farmers at a nominal cost.
The team also launched the “Deshi Seed Movement,” under which they ran a month-long program in May 2015, visiting farmers and villagers to spread awareness about indigenous seeds and appealed to them to start growing their own seeds in small piece of their own land. These seeds were also added to the seed bank later on.
The farmers earned 3 times more through direct marketing[/caption]
By end of 2013, Apulkee Samajik Sanstha had become a team of 200 IT professionals. The first initiative to eradicate middlemen was taken by these 200 members by buying their fresh produce directly from the farmers.
The next major breakthrough came when Ravindra Thakre, an official from government-run agency Kaim in Amravati approached Apulkee to sell their products in Pune.
“When Ravindra called me, he said they were buying oranges in Pune at the rate of Rs.60 per kg, and those were not even pure. Mostly the oranges were mixed with kinnow fruit. Our farmers in Amravati were selling them at the rate of Rs. 4 per kg to the dealers,” says Abhijeet.
Orange stalls by farmers inside the an IT company[/caption]
The farmers were overjoyed to sell their oranges directly to the consumers in Pune, sitting in the premises of these IT companies. These oranges were sold to customers at the rate of Rs.40 per kg and there was a total sale of Rs.44 lakh in just few days, giving a three-fold profit to the farmers and a Rs.20 per kg benefit to the consumer.
A similar campaign was held for Konkan mangoes and pomegranates.
The farmers sold there product in the UK for the first time[/caption]
The products were exhibited in front of 800 NRIs in London, during Surmayi Sham, featuring well-known singer Suresh Wadkar on November17, 2012, at Cadogan Hall. The products included Waygav, Wardha farmers’ organic turmeric, Yavatmal district farmers’ turdal, and Konkan region farmers’ mango pulp.
Farmers were able to get international exposure as well as market links thanks to Apulkee’s events.
Farmer widows are helped with sustainable business tools[/caption]
Apulkee is on a mission to stop farmer suicides but they did not want to overlook the problems of the family of the farmers who had committed suicide in the past.
Apulkee Samajik Sanstha launched Apulkee’s Farmer Self-Confidence Campaign onAugust 15, 2015. The main objective of this campaign is to support a deceased farmers’ family, by providing them means/tools to earn their livelihood on their own.
Instead of giving cash in hand the NGO provides tools like flour mills, sewing machines or goats to rear so that they can earn their livelihood.
As many as 139 farmers’ widows have been provided flour mills and sewing machines to start a sustainable business by Apulkee.
Loans were paid off to stop farmer suicides[/caption]
Girindranath Jha with his father[/caption]
In those days, Girindranath would live in a hostel to study and come home only on holidays. He would find numerous stories there that made him find solace in the village.
Girindranath Jha[/caption]
In 2010, he married Priya, a BCA graduate from Delhi University, and shifted to Kanpur to work for a national news agency.
Life was good, Girindranath and Priya were at the peak of their careers. But somewhere within, there was still something missing. Girindranath used to tell his wife how he wished he could live a simple life in his village and also do something for it.
There was a dream shaping up in his mind for his village since 2006 when he finished his graduation. But like any other father, Girindranath’s also wanted him to be successful in life and take up a job. This stopped him from living in his village but he kept planting Kadamb trees whenever he visited Chanka.
Girindranath became a farmer in 2012[/caption]
Priya also supported him fully on this decision. And the love story that started at a café in a posh Delhi mall landed up in the lush green farms of Chanka.
Girindranath with his wife, Priya Jha (Left) and daughter, Pankhuri (Right)[/caption]
The narration of this sweet transition is well elaborated in Girindranath’s book, Ishq Mein Mati Sona, which was launched by the famous journalist Ravish Kumar and became a bestseller in Hindi.
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Grindranath with Ravish Kumar at the book launch of 'Ishq Mein Mati Sona'[/caption]
Girindranath soon turned into a full time farmer, but continued to write for newspapers like BBC-Hindi, NDTV, Dainik Jagran etc. He was living the life he always craved for. But his dream of connecting cities to villages was still unfulfilled. This was possible only by attracting rural tourism, for which the first thing he wanted to do was stop villagers from migrating to cities.
People left their natives only for one reason, and that was work. To help give them work, Girindranath offered his own land to farm on a partnership basis with the landless farmers.
The other reason farmers were losing their land was alcoholism. To eradicate this problem Girindranath started educating the children of the villagers about the ill effects of alcoholism. He made them watch documentaries and informational films based on this issue. Once the children were educated, they would tell their mothers about it and Girindranath would empower these women to fight against their husbands’ addiction.
Thus, slowly, there was a revolution in the village. The women who had never been out of their houses had started revolting. And within two years the village became addiction-free.
Girindranath has planted more than 1000 Kadamb trees in Chanka[/caption]
UNICEF Children's Film Festival 2015[/caption]
The film festival exposed the world to Chanka, which was until then an unknown, tiny village. The media, politicians and scientists, everyone turned towards it. Within a year Chanka had electricity and roads.
Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Girindranath[/caption]
The meeting would have some media professionals interacting with villagers, which gave them both a clear idea about them, clearing the stereotypical misconceptions.
He also kept telling the world about Chanka through his blog 
Chanka Residency[/caption]
He has also planted around 1,000 Kadamb trees so far in the village, and there’s a little pond too nearby. Amidst this wonderful space, he has made a little house by pitching in all his savings, and named it Chanka Residency.
The visitors who come here can enjoy the fresh weather of a village with lush greens, have traditional meals made by the villagers and listen to some soothing tribal music.
Ian Woolford, the first guest at Chanka Residency[/caption]
Ian is a lecturer at Australia's La Trobe University, where he happens to teach Hindi Language and Literature. Ian is writing a book on Fanishwar Nath Renu and could not find a better place to work on it other than Chanka Residency.
There have been many guests so far from the media and the art fraternity, but Girindranath fondly remembers 
Lindsey Fransen and David Kroodsma[/caption]
He also wishes to open a rural museum in Chanka, which will have all the farming equipment used by our ancestors, tools used by the tribal community that are on the verge of being extinct.
To find out more about the project please visit the 
Kavita Gupta distributing free prosthetic bras at AIIMS[/caption]
The good thing about it is it costs way less to make than the silicon-based prosthetic bras. And the best thing? Kavita distributes them for free to the cancer survivors.
Kavita and her husband, Arun, founded their NGO Win Over Cancer in 2011 while Arun was undergoing treatment for cancer himself.
It was April 2011, when Arun, a 41 year old chartered accountant, caught some infection and fever, the doctor asked him to do a routine blood test. During the check-up, Arun was diagnosed with Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow. The term "chronic" in chronic lymphocytic leukemia comes from the fact that it typically progresses more slowly than other types of leukemia.
Arun Gupta while taking chemotherapy[/caption]
This is a transformation that occurs in about 5% of B-cell CLL into a fast-growing 
Kavita Gupta[/caption]
Akriti is fully supporting her parents in their mission.[/caption]
She has since channelized more than 140 students to this movement as volunteers, organizing awareness camps among college students in innovative ways and managing skill development programs for the NGO.
So far, patients have saved more than ₹9.20 lakh due to the services provided by Win Over Cancer.
Arun and Kavita with their daughters.[/caption]
Yazali High School was established in 1961 and moved to the present campus in 1964, after it was upgraded into a high school from its former upper primary status.
The school had students from five villages:Yazali, Buddam, Dundepalem, Dummana Vari Palem, Boolaya Palem. However,there were times when school had only 12- 13 students appearing for the Class 10 examination.
Among these students was Lakshmi Narasimha Ikkurthi, who was brought up in a family of 45 people living together in Yazali village.
Lakshmi’s great grandmother who lived till the age of 100 used to regale the kids with moral tales, from which they learnt to give back to society.
In 2003, when Lakshmi was in first year of engineering, another alumnus of ZP School, Naga Raju Garu, vice president of what was then known as Mahindra Satyam, initiated a movement by gathering all the former students of the school. With a crowdfunding initiative, he slowly started improving the academics and infrastructure of the school. He also spoke to parents, and cited his own example to convince them to send their children to the school.
Mr. Naga Raju (Left) and Lakshmi Narsimha Ikkurthi (Right)[/caption]
Once Lakshmi finished his engineering course, he wanted to work for few years to save enough to support his dream of developing his village.
He started experimenting in many ways to develop his village while working in Hyderabad as a software engineer. However, a series of incidents that took place during 2010 shook him to the core.
One of the incidents was a gruesome accident in which a few boys from his village lost their lives. The accident happened when the boys were drunk, and all the victims were young students studying in class 12 and below.
The youth joined hands with Naga Raju to develop the school and today …
Zilla Parishad High School, Yazali[/caption]
The Champions of ZP High School, Yazali[/caption]
The school has also become a hub for sports, standing out as district champions in Kho-Kho for five years. Many students also represented the district team, and this year, four students are representing state teams in Athletics and Kho-Kho Nationals.
Election for Swachch Bharat President is conducted in the school[/caption]
This familiarizes students with their democratic rights and helps develop leadership skills. The president and ministers are responsible for keeping the school premises clean and green.
Development done by Yazali Na-Janmbhoomi in the village:
1) The Andhra Pradesh Government has recently sanctioned a lift irrigation project in Yazali village through Nallamada River, after the efforts taken by Yazali Na-Janmbhoomi. With this irrigation project, around 350 acres of land will get water for agriculture.
2) Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University has adopted the village after the NGO approached them. The university is providing awareness for village farmers on new technologies, organic farming, new techniques and ways of farming.
3) The NGO is constructing a 5,000 sq.ft.warehouse, which will give farmers a hassle-free storage facility. The warehouse will offer affordable monthly rental options for farmers.
4) The team is also providing marketing support to the farmers to get better prices by ditching middlemen.
5) With the efforts of Yazali Na-Janmbhoomi, the village now has a branch of State Bank of India, which is enabling farmers to avail government loans.
6) Water Harvesting: Villagers are encouraged to practice water harvesting to preserve ground water levels within the village.
Health camps conducted by Yazali Na-Janmbhoomi[/caption]
1) Mega health camps are conducted in the village at least once in 3 months.
2) A Primary Health Center has been set up for the first time in the village.
3) Health Passport: The NGO is working on a unique concept called Health Passport for all villagers. As a part of this project, an online application will be developed to keep track of all medical case histories of villagers. Once operational, healthcare workers will be given access to the data.
4) RO Water Plant: Yazali Na-Janmbhoomi has constructed an RO Plant in the village. People now can buy 20 liters of water just for Rs. 4.
Through NIRD's Rural Self Employment Training Institutes, the NGO is imparting training and skill upgradation of rural youth and women geared towards entrepreneurship development. Currently 77 Self Help Groups have been formed in Yazali.
The NGO has built a community hall, marriage hall and an old age home in the village. They have also planted over 2,500 trees in all major junctions and roadsides.The NGO plans to implement many other projects, details of which are mentioned on their 
Rajendra Hari Patil[/caption]
Rajendra’s father was a small-time farmer in Wade village. They had just 1.5 acres of land, which didn’t yield much.
Rajendra was the youngest of seven brothers and sisters and life was never easy. It became even more difficult after his father died when Rajendra was just 11, and he started working on his farm along with his brothers.
It was “earning and learning”for them as none of them left their studies for farming. Once all the brothers were well educated, they left farming and got government jobs.
Rajendra, who pursued B.Sc (Chemistry) and then an M.PEd (Masters in physical education), joined a private school as a teacher. However, he lost his job in just a year.
Hemchandra Dagaji Patil[/caption]
Hemchandra’s father had a 30-acre ancestral land. However, he had a dream of making at least one of his sons either a doctor, engineer or lawyer. Hemchandra happily took up the responsibility of fulfilling his father’s dream and became a lawyer. But his heart remained in farming and he gave up his black coat.
Bhavarlal Jain[/caption]
Bhavarlal Jain is the founder of Jain Irrigation System[/caption]
From Left to Right - Hemchandra Patil, Bhavarlal Jain and Rajendra Patil[/caption]
Farmers like Rajendra and Hemchandra joined this initiative and are now earning lakhs a year.
Jain Irrigation has tied up with 5,000 farmers in Maharashtra.It helps these farmers get drip irrigation and also provides seeds and trains them to use new technology.
Hemchandra Patil showing his farm to visitors (Left) and Rajendra Patil showing his Banana plantation (Right)[/caption]
Rajendra Patil speaking at the seminar conducted by Harvard Business School.[/caption]
In 2011, when Harvard Business School in the USA conducted a seminar on food security systems, Hemchandra and Rajendra were invited to talk about their success stories.
The duo was given 15 minutes to explain how they did so well. However, everyone was so keen to know more, they were given an extra 15 minutes to answer questions from farmers from other countries.
Sanjay Gandate (Left) and a pearl cultured by him (right)[/caption]
Sanjay’s grandfather as well as his father had always grown rice in their 3-acre ancestral land. As a child Sanjay would visit their farm located near the Wainganga River. There, he would find many shells by the river and was fascinated by stories his grandfather told him about the shells.
Iniially Sanjay rented a pond to cultivate pearls.[/caption]
Once the setup was ready, he fished out almost 5,000 oysters, inserted the pebble-shaped mantle grafts designed by him into each one of them and placed them into the pond.
Sanjay's first cultured pearls were destroyed by Naxalites by killing the oysters[/caption]
For the next few years Sanjay focused on studies. He wanted to become a teacher and hence completed his graduation. But again during his break after graduation he started utilizing his time by fishing oysters and experimenting with pearls.
Sanjay with his oysters.[/caption]
Sanjay has even found mention in the state revenue minister's address to the legislative council as an example for other farmers.
Sanjay conducts workshops for pearl farming.[/caption]
Ayub Ahmed[/caption]
Ayub was upset by looking at the body, but he did not do anything thinking that the deceased’s kin would take care of it.
But while travelling back to Mysuru, almost eight hours later, he was shocked to see the body lying at the same location. He then picked up the body, put it in the car and took it to a morgue. When the police heard about this, they praised Ayub and also rewarded him with money.
However, the act which was a matter of pride and satisfaction for Ayub and the policemen, was not well received by his friends and relatives. He was criticized for picking up an unidentified body which, according to his relatives, was the job of a particular community. Scared that even his father wouldn’t support him, Ayub ran away to Bengaluru with the money he got from the police.
He picked up the body and handed it over to the Bengaluru police. He was again rewarded for his act. At this point, Ayub realized that he was not doing anything wrong and he came back to Mysuru with the determination to carry on with this noble work in his own city.
Ayub is now lovingly called Body Miyan in Mysuru[/caption]
Ayub is now lovingly called ‘Body Miyan’ in Mysuru. His wife and two daughters also support his work though he earns almost nothing from it. His wife works as a tailor to support the family.
Body Miyan searches for unidentified bodies, shifts them to the morgue, informs the police and if no one claims the body, he even does the last rites.
Body Miyan cremates the bodies which remain unclaimed.[/caption]
He also puts up pictures of the dead bodies on his Facebook page and appeals to people to contact him if they identify the person.
Sikshadaanam (free education)[/caption]
Vishal and his friends kept working for KVSS dedicatedly and now Vishal also had a new group of friends from IIT, Kharagpur that pitched in support. Apart from these students, there were professors and alumni from IIT, Kharagpur, who joined them. This helped KVSS expand its services in Mayurbhanj, Gajapati and Bargarh district of Odisha and Chandauli, Aligarh, Etah and Lucknow district of Uttar-Pradesh.
In 2013, Vishal finished his M.Tech and was placed in an MNC. By this time, KVSS had almost 400 volunteers from different universities like IIT, Bhubaneswar, NIT Jamshedpur, Banaras Hindu University, Allahabad University, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Jharkhand Central University and many other organizations across India.
Annadaanam (free food distribution)[/caption]
With the aim of more services for socioeconomically deprived children, KVSS started to organize different skill-oriented competitions at primary and middle schools of different states to make them practically oriented.
Vishal Singh[/caption]
During his visits to remote villages, Vishal met many tribal communities that owned land, but were not exposed to the world. Among these were the Lodha tribe that hunted food and would roam the lands with their children. The children were mostly suffering from malnutrition, they did not wear any clothes and had no idea what education was.
Vishal helped the tribals to do farming and lead a civilized life.[/caption]
By 2016, KVSS started focusing on farmer issues and decided to promote an economic organic model of farming for the marginal and semi-marginal farming communities to resolve the issue of their livelihood.
Mahesh[/caption]
Mahesh's farm in Kawlaga[K][/caption]However, he had seen this vicious cycle that a farmer gets trapped in. According to Mahesh, a farmer is always at a loss, regardless of whether nature is on his side or not. If it is drought then the prices of products are high, but the yield is so low that the farmer ends up earning less than what is invested.
Ironically, if the weather conditions are favorable, the production is so high that the rates are lowered. Farmers cannot even store the yield and wait for the prices to go high due to lack of access to warehouses. On top of that is the repayment of loans to moneylenders on huge interest rates.
This cycle repeats, until the farmer ultimately loses his land.
Mahesh was inspired by the stories on The Better India[/caption]
Vinoth Kumar[/caption]
Mahesh started farming in April 2016 on the day of Ugadi. But he did not leave his job. He was sure that he needed the money if anything went wrong. He also wanted to be ready with the infrastructural needs of farming like a pond, warehouse and cowshed.
Mahesh decided to do totally natural and organic farming. As all other farmers who owned the adjacent farms were using chemical pesticides, Mahesh’s farm was naturally attacked by pests. This was a challenge, which again was taken up by Mahesh with organic pesticides and attracting birds by throwing grain on his farms.
Stories of 
Mahesh works on his farms over the weekend[/caption]
He also gives credit to Mr.Bailappa who takes care of his farm and all the contractual farmers who work on his farm on the weekdays.
Today, Mahesh has harvested almost 30 different varieties of millets and lentils from indigenous seeds, which are purely organic. He recently received an award for organic/natural farming from the district agriculture department.
Tur Daal grown organically at Mahesh's farm[/caption]
Matin Bhosle[/caption]
While searching for these kids, Matin also got to know about two kids of his community who came under the train and died while begging at the railway station. He decided that he would not let any of the Phase Pardhis’ children to die like this. He then left his job and started ‘Bheek Magu Andolan’ with the entire community. He would lead the community and the kids and ask people to donate Rs.1 for them to build a school.
Prashnchinh Adivasi Shala[/caption]
Today, few of these questions have been answered, but many remain. The school has a strength of 447 students now. Matin is still striving hard to get some help from the government and society. But he is sure that this school will produce thousands of more Matins who will befreed from the Phase Pardhis tag of being thieves.
If you wish to help Prashnchinh Adivasi Shala, then please log on to their 
Nirmal Sethi[/caption]
Nirmal was a sharp child right from the beginning. Her father would treat his daughters and sons as equals, and encourage the girls to go out and interact with people. One of Nirmal’s sisters was also captain of Himachal’s women’s hockey team, another won a national award for best teacher, and one broke the mould at the time to become a social worker.
K.C Sethi and Nirmal Sethi[/caption]
After finishing her graduation, Nirmal told her husband about her wish to work in an unconventional field. In those days there were very few options of public transport from Dharamsala to Chintpurni, and very few buses ran this route. Nirmal saw this as an opportunity to start her business as well as to help people. She wanted to start her own transport company.
Nirmal became the first woman transporter of the state.[/caption]
Dharamsala was not that developed then. Women were supposed to be either housewives or teachers. However, Nirmal would travel all the way to Chintpurni along with the driver and conductor. She would sometimes just stand by the road and do a surprise check on the bus.
Dhauladhar Petrol Station[/caption]
Soon she gave birth to her second child, Khushboo. But being a mother of two children and staying all alone did not stop this feisty lady from expanding her business.
Nirmal Sethi (Center) with her daughters, Shagun and Khushboo[/caption]
Sangeeta and Madhu working at the Dhauladhar Petrol Pump[/caption]
The story was shared on February 11, 2015, after which Amol’s inbox was flooded with mails of appreciation. HOPE, which was working in a limited area within Maharashtra, got an opportunity to help people across India. A Kannada newspaper approached Amol after the article and wrote about his work.
In the coming months HOPE was approached by many people from Karnataka, who needed help for their education, health or farm-related problems and HOPE did not disappoint any of them.
9 years consolidated report[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_91899" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
Year 2016-2017 report after the article was published[/caption]
Our journey with Shivprabha Charitable Trust, and the people helped through it, did not end there. Here are some campaigns that TBI and Shivprabha worked together on with our readers and changed thousands of lives –
Sewing machine distribution to the farmer widows.[/caption]
We started the 
While being proud of a farmer who tilled his land with a cot because he could not afford a plough and a pair of bulls, we also appealed to our readers to help this brave farmer in his 
In January 2016, 
Lonwadi, a small village in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, was adopted by Shivprabha Charitable Trust in 2012 and was completely transformed within three years. But the villagers still lacked one basic amenity –toilets!
Amol really wanted to make the village open defecation free.However, the required funds were an issue. But this was again made possible by TBI readers.
We started the 
Kavish Seth[/caption]
Chintamani[/caption]
“We belong to the fisherman community. My grandfather then my father and then me, we all wrote and performed on our own songs. Collaborating with Zubaan has given me audience other than the usual ones I was satisfied with. Moreover, there is so much to learn when you meet other artists from various states,” says Chintamani.
Santhosh Singh[/caption]
A hefty pay and a luxurious life was not giving him what he would get over a weekend of just staying in the arms of nature – Peace and Health.
Santhosh quit his job and started experimenting with just 3 cows.[/caption]
Amrutha Dairy Farm[/caption]
With the learning gained from NDRI, and support from one of his brothers, Santhosh handled the farm really well and bought 85 cows in the next two years.
However the coming year was a challenge for them as their village suffered from a severe water crisis. Water levels, which were around 200 ft, reached up to 1,000 ft, and Santhosh had to put in all his savings to deal with this situation. But this crisis led Santhosh to hunt for options.
Research led him to a surprising fact -- dairy farming is not just about cows and milk. There are businesses related to dairy farming like selling fodder, transportation of milk, processing, selling cow-comforts like rubber mats and cubicles, selling medicines for the cattle, and the most profitable one --breeding of cattle.
So Santhosh started breeding cows and selling them once they started milking.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. They have such a facility in the farm.[/caption]
Meanwhile, a German company wanted to set up its processing unit in India. Santhosh offered his space for this and provided local consulting support, and during this period, learnt a little bit of cheese processing.
He slowly started to understand the whole value chain of the Dairy Industry and realized great opportunities that exist currently. Visitors started coming to his farm and he would enjoy meeting and interacting with them. And then came the idea of training and counseling the budding entrepreneurs.
From the past two-and-a -half years Santhosh is conducting workshops on two Saturdays of every month.
He has also helped setup over half a dozen dairy farms for his trainees who have hired him as consultant.
There is subsidy provided by NABARD, it is called as Dairy Entrepreneur Development Scheme (DEDS), here 25% subsidy is provided if a person takes Rs. 6lakh loan from the bank. Most of the banks provide loans for this and also help people avail subsidy from NABARD.
“The promoter has to bring in just Rs.60, 000 (10% margin money for Rs 6 lakh) and bank will fund the rest of the amount as a loan, which is about Rs 3.9 lakh apart from the Rs 1.5 lakh subsidy. So why take that big decision of quitting completely what you are doing in haste and end up with more problems when you can try the pilot project and learn while you earn,” suggests Santhosh.
Keshav Saran[/caption]
Keshav was elected as the Pradhan of his village in 1988. Extremely dedicated towards the development of his village, he did not leave any stone unturned to reach officers who could help get all the amenities. However, he realized that had he been as educated as those officers, he would be able to accomplish a lot more. It became clear to him that education meant power.
With this thought, this class 11 pass farmer started his mission to educate each and every person of his village. He started with night classes for the adults in the village in his living room in 1989. While teaching the adults, he realised that many of them didn’t even send their kids, especially girls, to school, making illiteracy prevail generation after generation.
As there was no school in the village those days, he took his 3 daughters and a son by bicycle to a school 6 km to 7 km away. At the time, he knew that no one else would do the same for their daughters.
Keshav started his school by teaching three children in the living room of his house.[/caption]
This did not curb the high spirits of this farmer-turned-teacher. He continued teaching these three students again in the living room of his three-room house. As the students were not increasing, Keshav started visiting each and every villager personally and urging them to send their children to school.
Keshav started teaching his students at the chaupal before the school was built.Soon, the response of residents from his village and the nearby ones was so overwhelming, Keshav started working on his dream of building a school. He built the school on his 4-acre ancestral land, and as the number of students slowly increased, the news reached the education minister of the area. The minister then visited Keshav’s school and helped him to get it registered.
Keshav Inter College[/caption]
Shankar Kotian[/caption]
Photo credit - 
Shankar started with just 5 cows[/caption]
Once there was enough grass, he bought the cows. He spent almost three years learning as he had no prior agricultural experience.
Shankar's Dairy Farm[/caption]
Photo credit - 
Some of the features are:
The slurry from the biogas plant is sold to other farmers using a tanker and pipes.[/caption]
He has also set up a biogas plant of 25 cubic meter, which runs with the dung produced from these 40 cows. Shankar has made a floating drum design for the biogas, but with a twist: the drum is not immersed in the slurry, instead a layer of water keeps it afloat. This concept is more hygienic. There are separate tanks for thick slurry and washed water. The gas produced from this plant is used for cooking and heating water.
The forest adjoining Shankar's farm[/caption]
Photo credit - 
Shankar's farm[/caption]
Photo credit - 
Pallavi Singh[/caption]
She is currently retained by various diplomatic missions, relocation companies and multinationals as an official Hindi Tutor for their staff and family members.
Pallavi has also been a speaker at TEDx talking about language serving as a social inclusion tool and she is the youngest ever to be interviewed by the Parliament of India on Rajya Sabha TV.
Pallavi with Jacqueline Fernandez[/caption]
Her proud celebrity additions to the list are William Dalrymple, Jacqueline Fernandez, Natalie Di Luccio & Lucinda Nicholas.
The first thing that is different in Pallavi’s classes is that she doesn’t have a classroom. She either visits her students, teaches them at their house or her classes are held in cafes, learning along with a cup of coffee.
Sachin Kale[/caption]
In 2007, Sachin also started his PhD in developmental economics. This was when the spark of entrepreneurship ignited in his mind. Thoughts like why he was working for someone else and not for himself kept disturbing him while he was still climbing the ladder of success in his corporate life.
Photo Source - 
Sachin started tilling his land alone[/caption]
Sachin works with the latest technologies at his farms[/caption]
Sachin and Kalyani Kale[/caption]
If you wish to know more about Sachin’s venture you can call him at 9425530260 or mail him at infoagrilife@gmail.com
Piyush Mishra[/caption]
Piyush – What do I say about my childhood! I was an introvert, very quiet and shy. Everyone would suppress me at school, at home. I didn’t get a good childhood.
Piyush – I would advise that do what you want to. It is your right to choose your profession, your passion. No one else will understand what makes you happy -not even your parents, your friends or any philosopher or guide.
Piyush Mishra with his elder son, Josh[/caption]
Photo source - Facebook
Piyush – They have already… my older son, Josh, is in first year of the Hotel Management course in IHM. The younger one, Jai is very small now. He is in class 6 but he loves to cook too. I am sure he is going to become a chef. They don’t like art and why should they. My father never liked art, but I did.
Piyush - I went to Bombay in 1989 but came back within a year to Delhi. I think that was the best decision I ever took. I didn’t know how to struggle and those days were different. I understood that even if Bombay was made for me, this was not the right time. I came back to Delhi and then started theatre, which did really well.
Photo Source - Instagram
Piyush – See, you have to first judge yourself if you are capable of doing it or not. You have to be your own mirror and see a clear reflection. We all come to Bombay and think that if given a chance we are no less than Amitabh Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan. But you have to first understand the thing that Amitabh or Shahrukh has and you don’t. And you need to work on that.
Ranganadh and Aparna[/caption]
Ranganadh and Aparna take care of their cows themselves[/caption]
The first thing that they did was to get indigenous cows for their farm. They travelled all the way to Gujarat and searched for some of the best Gir cows in the nooks and corners of the villages there. After an extensive travel of 15 days, they selected 12 cows and got them back home.
The first few months went in fertilizing the soil as it was in a very bad condition due to use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Ranganadh Uppu[/caption]
Ranganadh started reading books and researching on the internet about natural farming. He visited as many farms as he could to learn farming. He also joined some self-help groups through Subhash Palekar’s and Chouhan-Q’s websites based on natural farming.
Pesticides and fertilizers are made naturally with the available resources in the farm[/caption]
Once he was thorough with the natural farming model, he started making his own fertilizers like the Jivamrit, fish amino acid, Lactic acid bacteria, I.M.O., pesticides like Neemastram, Agniastram, Dasaparini kashayam and plant growth inhibitor like Panchgavya.
Ranganadh taking guidance from Mrs. Nirmala (ADA, Department of Agriculture )[/caption]
There is also a myth created by MNCs that the same seeds cannot be used again and again; you have to buy new seeds every time. However, our ancestors used to save the best seeds for the next season and thus had the best quality seeds that were tolerant, disease-resistant, good yielding etc. If you are growing a seed from a naturally fertilized healthy soil then the seed will be healthy and will have its own immune system and slowly the seeds will be stronger every year.
Ranganadh bought best quality indigenous seeds from the local farmers with the help of some NGOs and self-help groups. He suggests visiting farmers and observing them to see if they are growing the seeds organically. If you are satisfied then you can buy the seeds. One should not solely depend on the organic certificates.
Once you harvest your yield, you should also keep the best quality seeds for the next season and thus you will have a set of your own seeds after few years of farming.
Ranganadh has bought five more acres of land now. He has grown groundnuts in 2.5 acres, different kinds of lentils in a quarter acre each, and has drip-irrigated 12 acres of the land into a beautiful orchard. He says he’s got a good crop this year, more than he had expected, and he is now in a profit zone as natural farming requires minimum cost input.
The groundnut farm[/caption]
Ranganadh advises a new entrant into natural farming to start with just 1 acre land and once they are confident, they can gradually increase. He also warns that if someone wants to take up natural farming then they will have to wait for a minimum of three years before they can rely on the returns.
He also makes ghee out of the milk produced by his cows by hand-churning it. The ghee is made according to the set guidelines of Ayurveda and hence doctors from various places come and buy it from him. He also keeps his crop, milk and ghee for his own consumption and for his extended family and friends to make sure they eat healthy. Interestingly, the remaining buttermilk is mixed with cow urine as a foliage spray for the budding crops.
Harvest season![/caption]
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