Category Archives: Inspiration / Positive News and Features

56-yr-old donates blood 48 times, honoured in Lucknow

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

Kanpur :

A city based social activist was honoured for donating blood 48 times in his life at an event held on the occasion of blood donor day in Lucknow on Sunday.

RK Saffar, who is currently serving as Red Cross Society’s secretary, was felicitated during a ceremony organised at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Sunday. He received a momento from Arvind Kumar, principal secretary, medical and health.

Expressing his gratitude to the state government for giving him the award, Saffar said that the feeling was overwhelming. “Uttar Pradesh is far behind other states in terms of percentage of blood donors. I am happy that the government has recognised my efforts,” he said.

Saffar, 56, said, “I make sure to donate blood every 3 months.”I believe that nothing can be more charitable and noble than donating blood. It doesn’t take any toll on your health and you can save so many lives by merely donating blood. Regular donations help you live a healthy life too. I have donated blood 5 times a year also,” he said.

The social activist said that today youngsters have taken the lead in donating blood because of the campaigns on social networking sites. “The other reason as to why youngsters voluntarily donate blood these days is that the blood donation certificate helps you enter foreign universities. It is the simplest charity one can do,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / TNN / June 15th, 2015

UP brothers, who cracked IIT, fought dalit stigma as much as poverty

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Rehua Lalganj (Pratapgarh):

It was not just straitened financial circumstances but also the villagers’ casteist mindset that the Saroj brothers fought along their way to achieving their IIT dream. Caste biases run so deep here that even as they returned home feted by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday, stones were thrown at their house.

“There were five or six stones thrown at our home. We informed the police,” Raju Saroj told TOI. Otherwise, the brothers said, the villagers have become nice to them, especially since they shot to limelight after their incredible IIT success.

It wasn’t always like this. The villagers would mock the Saroj brothers when they dared to study. They were told that as dalits, they need not study any further as they have no future. Even their drainage line was cut off a few weeks ago. But, the family today is being idolized by the same villagers.

Raju and Brijesh with their parents.
Raju and Brijesh with their parents.

When Brijesh was applying to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya for the first time, villagers had said he would never get through. As if that wasn’t enough, when his roll number appeared in the list of those selected, a neighbour tore up the newspaper and threw it away.

They always pulled us back. There were no words of encouragement,” recalled Brijesh.

When Raju applied a year later, 40 other children had applied as well. Only Raju made it. “The people then said our family has some ‘source’, that’s why we got admission,” said Raju, without a trace of resentment.

“Navodaya was my turning point,” said Brijesh in crisp English. Before Navodaya, the boys were always pulled into the caste yolk. They were asked their caste by villagers, bus drivers and co-travellers. “People here are stuck in another century. They don’t want to move forward,” says Raju. “As my sons were studying in cities, villagers thought I had lots of money. They asked for my BPL card to be withdrawn,” said Dharmraj.

But there were words of encouragement as well.

“These two were the stars of our village from childhood as we knew that one day they will make their family and the entire village proud,” said Rakesh Jaiswal. He’d taken CPMT but could not make it.

Hare Ram Yadav, principal, Vikas Uchchatar Madhyamik Vidyalaya, where the Saroj brothers had studied till class V, and who till a couple of days back had told Raju it would’ve been better had he had taken ITI, gave a different spiel on Sunday when TOI revisited the village. “When they were small, they used to tell me they wanted to become doctor and engineer and I only honed their skills,” he said. He tactfully concealed the fact that in 2005, one of the teachers had beaten young Brijesh when the 10-year-old had questioned his Sanskrit translation.

Gulab Soni, their immediate neighbour, said, “We were sure of their achievements since they were kids.” As the celebrations were on, he merrily sipped soft drink offered by Raju’s elder.

“Yeh log aapke saamne naatak karte hain. In logon ne hamara bathroom jaane ka rasta bhi band kara diya hai aur aaye din dhamki dete rahte hain” (these people are acting before you. They had even blocked the path I took for bathroom),” said Shiv Nath Saroj, the grandfather of the Saroj brothers.

“They’ve stopped all the approach paths, barring one, for our house claiming that it was their own land. Had it not been thin lane, we could have not able to move out to go to the loo in the open,” he added with moist eyes.

“We’ve been tormented for years as all of us have struggled against poverty and stigma to achieve what we are today. Had it not been TOI, this success story would not have been noticed,” said Munna Saroj, uncle of these boys.

source: http://www.timesofindia.inditimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Rajeev Mani, TNN / June 22nd, 2015

Meet the Boston woman who builds toilets in UP

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, World Opinion

New Delhi :

India draws epithets mostly of two kinds from foreigners. Indophiles call it ‘exotic’ for its rich multi-culturalism, mysticism, spirituality and other cliched reasons. Yet, others scathingly dub it as a ‘dump’ for its egregious lack of sanitation, infrastructure and development. Some go as far as calling India a ‘shithole’ ‘drowning in its own excreta’.

Having grown up in both under-privileged and privileged classes in the States, Marta says her idea about the difference in the two classes shaped her view of the world.
Having grown up in both under-privileged and privileged classes in the States, Marta says her idea about the difference in the two classes shaped her view of the world.

But an American Ph.D student Marta Vanduzer-Snow (34) moved to rural India three years ago thinking that India needed a different approach altogether—”To be an invisible human who makes a difference on the ground.”

The result—Marta, a Rutgers University scholar who grew up in Boston, got 82 low-cost evapotranspiration toilets in homes and 1 in a primary school and 10 feet wide 122 meters permeable roads constructed, all at half or one-third the cost of similar governmental projects in the villages of Rai Bareli and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

Each government toilet, built under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that aims to eliminate open defecation by Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th anniversary in October 2019, costs about Rs.17000, but the evapotranspiration toilet that Marta has brought to the villages costs only Rs. 9109. As against government’s Rs. 4 lakh per 100 meter of interlocking road, Marta’s 100 meter permeable road costs only Rs. 2 lakh.

A co-author of books and research papers with various academics, Marta has developed a theory for three-pronged strategy on development that integrates infrastructure, health and education. “I wanted a small scale model based on my theory that I could execute. So I did some research and found that Amethi and Rai Bareily had quite a few active self-help groups. I decided to learn, practice and contribute.”

An Amartya Sen development economics fan, Marta who spends her own personal resources on all these projects, has also set up 27 solar power plants, including two street lights and a mobile charger. One of the only villages in Rae Bareli boasts of being the beneficiary of night light set up by the do-gooder scholar. Marta also got French drains built, with rainwater harvesting techniques and has been working on myco-filtration systems for potable water.

MartaLUCKNOW02jun21

Along with her programme coordinator Pawan Singh in some villages, she has also run literacy programs, written text books on English and organic farming, set up libraries and oversaw a pilot stage of four classrooms. The Rutgers scholar also run telehealth, ‘Mera Doctor’ a medical facility that offers 24×7 doctor-on-call service for free for a year to two villages.

Having grown up in both under-privileged and privileged classes in the States, Marta says her idea about the difference in the two classes shaped her view of the world. “The sharp difference was basically due to access or lack of access to opportunity,” she believes. The travels through Africa, Middle East, Asia and half a year she spent in Nepal running community service programs after high school confirmed her understanding of the difference in social classes. “But human life is about hope and how we look at future and what is possible for us. That is why I am doing what I am. ”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / June 20th, 2015

Scoring century with a purpose

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

Senior IAS officer Rajan Shukla on Sunday reached a rare milestone donating blood a hundred times. Along with other blood donors, Shukla was determined to continue the practice.

He termed it unfair to quantify the blood donation process (i.e. number of times a person has donated blood), and said, “The importance of blood donation lies in the timeliness of the act, as it can not only save a life, but also inspire others to adopt the practice.”

Before addressing the group of blood donors, Shukla ensured he registered himself for the 100th donation. Shukla is project co-ordinator (DASP) & principal secretary co-ordination department, government of UP.

A number of blood donors were felicitated on the occasion, including Sant Kamal Kishore (of Saharanpur), Pradeep Ishrani (Varanasi), Swarn Singh Insha (Ghaziabad), Iqbal Singh (of Bareilly), Arlin Mylicent (Gorakhpur) and B L Sharda (of Kanpur).

Sant Kamal Kishore of Saharanpur, who has etched his name in the India Book of Records for donating blood 128 times, said, “If all matchsticks are used for lighting the lamp, it may be difficult to light the same lamp next time. But, if one candle is used to do the same job, it can be repeated a number of times. The same concept holds true for blood donation.”

1965 born Pradeep Ishrani, donated blood for the first time, when was 18 year-old (1984), and on Sunday, he completed 81st blood donation in Lucknow. Recalling one of his earliest blood donation experiences, Ishrani said, “I was moved by an advertisement in a local newspaper requesting for some units of blood. After contacting the party, I went to a pathology to donate blood.” He said he was shocked when relatives of the patients asked him how much they should pay him for the timely blood donation. “This incident changed my life, and I decided to donate blood voluntarily,” said Ishrani.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Sinha, TNN / June 15th, 2015

‘Fabricator’ on world tour after losing a leg

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Sports

Allahabad :

BV Narayana was in his early twenties when he lost a leg after being hit by a group of motorcyclists. After three decades, he decided to tour across the globe to make people aware of traffic norms so that they could be saved from the pain that he had to undergo.

A sports and adventure enthusiast, Narayan had earlier gone around the world, covering 59 countries on bicycle in 1979 when he was 19 years old. Narayana started his journey from his birthplace Bangalore on February 5. He passed through the city on way to Delhi on Monday for onward journey that covers around 90,000 kms. He has designed a vehicle in which his bags, medical kits and other items have been kept.

He said, “I want to sensitise people about physically and mentally disabled persons and above all, I want to ensure that people especially children learn traffic rules and strictly abide by them.”

Narayana, who is employed as a marketing executive at a transport company, opts to call himself a ‘Fabricator’. He designs special vehicles for physically disabled by modifying the ordinary vehicles.

Narayana has put a banner on his bike in which he has make an appeal to parents not to give vehicles to minors, use helmet while driving two-wheelers and not to talk on cell phones while driving. He has also make an appeal to get the blood group of bridegroom checked before marriage.

“Scientists says that same blood group of bride and groom may results in deformity of future generation so I have displayed this prominently,” he said. He intends to tour 25 countries across in West Asia, Africa and Europe. “After receiving visa from Delhi, I would to Mumbai from where I have planned to catch the flight to UAE,” Narayana said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Vinod Khanal / June 02nd, 2015

UP ‘miracle baby’ born at 750gm, fits into palm

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

Aligarh :

Doctors at a local medical facility in Aligarh are in disbelief as they attend to a baby who just 750 gm, and almost fits in the palm. Born pre-mature at seven months to Pinki, 20, from Chandaus village, the baby is said to be stable, but still under high-risk.

According to doctors, the normal birth weight of the baby should be around 2.6 kg and the condition is ‘extreme high-risk’ when the weight at birth is less than 1000 gm.

Gynecologist Anjula Bhargava, who delivered the baby said, “The mother had various complications when she came to us. So, we had to go ahead and deliver baby. At seven months, the baby should be at least 1.5 kg. This is a tiny baby with partly developed respiratory system, among other difficulties. He needs to be immediately shifted to a bigger facility to survive,” she says.

But the father of the baby, who’s a BSF jawan, is unable to afford the cost of the treatment outside Aligarh. Immediately after the birth, on May 21, when the family went looking a facility in town, they were simply turned down by because of the risk involved.

They finally managed to admit the baby at Aligarh’s Makhan Lal Hospital & Child Care Centre, where he’s presently undergoing treatment.

Child specialist at the Centre, Dr Sunil Gupta, said, “We took him only after making it clear that there is no guarantee of his survival, though we will give our best. In this case, the mortality rate is high. They told us how they spent hours looking for the right medical facility. All I can say is the child is lucky to survive with no medical care for hours after the birth. A normal child should weigh 2.5 kgs at the birth and lesser than 1.6 kg is low birth weight, and lesser than 1,000 gm is extreme low birth weight.”

At the centre, he is being continuously being supplied with oxygen to strengthen respiratory system. The treatment is also on to keep away Septicemia (blood infection), and to make sure that he tolerates feed, said Dr Gupta.

Uncle of the baby, Om Prakash, who is a farmer, said they were heartbroken when they first saw the baby. “We did not know where to go for help. We just wrapped him in a cloth and rushed from one medical centre to another in the scorching heat. When three centres turned us down, we lost hope. Now the doctors tells me his condition is improving,” he says.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / by Eram Agha, TNN / May 25th, 2015

Lucknow scientists find molecule that fights lifestyle diseases

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Science & Technology, World Opinion

A wonder molecule, isolated from a Himalayan tree, may hold the key to a new and efficient drug against diabetes and obesity.

The adiponectin hormone was discovered more than 15 years ago. But despite a large number of laboratory studies demonstrating its potential as a drug candidate, the molecule could not be exploited because of the logistical problems in creating the drug in laboratories.

Indian researchers have now come up with a solution to the problem. They have isolated a molecule from the Himalayan Elm tree that mimics adiponectin. The molecule is orally active, which means it can be developed as an orally consumable medicine.

The drug candidate was isolated from the stem-bark of Kashmir Elm, a tree found in mountains from Afghanistan to Nepal, including Kumaon and Garhwal in India. The tree grows at elevations of 800-3,000 m.

“Initial studies suggest that our molecule (called GTDF based on its long and complicated chemical name) is non-toxic. But we would prefer to do preclinical trial jointly with a company in large animals,” team leader Sabyasachi Sanyal from the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, told Deccan Herald.

Laboratory studies so far have demonstrated the molecule’s ability to tackle lifestyle diseases like diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity. However, it is early days as the drug development process can take anything between 15 and 20 years from the initial leads.

“It is an interesting piece of work that shows GTDF is an orally active adiponectin-receptor activator. The studies will prove a panacea in treating obesity as well as diabetes,” said Avadesha Surolia, an Indian Institute of Science professor not associated with the study.

The CDRI findings have been accepted for publication in American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes.

The Lucknow team stumbled upon the new properties of GTDF while researching on it as a bone-fracture-healing agent.

The same CDRI team in 2012 had reported on the new-bone-forming properties of GTDF, because of which it is being developed as an oral medicine for bone fracture. The technology was transferred to a US company, Kemextree, for drug development.

“While trying to decipher how it conducts its bone-forming activity, we identified it as an orally active small molecule that mimics the action of the hormone adiponectin,” said Sanyal.

The CDRI scientists further studied the compound’s medicinal properties in collaboration with the Zydus Research Centre, Ahmedabad, and the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> National / by Kalyan Ray, New Delhi / DHNS – June 11th, 2014

This two-wheeler won’t budge without helmet

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

His innovation has power to save lives. On Monday, Himanshu Garg, a student from Agra, received cash prize of Rs 5 lakh from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for developing a technology that ensures a motorcycle cannot start until the rider straps on a helmet.

For Himanshu, it is not his first experiment with practical science. His most recent innovation involves a bike that not does start unless the rider wears a helmet. More over, the engine’s power will be cut off if the helmet is removed during the ride.

The electronic fuse can be charged with a solar panel or mobile phone chargers. The price of the helmet, once the prototype is finalised and ready for commercial use, will be higher than of regular ones. Garg also said on Monday he had earlier developed a technology that could prevent train collisions by bringing a train to a halt at a 300 meter distance of each other if they were on the same track. He also said he was felicitated by former Railway minister Mamata Banerjee for his feat.

On Monday, the wiz kid demonstrated the technique in the presence of Akhilesh at the latter’s official residence. Lauding his efforts, the CM recommended that industry bodies like ASSOCHAM help commercialise the product. Announcing the award to facilitate more innovations by Garg, Akhilesh also said his government will set up an Innovation Fund to encourage scientific temper among students.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / April 07th, 2015

Visionaries narrate success stories

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders

Kanpur :

The Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT-Kanpur organised TEDx on Saturday. In this event, seven visionaries and performers from different fields narrated their stories before the audience both from IIT-Kanpur and the city.

The event started with a formal inauguration by IIT-K director Indranil Manna and Prof B V Phani. The first talk was given by Ad-man Abhijit Avasthi, followed by Amit Deshpal, a graduate from IIT-Madras in 2008 and joined the private equity arm of World Bank. Inspired by Tagore’s and Tolstoy’s thoughts on education, he quit his job a year later to start a learning space for children.

He spent nearly three years travelling around the country learning from different places and tried to understand meaning of education beyond formal schooling.

Talks were also delivered by renowned pantomime artist Padma Shri Niranjan Goswami and Anand Patwardhan, a critically acclaimed and socio-political documentary film-maker and activist. Other speakers were Irfan Alam, a social entrepreneur based in Patna working towards organising and empowering rickshaw-pullers through his organisation Sammaan, Aabid Surti, National Award winning author, artist and playwright-turned-environmentalist, Dipendra Manocha, founder of Saksham Trust that works towards developing communication devices for the visually impaired. The organisers of TEDx said that these talks may seed the notion of entrepreneurial zeal in individuals to think differently and act smartly. Many entrepreneurs and well-known people of the city attended the programme.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / TNN / March 29th, 2015

All women bus service in Lucknow

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Travel

Lucknow :

After earning accolades for the introduction of the 1090 Women Powerline in the state, the UP Government seems to have its eyes set on making UP women-friendly . Come May and Lucknow, along with five other cities in the state, are going to see the introduction of an exclusive intra-city bus service for the fairer sex. Tentatively called Sakhi, the buses would ply on the city roads just like the regular ones, but would cater exclusively to the ladies.

“We are aware that women face a lot of hassles while commuting in the city . Keeping this in mind, we have decided to launch an intra-city bus service exclusively for women. In a month’s time, Lucknow, along with Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Meerut, Agra and Mathura would have their own bus service for the women. There are similar services running in many Indian cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and other cities down South,” says Mukesh Meshram, Managing Director, Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation.

He adds, “The State Government has set up a Dedicated Urban Transportation Fund, which has a kitty of Rs 225 crore per annum. This money will be utilised for the procurement of new buses and improvement of infrastructure. The buses will be equipped with a vehicle tracking system, GPS and CCTV cameras. The conductor would also be a lady , but the driver, for the time being at least, would be a male. We were hoping to find female drivers, but we are yet to find them. The search is still on,” says Meshram.

The UPSRTC launched a similar service on February 27 called the Pink Express. However, that service is inter-city , with the all-ladies luxury bus, equipped with WiFi, CCTV cameras and GPS, plying between Lucknow and Ghaziabad.Initially started as a weekly service, the Pink Express is now set to operate daily between Lucknow and NCR from April 1.

`WON’T MIND USING PUBLIC TRANSPORT NOW’: Young female students of the city , who were till now wary of travelling in public transport in Lucknow, let alone buses, are all praises for the introduction of an allladies bus service in the city . Says Nandini Singh, a second-year English Literature student at Amity University , “I generally avoid using public transport in Lucknow. To commute to college too, I use a private van, or sometimes ask my father to drop me. Basically , I’m not very comfortable with the idea of travelling in public buses or auto rickshaws. But yes, with the introduction of such a service, I won’t mind travelling in it.”

For Hitisha Goel, a student of Lucknow University , public transport wasn’t even a choice, but she feels that the allwomen bus service initiative will have more women opening up to the idea of using public transport. “I would normally not use buses or autos, but with a service like this, obviously there is a sense of security that will come in. I won’t mind sitting in a bus like this now,” says Hitisha.

`FINALLY A SAFE ALTERNATIVE’: For city women, no mode of public transport is 100 percent secure. But a service catering to just the ladies would definitely change things to a large extent. “I live in a hostel, so I have no option but to use public transport. Till now, I was using auto rickshaws because they’re relatively safer than buses. Only twice have I travelled in a bus in the city . But whether I’m in an auto or a bus, I have to cover my face with a dupatta all the time. Men just stare at you or in worse cases, even grope. So a facility like this is a blessing in disguise. I will definitely skip the autos and use this,” says Vatsala Pushpender, a thirdyear dentistry student at BBD University .

“People think that travelling on a rickshaw is safer than travelling in a bus, but I’ve experienced eve-teasing on a cycle rickshaw too. So in those terms, this bus service will definitely solve the purpose.But I just hope that they maintain a certain standard of hygiene in the buses, something which is absent in public transport,” says Anupriya Agarwal, an entrepreneur in her twenties.

`NO HAGGLING WITH THE AUTOWALLAHS’:Anurita Sinha, a third year English Honours student at Lucknow University , feels that the service will not only be safe, but also easy on the pocket. “I normally commute using auto rickshaws. This all-women’s bus service is definitely a brilliant idea. Obviously they will be much safer and cheap too, which autos in the city aren’t. The autowallahs charge an arbitrary amount and don’t go by the meter. I don’t travel by bus just coz of the safety factor, even though it’s extremely cheap. This service will really ease things out,” says Anurita.

Sadaf Zaidi, a first year student at Lucknow University, is also thrilled that there’ll be finally some respite from the autos. “So to say, the autos are private, but the drivers stuff so many people in one auto. In buses, even though there are specific seats reserved for ladies, men sit there and refuse to budge. So this will be a great relief,” says Sadaf.

`HOPE THEY MAINTAIN THE FREQUENCY’: Apurva Tewari, an engineer in her twenties, hopes that the service will have a high frequency for it be feasible. “I remember a similar service starting in Lucknow a couple of years ago, but since the frequency was very less, it was stopped.But the buses were always full. I hope this time they initiate the service with a high frequency of buses which have a fixed timetable. It’ll really reinstate my faith in public transport in Lucknow,” says Apurva, who has to turn towards auto rickshaws when using public transport. She adds, “Autos turn out to be very expensive, so it’s going to be feasible on that front too.”

“I hope these buses will ply at night also. That way , the problem of us travelling alone at night will be solved. It will instil a sense of security among girls,” shares Garima Singh, a second year Arts student at IT College.

source:http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Saloni Tandon, TNN / March 30th, 2015