Category Archives: Inspiration / Positive News and Features

SP Shamli to get fifth gallantry award

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All

Meerut:

Governor Ram Naik on behalf of President Pranab Mukherjee on April 1 will confer the Shaurya Padak, a gallantry award, to superintendent of police in Shamli district Vijay Bushan.

This will be the fifth gallantry award of Bhushan’s career. He will receive the award for showing “extraordinary courage” during an encounter with five kidnappers who had abducted a businessman’s son. The incident took place in 2007, when Bhushan posted in Lucknow as ASP (Special Forces).

According to SP Bhushan, in February 2007, one Praveen, a student of Class IV had been kidnapped by some miscreants who demanded Rs 50 lakh as ransom to release him. “That time I was ASP in the STF. The news had stunned the entire city and traders kept their shops closed for 10 days in press for the boy’s recovery,” he told TOI.

The STF got a tip-off that the boy was held hostage at Ramnagar of Barabanki district. When Bhushan, a sub inspector and a constable were trying to secure an ebntry into the house through the roof, the kidnappers opened fire at them. However, police countered the attack, rescued the boy after shooting down two of the kidnappers. Three of the kidnappers were nabbed during the encounter.

For showing indomitable courage, the names of Bhushan and a DSP, Shah Raseed Khan, were recommended for gallantry award.

On April 1, he would be honoured by the governor on behalf of the President at a ceremony in Lucknow. Bhushan has bagged the Shaurya Padak four times earlier during his career. He has also led an operation against Naxalites. UP government had sent him to Australia to get training to deal with terrorist attack and similar situations.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Meerut / by Pankul Sharma / TNN / March 26th, 2016

Smriti March to remember first war of independence

Amazing Feats, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All

Varanasi :

Volunteers of a social organization carried out ‘1857 Smriti March’ in the city on Tuesday to mark the March 29, 1857 when Mangal Pandey, a native of Ballia district and soldier in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment of the British East India Company, rebelled at Barrackpore and attacked British officers. It was the first major incident known as sepoy mutiny or the first war of independence.

Displaying the portraits of 1857 war heroes with national flags and raising slogans the volunteers carried out the march from Varunanagaram colony to Cultural Complex, Chowkaghat. Recalling the day as the first war of India’s independence, they remembered Mangal Pandey for the great uprising in the country.

According to records, at Barrackpore on the afternoon of March 29, 1857 Mangal Pandey attacked British officers of BNI. At that time the company had introduced new rifles, which used animal fat for greasing the cartridges. Mangal Panday refused to use the greased cartridges and broke into open mutiny and urged his fellow soldiers comrades to join him. Surrounded by guards and European officers, he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself and was seriously wounded. He was court-martialled, and hanged at Barrackpore on April 8, 1857. Indian Posts & Telegraphs Department issued commemorative stamp on him in 1984.

Later, Ballia became popular as ‘Bagi Ballia’ when it declared itself independent in 1942. To mark the occasion every year on August 19, people assemble at the gate of district jail and carry out a procession across the town. The procession culminates at Bapu Bhawan, Town Hall where a public meeting is held.

Known for rebellious nature, people of Ballia took active part in Quit India movement of August 9,1942. According to district records, during this period local natives and students took out processions, attacked the Bilthara Road Railway Station, Rasra treasury and Bairia police station.

Chittu Pandey headed the national government declared and established on August 19, 1942 for a few days before it was suppressed by the British. The parallel government succeeded in getting the Collector to hand over power and release all the arrested Congress leaders.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Varanasi / by Binay Singh / TNN / March 29th, 2016

City biker becomes first solo woman to cross Mana Pass

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, Travel

Agra :

She did not stop after scaling eight Himalayan mountain passes, all above 5,000 metre, last year.

Pallavi Fauzdar, 35, from Agra became the first woman solo biker in the Limca Book of Records to reach the tip of Mana pass in Uttarakhand, arguably the world’s highest motorable mountain pass.

Mana rises to a staggering altitude of 5,638 m (18,497 ft) above sea level, on the border between India and Tibet, and is reckoned as one of the most difficult biking trails.

“I received the acknowledgement and a certificate from Limca earlier this week”, said an elated Pallavi.

Mother of two kids, Pallavi is married to Parikshit Mishra, an Army officer, who has been extremely supportive of her passion for biking. “My family do have apprehensions whenever I set off for my expeditions alone but they also have confidence in my abilities,” she said.

Pallavi rides an Avenger and said she had been passionate about biking for several years and the travel bug had bitten her early. Packed with a pepper spray to ward off miscreants and a GPS device to ensure she is not lost, Pallavi set off for her Himalayan journey of seven days.

Describing the expedition as ‘arduous’ involving inclined boulder tracks, numerous water crossings, snow-covered roads and low oxygen levels, Pallavi said biking has always given her an adrenaline rush.

“As a child, I was passionate about motorcycling and I’m lucky to be married to Parikshit who has been always supportive of my endeavours”, she said, while adding that the toughest part of the long and tiring road trips was leaving her kids and family. She also attributes a ‘divine intervention’ in her success.

Pallavi is also the first female rider to reach Deo Tal Lake, located at 17,950 ft, one of the world’s highest.

When not biking, this adventure lover is also an accomplished fashion designer, a social worker and a Rekki practitioner.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Agra / Anju Jaswal / TNN / March 27th, 2016

Forbes Asia’s ‘Top 30 Under 30’ features Lucknow entrepreneur

Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion
Twenty-nine-year-old Anshulika Dubey’s name figures in the finance and venture capital segment. (HT photo)
Twenty-nine-year-old Anshulika Dubey’s name figures in the finance and venture capital segment. (HT photo)

Lucknow resident Anshulika Dubey (29), the co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of Wishberry.in, made it to the elite list of Forbes Asia ‘Top 30-under-30’, which was announced on Thursday.

Wishberry.in is the country’s first crowdfunding platform for creative projects.

The Forbes magazine’s list features the top 300 young, promising leaders and their enterprises that have emerged as game-changers in 10 different sectors. Dubey’s name figures in the finance and venture capital segment.

An overjoyed Dubey told Hindustan Times: “I got an email in the morning from Forbes Asia editor informing that I’ve made it to the Asia ‘Top 30 under 30’ list. It was a pleasant surprise and took time to sink in.”

She added: “I had made it to the semi-finals last month. My father was eagerly waiting to find out the final result and he would ask me about it almost every day. So, I called my father and mother. They were very happy.”
As for Dubey’s venture, the numbers speak for themselves.

More than 250 ideas were received on Wishberry.in in about four years and $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore) funding was made by about 12,000 people from around the globe.

This funding is three times more than the funding of all projects handled by its Indian competitors put together and has a 67% funding success rate.

The concept fascinated her so much that she left a job opportunity in the US and started India’s first crowdfunding platform for creative artists, with her co-founder and ex-McKinsey consultant Priyanka Agarwal, in 2012.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Lucknow / by Rajeev Mullick, Hindustan Times, Lucknow / February 26th, 2016

No bhajans, this UP temple gives out railway info

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Travel
Retired govt employee Raj Narain Mishra has been offering the service for the past 28 years
Retired govt employee Raj Narain Mishra has been offering the service for the past 28 years

Kanpur :

A retired government employee in Rura village of Kanpur Dehat district has been offering free railway information service to people for the past 28 years through the public address system of a temple.

Gradually, he has even switched on to WhatsApp and earned the sobriquet ‘Train wale Baba ji’.

Raj Narain Mishra is running a parallel railway enquiry system in his village to help locals get up early and leave for railway station on time to catch trains,” said Jai Ram, deputy station superintendent of Rura.

Mishra used to work as a lab assistant from Ganesh Shanker Vidhyarthi Memorial Medical College.

“Nearly 500 people from various localities of Rura wake up early only after hearing Mishra, who uses a loudspeaker and WhatsApp to update them about movement of trains,” said a school teacher. “The timing of trains keeps on changing. But Mishra keeps us updated,” said Golden Singh.

Mishra said he launched the initiative when he was working at GSVM Medical College in Kanpur and used to travel daily between Rura and Kanpur

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / by Faiz Rahman Siddiqui / TNN / February 29th, 2016

4 French among recipients of Laxmibai award

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

Lucknow :

Four women from France, who toured across India in an auto-rickshaw, will be among 45 to be presented the Rani Laxmibai Award by the Uttar Pradesh government on International Women’s Day on March 8.

There will also be two women from outside the state as recipients of the award to be given away by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Anhita Sriprasad is being awarded for having travelled across India from -Leh to Kanyakumari – on a bicycle. The chief minister contacted her on finding her profile on social media .

Nidhi Tewari is another woman of substance who is being felicitated for being solo driving from Delhi to London. Besides being the first woman to go on a 23,800-km trans-continental drive km from Delhi to London, driven a jeep in the Western Ghats, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh in India and in the US, South Africa and Kenya.

The French girls to be awarded are Juliet Phinete, Julion Chopin, Charleto Hinero and Caroline who had been to Lucknow in their auto-rickshaw.

This is for the first time that this award is being given to women outside the country and from outside the state. Principal secretary, women and child welfare department, Renuka Kumar said that about half of the awardees would be women gram pradhans,.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / February 28th, 2016

IIT Kanpur alumnus given key World Bank position

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, World Opinion
Saroj Kumar Jha is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur. (Photo courtesy: Jha’s Twitter handle)
Saroj Kumar Jha is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur. (Photo courtesy: Jha’s Twitter handle)

An Indian has been appointed to a key position in the World Bank with President Jim Young Kim assigning him a role to provide strategic leadership to address the challenge of fragility, conflict and violence.

Saroj Kumar Jha is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Jha till last week was World Bank’s Regional Director for Central Asia based in Almaty since February 2012.

Jha assumed the position of Senior Director for the Fragility, Conflict and Violence Group at the World Bank yesterday.

Jha has been tasked by World Bank President Jim Young Kim to provide strategic leadership to address the challenge of fragility, conflict and violence, working across the Bank Group and in close collaboration with partners.

An Indian national, Jha joined the World Bank in 2005 as a Senior Infrastructure Specialist in the Sustainable Development Network, after significant experience with the Indian Government and the United Nation’s Development Program (UNDP) as a senior executive in the field of public sector management, infrastructure financing, natural resources management, natural disaster prevention and environmental sustainability.

He supported transformative innovations in regional cooperation, water and energy security, social safety nets, inclusive governance and grievance redress mechanisms in various regions of the world.

Earlier, Jha worked as the World Bank’s Global Manager for Disaster Risk Management Practice.

He also served as head of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, now the world’s largest global fund for disaster prevention and post-disaster recovery operations.

In addition, he has led international response efforts to many global catastrophic disasters, the bank said.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home / PTI, Washington / February 02nd, 2016

Amitabh bags LU’s gold medal

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Lucknow:

Winner of Chakravarti medal and Chancellor’s Bronze medal in 2013 and 2014 respectively, Amitabh Srivastava is now the recipient of Lucknow University’s prestigious Chancellor’s gold medal for the year 2015, awarded for the best student in all the faculties. A law student, Amitabh scored 73.8% in LLb (hons). He is now pursuing LLM from National Law University, Bangalore.

It’s a perfect New Year gift I could have ever thought of. It’s a dream come true,” said Amitabh, who got to know about his medal from the media while he was in his hostel. I got to know it from the reporters, who started calling me,” said he. Amitabh will be given the medal on January 31 when LU will hold its convocation.

Hailing from Faizabad, Amitabh has participated in several moot court competitions. In a national moot court competition, Amitabh won the first runner-up award.

Son of Raj Kumar Srivastava, a court commissioner, Amitabh’s mother Anuradha Srivastava is a government teacher in Faizabad. From cleaning river Gomti to particpating in co-curricular activities like singing, quiz competition, Amitabh has actively participated in social and extra-currcicular activities. Also, he has to his credit a research paper, which is published in a journal of international repute. He has represented his university in various moot courts.

Apoorv Dev has bagged the Chancellor’s Silver Medal which is awarded to the best student among all students in all faculties in post-graduate classes. Parvish Fatima has bagged the Chancellor’s Silver Medal for being the best woman student in the university. Apoorv, a national volleyball player is currently in final year LLb. He has participated in national rifle shooting competition.

Dr Chakravarti Gold medal has been awarded to Rajat Shukla. The Chakravarti medal is given to the student who is of good behaviour and is found to have been most helpful in the general social life of the university. Rajat, also from faculty of law has also participated in several national and international moot courts. Besides, he has organised legal aid camps, and has worked as volunteers in National Human Rights Commission.

The 10 Chancellor’s Bronze Medal awarded to the best student in different faculties are Shivani Singh and Manvi Tripathi in arts, Shalini Jaiswal and Vibhvantika in science, Arpita Saxena and Shubhagi Dubey in commerce, Pranav Tripathi and Shivangi Tiwari in law, Pramod Kumar and Arti Singh in fine arts.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / January 26th, 2016

36-hr record broken, team eyes 51 hours

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

Lucknow:

The level of enthusiasm and energy in the group of 10 boys from Bulandshahr knew no bounds on second day of the 51-hour long cleanliness drive and late Sunday evening they broke their own record of 36 hours of continuous cleaning in Sikanderabad.

Undeterred by harsh weather, the group that arrived in the city with the dream of concluding successfully a cleaning session of 51 hours, kept motivating people and sweeping lanes and markets of Aminabad even after two days and two nights of hard work.

Locals not only supported the volunteers and participated with them but also took inspiration and vowed to maintain cleanliness around them.

A student and Aminabad resident Prakhar Rastogi, utilised his Sunday in the most apt manner. Inspired by these young men from Bulandshahr, Prakhar called his friends and joined hands with the group for the noble cause. “We found it exciting and at the same time very constructive to make such efforts. We are going to repeat it on the coming Sundays,” he said.

Gaurav Hinduja from Asian Book of World Records was present at the spot and maintained account of their efforts. The group is expected to get a mention in the book once they complete the drive. The district administration has provided an ambulance at the spot in case of emergency.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / January 25th, 2016

‘My parents’ dream has come true’

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

Lucknow:

A farmer’s son, Sumit Kumar, who bagged a gold medal for securing highest marks in agricultural engineering in APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University is an example to prove no dream is too big.

A native of Jahangirabad in UP’s Bulandshahr, Kumar pursued his engineering from Aligarh College of Engineering and Technology. Since he couldn’t afford the hostel fees, he lived in a small rented room, near the college. “Living near the college saved my traveling expenses,” said Sumit.

“It’s a moment to celebrate as my parents’ dream has come true. My father always encouraged me to study agricultural engineering and help farmers who are in an extremely poor condition,” said Sumit, who now aims to pursue MTech from IIT and then get into research. Sumit’s father Anil Kumar, a class X drop-out, took a loan to fund his son’s education. “My father could only manage to pay fees for the first year. He borrowed to fund rest of my education,” said Sumit, who is looking for a scholarship for his MTech course. Sumit’s mother Rajesh Devi is uneducated.

With a meager income of Rs 8,000 per month, it was a challenge for Anil to educate his two sons. “Because of climate change, we have lost 70% of our crops. We don’t have grains even for our consumption and will have to purchase from others,” said Anil. Living in a one-room semi-pucca house in Bulandshahr, Sumit completed his class X and XII from UP board in Jahangirabad. He secured 62% in class X and 75% in class XII.

On the occasion, governor Ram Naik, Chancellor of state universities, appreciated the Indian outfit worn by the students. “The caps attached to the black gowns caused inconvenience in receiving the medals. The Indian dress looks good and is comfortable,” said Naik.

The university also conferred honoris causa on ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / January 24th, 2016