Changemakers

In Jaisalmer, Kritigiya Champawat runs Thar Ki Udaan, setting up village training centres across the Thar desert to help 700–800 women learn skills, earn incomes, and support their families despite restrictions like purdah and limited access to education.

After spending years selling oranges at a bus stand in Karnataka, Harekala Hajabba helped establish a school in his village so children would not grow up without education as he did.

Every summer, as water sources disappear across Punjab’s Shivalik forests, Harpal Singh Pali drives deep into the hills with his personal tanker to refill water holes for wildlife — a mission he has sustained alone for 15 years.

Neena Gupta’s journey of supporting her child, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, led her to start the Margika Foundation to provide training and capacity-building to caregivers of children with autism and other neurodivergent disorders.

Rithika Sri from Salem, Tamil Nadu, once feared losing her cricket dream if she revealed her truth. Today, she is India’s first trans woman cricket umpire, officiating matches and aiming for the BCCI panel.

The viral ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ has everyone talking. But behind the viral discourse are young volunteers who dressed as cockroaches and cleaned garbage from Delhi’s Yamuna River, drawing attention to pollution through an unusual act of civic activism.

Since 2003, one man's free coaching programme in Miyapur has taken over 1,500 children of security guards and domestic workers through school, diploma, and engineering — at zero cost to their families.

In Ghatotand, children were travelling long distances or dropping out as coal mining expansion pushed schools away. Nitesh Kumar came home from Bengaluru to build a school nearby, where village children now study for Rs 800 a month.

When Uttar Pradesh’s Manorama River became choked with plastic and waste, 21-year-old Aakash Gupta began cleaning it himself. In 39 days, he and a small team removed over 500 kg of garbage, slowly bringing the dying river back to life.

With temperatures touching 45.6°C in Akola, Maharashtra, the Akola Garden Club launched the ‘Tree Lifeline Water Chariot’ to water and preserve mature trees, inspiring residents to protect urban greenery as heatwaves intensify across Indian cities.