Dr Alok Shukla is among those civil servants who received awards for excellence in public administration from the prime minister on April 21. As secretary, food and civil supplies department, Chhattisgarh, he, along with two of his colleagues, has been credited with turning the much-maligned PDS into a success story.
By remembering the great naturalists of this country, people try to rekindle the slowly extinguishing fire that these men had once ignited in their minds. If some of these great men were great human beings as well, we remember them with greater affection and love. Jim Corbett, one of India's foremost conservationists, stands in the category of being a great and noble human being too.
The fonio-husking machine, invented by Rolex Laureate and mechanical engineer Sanoussi Diakite, is helping prevent a delicious, West African cereal from disappearing. His machine is liberating villagers, especially women, from the traditional, labour-intensive process of preparing fonio by hand.
One Indian woman's enduring commitment to improving the living standards of the rural communities of Kutch, a remote and poor region in India;s far north-west, has fundamentally transformed the lives of thousands of women.
On your inspiration I studied engineering, but was convinced I was not meant for it. During my stint with Ford Foundation, I worked with a doctor couple from Johns Hopkins University, USA. They were training rural women in Maharashtra as community health workers. I realized that is exactly what I wanted to do. On PRADAN I conceived of the organization, but Vijay Mahajan, the
K R Datye, a civil engineer by profession, worked for more than half a century on ideas for the water, energy and infrastructure sectors, ideas that were based on a vision for India of a sustainable, equitable and a democratic agro-industrial society. A critical appraisal of KRD
Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (not their real names) are the frontmen for the Yes Men. They got together to set up parody websites such as www.gwbush.com and graduated to huge anti-corporate, culture-jamming stunts targeting giants such as ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical. Their latest film, The Yes Men Fix the World, is showing now all over the UK and in the US later in October.
Green Systems was set up in the belief that a small business with a clear mission could deliver honest advice, make a difference and be satisfying to run. It was a model different from most. It saw environmental problems both as a concern and an opportunity. A lean and spirited company with expertise could help corporations with mega footprints clean up their act.
