AOG Heroes

CBR Prasad

CBR Prasad

Ex-IAF Officer donates Rs 1.08 crore to the Indian Army:

CBR Prasad, a 74-year-old retired airman who has donated almost entire savings of his life to the Ministry of Defence. Prasad met defence minister Rajnath Singh and handed over the cheque of Rs 1.08 crore to him.

Prasad after serving in the Indian Air Force (IAF) for 9 years left his post to join the Indian Railways as he was offered a job there. Unfortunately, he did not get that job, so he started a small poultry farm for my livelihood which paid off.

Prasad started poultry farming and worked hard for 30 years. Intending to help society, he has also set up a sports university. Prasad served in the IAF for around nine years before he left it.
Asked if his family approved the idea, the retired air-warrior says, “Absolutely, no problem. I have given my daughter 2 per cent of my property and one per cent to my wife. Rest 97 per cent, I am giving back to the society

“You should not take back anything because you did not get anything while coming. Give that minimum needed to your family and the rest to the society and rest of the life work for the society,” he added.

In retrospect, he recalls his days of struggle and states, “I left home with Rs 5 in my pocket and earned 500-acre land with my bare hard work. I have given 5-acre to my wife and 10-acre to my daughter and rest everything, I am utilising for the society”

CBR Prasad
Muthayya Vanitha

Muthayya Vanitha

Women behind the Chandrayaan-2 Mission:

Chandrayaan-2, India’s Moon mission, has been launched from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. Chandrayaan-2 is India’s second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1. Developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), this mission was led by two women scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Muthayya Vanitha, Project Director, was leading the Chandryaan-2 and on the other hand, Ritu Karidhal was working as Mission Director. On the other hand, Mission Director Ritu Karidhal was earlier working as Deputy Director of the Mars Mission. This was the first time that women power is heading this much of highly important ISRO mission.

GSLV Mk-III-M-1 is carrying three robotics to the Moon on 22 July 2019 at 2.43 PM IST. It consists of a lunar orbiter, lander and rover, all developed in India. The main scientific objective is to map the location and abundance of lunar water.

Muthayya Vanitha & Ritu Karidhal have been associated with ISRO, for the last two decades. Before this, they were part of several launches as well as the advancement of sub-systems for satellites. ISRO has earlier had women project directors for the launch of communication and other satellites.

Muthayya Vanitha
Anand Kumar

Anand Kumar

Super 30, a super Art Of Giving:

Anand Kumar is an Indian educationalist and a mathematician best known for his Super 30 programme, which coaches underprivileged students for IIT-JEE, the entrance examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

He was born to a simple homemaker and a clerk in the postal department in Patna, Bihar. Unable to buy private schools, Anand Kumar studied in a Hindi-medium government school. The death of his father at a young age pushed the family into deep financial crisis, where his mother had to start the business of rolling papads to sustain the family. Despite his financial circumstances, Kumar was a gifted child, especially in mathematics. The papers he wrote on the number theory during his graduation were published in journals such as Mathematical Spectrum and The Mathematical Gazette.

In 1992, Kumar began teaching mathematics in a rented room for Rs. 500 a month, under the banner- Ramanujan School of Mathematics (RSM). In a span of three years, he was teaching almost 500 students. In 2002, an underprivileged student sought to coach for IIT-JEE from Kumar, stating he couldn’t afford the annual admission fee.

This inspired Kumar to start the Super 30 programme in 2002, which hunts for 30 meritorious students from economically backward sections of the society. In an extremely generous feat of Art Of giving, Kumar provides free coaching, shelter and food to help the students crack entrance exam of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). By 2018, 422 out of 480 students had cleared the entrance for IITs under his supervision. The man’s work inspired Hritik Roshan’s, Super 30 under the banner of Phantom Films.

Anand Kumar
Harjinder Singh

Harjinder Singh

Harjinder Singh’s ambulance auto, a selfless act of giving:

76-year-old Harjinder Singh’s auto’s back cover reads “Free ambulance for injured in a road accident.” Written in red capital letters, the sentence makes his auto stand out from the rest on busy Delhi roads. Former traffic warden, Mr Singh runs what is perhaps the only ‘auto ambulance’ in the city’.

Art of Giving is all about creating an unconditional and sustainable abundance of love, peace and happiness and contentment for others through gestures of kindness and generosity. Harinder Singh’sselfless art of giving has proved that the “purpose” to help people is greater than age and circumstances.

Running a regular auto as an ambulance for those victimized in accidents or needing emergency services, Singh has helped hundreds of people in Delhi and saved multiple lives.

“I cannot be omnipresent, but till my last breath, I will continue helping accident victims and provide medication to them free of cost,” Singh told the media.

 

76-year-old Harjinder Singh’s auto’s back cover reads “Free ambulance for injured in a road accident.” Written in red capital letters, the sentence makes his auto stand out from the rest on busy Delhi roads. Former traffic warden, Mr Singh runs what is perhaps the only ‘auto ambulance’ in the city'. “I cannot be omnipresent, but till my last breath, I will continue helping accident victims and provide medication to them free of cost,” Singh told the media. Team #AOG salutes the effort of Harinder Singh. His selfless #actofgiving has proved that the "will" to help people is greater than age and circumstances.

Art of Giving यांनी वर पोस्ट केले शुक्रवार, १२ जुलै, २०१९
Harjinder Singh
Akshara Santa

Akshara Santa

(The saint of letters)

Like the name suggests, “Santa” was actually a boon that children wished for, just this time, SANTA is for real. And this time his gifts are more than candies and cakes, this time a common man rises from illiteracy to the stardom of knowledge.

Meet Harekala Hajabba a man from Mangalore, Karnataka and an orange vendor, who had the courage to spend to spend years of savings to start a school in the region he came from so that the children there could get educated.

The unselfish man kept saving money for 15 long years from his every day earning to support the cause. Walking down a trip of 25 km daily from his native village to Mangaluru city to sell oranges and eventually starting the school with mere 28 students and a strong desire to educate every child in the village, Hajaba began the school at a Madrasa- an educational premise most often in premises of a Mosque.

Today, the school, which has grown with government hold up and donations from private folks are known as Hajabba School. He is affectionately known as ‘ Akshara Santa’.

Akshara Santa
Shamsher Khan

Shamsher Khan

In 1956, Khan had become a national hero for finishing in the 5th place in the Melbourne Summer Olympics. The thing is no-one remembers who stands second so why heed someone who stood 5th. But the fact remains in the number of hour of pain, sacrifices and fighting up the screwed political hierarchy.

Before that, he had also set national records in all four swimming strokes as well as in water polo and diving, making him the only Indian to do so. In a country like India and at this 21st century,  where sports isn’t ever on the list of favorable career as of now, Shamsher khan dared to go on to the Olympics fighting the system and people.

Though no one remembers the person who came second, we should acknowledge this extraordinary man who could dive in( literally) to work against a sports disregarding country.

Shamsher Khan passed away from heart failure on 15 October 2017. Take a moment to be proud of an Indian who was a proud yet unsung Indian hero.

Shamsher Khan
Mrs. Rajani Tai

Mrs. Rajani Tai

EDUCATION ON MOVE

Mrs. Rajani Tai, post 15 years of graduation, which was also 15 years of her married life, went back to college to get a Master’s degree in Social Work. She then joined as a professor in College of Social Work, Mumbai and then taught at Shikoku Christian University, Japan. She mainly taught subjects revolving around Indian social problems and international social welfare.

After two decades of working as a professor, she officially started a- Door Step School (DSS) in Pune (1993).

Door step school aims to make 100 percent literacy a reality. This is a group of people, Targeting children from age 3 to 18 (mainly children of migrant workers), teach the children even if there is no place to conduct the classes (sometimes conducting classes on pavements or road construction sites or railway stations and the like).

In an interview, Rajani Tai said, “We go where ever the children are and start the class right there”.  The Doorstep School has today become a 750+ member organization that serves more than 30,000 underprivileged kids. Though Rajani Tai had a stable job she quit on an easy life just to aid kids in need. She started small and now DSS is no less than a miracle.

This is the thing about heroes, they create miracles out of scrap.

 

Mrs. Rajani Tai
 Dr Ritu Biyani

 Dr Ritu Biyani

HIGHWAY INFINITE BEYOND CANCER

Dr Ritu Biyani, Founder director, Highway Infinite (Breast Cancer Survivor)

HEROES have a journey and hers’ is one! 48-year-old Ritu Biyani Joseph is a breast cancer survivor. Well, she is more than a survivor. She is an art of heroism that every struggler should look up to.

“I took photographs of myself bald. How many people get to do that other than models? I never wore a wig or tied a scarf. I flaunted my new look.” She explained in an interview.

Ritu Biyani was the first women from her conservative Marwari community to join the Indian army, the first woman paratrooper from the Dental Corps. The taboo of breast cancer is so much to do with the looks of women, both physically and emotionally and here. She not only defeated breast cancer but also the taboo attached to women on basis of looks, characters and professor.

Heroic is what a person does to a point when no one acts. In an inspiring journey in 2006 Ritu and her then 14-year-old daughter, Tista, drove through 30,220 km in 177 days across the four tips of India and some of the highest motor-able roads in the world to conduct over 140 breast, cervix and oral cancer awareness workshops. The mother-daughter duo innovatively used basic ICT tools such as PPT presentations, LCD projectors, community mikes and SMS to convey their message, keeping the narrative visual and interesting. The mother-daughter duo introduced technology to people even before they thought they needed it.

After working for a prolonged period “Highway Infinite” (Breast Cancer Survivor) thirty-three projects from across India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were recognized for their contribution. Irrespective of being recognized Ritu and her daughter were more of a change-maker than a marketer. Hers is a journey to cherish beyond looks, stereotypes & eventually cancer.

 

 Dr Ritu Biyani
Dashrath Manjhi

Dashrath Manjhi

THE MAN
VS.
THE MOUNTAIN

Steve jobs rightly quoted, “Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world usually do”.

Being poor or the feeling of powerlessness didn’t stop Dashrath Manjhi to break a mountain down. Dashrath Manjhi, also known as Mountain Man, was a poor labourer in Gehlaur village, in Bihar. He carved a path 360 ft long, 30 ft wide and 25 ft deep through a hillock using only a hammer and chisel.

The Gehlour hills are a low-but-treacherous spine of mountainous terrain that once divided the settlements and services on either side. In fact, many villagers from Manijhi’s town had to trek for miles around the hills just to reach their fields and schools.

It all started when, Faguni Devi slipped and seriously injured herself, While crossing Gehlour hills to bring manjhi lunch, which eventually led to her death. The nearest medical facility was over 64.374 kilometres away and Devi perished shortly after her accident. Manjhi vowed to carve a path through the Gehlour hills so that his village could have easier access to medical attention, that very night.

When he began the mad task he was mocked upon by the villagers but that didn’t stop him. And 22 years later manjhi did the impossible. He shortened the travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km.

In 2015, a Hindi movie Manjhi – The Mountain Man was released where Nawazuddin Siddique portrayed the character of Manjhi.

Though not much is talked about Manjhi, he is still an undoubted hero through the art of giving. He gave up the most important of all things in life – 22 years of his life to save people from furthermore damage.

Dashrath Manjhi
ANITA NARRE

ANITA NARRE

BE BRAVE
BE GIVING
BE HERO! 

“A UN study found that more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet”
This article is about a woman who left her in-laws’ house because it had no toilet. Residents of the village of Zitudhana (Madhya Pradesh) defecated in the open. It was a custom of the whole village. And who would dare change decades of orthodoxy?
ANITA NARRE.
Anita Narre left the household of Shivram, a labourer, after her marriage because the house had no toilet. She returned only once he had built one with help from district officials.
Anita’s unusual determination led to a great change in sanitation in the region because other women followed her lead and demanded toilets in their homes, doing what years of government campaigns could not do, setting an example.
Anita place, not very different from her in-laws was 15km away, but her father’s house had a toilet. Her father stood by his daughter when she returned home two days after her wedding. ‘My daughter was not doing anything wrong,’ he said. He was not afraid of people’s disapproval, he said because he was aware of the government scheme to build toilets and was confident that his son-in-law would meet the request.
Shivram appealed to the Gram Panchayat for financial help and eventually after a lot of protest from orthodox appeals he built a toilet for her wife. She dramatically brought the issue of sanitation to everyone’s attention for the first time. Since then, she has become an ambassador for sanitation campaigns at the district level.
A Bollywood film called toilet-Ek Prem Katha was loosely based on Anita Narre and her husband shivram, staring bhumi pednekar and Akshay Kumar.

ANITA NARRE