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Looking for the lost plate

Innovator: Nekram Sharma Vocation: Sustainable farmer and handloom promoter Location: Karsog, Himachal Pradesh Our latest parinda, Nekram Sharma, hails from a family of farmers in Karsog, Himachal Pradesh. After he completed his education, he, too, joined his family in farming activities. In early 1990s, the Himachal government had launched a literacy campaign; and — always one to help others — Nekram ji associated himself with this initiative. While he continued farming, he also visited various villages to educate people. It was during this period that he came across some academicians and social workers from the state who opened his eyes towards, and gave him a deeper understanding of, the plight…

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From outside to inside

Innovator: Navin Pangti Vocation: Designer, writer & farmstay owner Location: Almora, Uttarakhand Our latest parindey are members of a family that has decided to stay away from the fast-moving city life and settle down in a village. In this village, they are not only reconnecting with their roots but they are also working with the local artisans to help create an identity for their art and improve their livelihood. Navin Pangti hails from Munsiyari region of Uttarakhand. It wasn’t long after Navin entered an engineering school that he realised something was amiss. But he wasn’t sure; and he couldn’t see a clear road ahead of him either. So he graduated…

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Heal the World

Innovator: Vipin Gupta Vocation: Natural healer Location: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh If a healthy person is made to believe that he/she is unwell, the health care industry can earn a lot of money. Pharmaceutical companies, for years, have been playing this game and enjoying. Due to the various chemicals consumed by a human, through various preservatives and products, fever, cold and cough are common. Usually, these “ailments” make our body stronger. Fever, for example, pushes a lot of toxins out of our body. When we pop pills into our body, it restricts these toxins from being released. Pharmaceutical companies, however, have been instilling fear into our minds and have termed this…

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Building the self-reliance of farmers

Innovator: Vivek Chaturvedi Vocation: Zero-carbon footprint farmer Location: Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh There was a time when money was everything for our latest parinda, Vivek Chaturvedi. In fact, he spent a major chunk of life just trying to earn more and more money. To earn more returns, Vivek even invested in a piece of land a few years ago. Sometimes after buying the plot of land, he got a chance to participate in a workshop on Jeevan Vidya (Life Lessons). At this workshop, Vivek saw new perspectives of looking at life — and that was a new start for him. Instead of focusing on money, he started focusing on the value…

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The Elrhino Effect

Innovators: Nisha Bora & Mahesh Chandra Bora Vocation: Eco-friendly paper producers Location: Guwahati, Assam Our latest parindey is a daughter-father duo, Nisha Bora and Mahesh Chandra Bora, who make paper. The USP of this paper is that it is made from the poop of rhinoceroses and elephants — so yes, eco-friendly. So what motivated them to start this enterprise? The vision to preserve one-horned Asian rhinos! Eighty per cent of the world’s one-horned rhinos are found in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where unfortunately the numbers of rhinos are dropping drastically. Besides the environmental reasons of changes to their original habitat, there are several other reasons for their diminishing…

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Saving wildlife to save mankind

Innovator: Bhagwan Senapati Vocation: Installation artist and wildlife conservationist Location: Nagaon, Assam In a recent study, researchers from the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London have stated that two-thirds of Earth’s wildlife will be lost by 2020. Our mountains, forests, rivers, oceans, elephants, rhinoceroses, whales and thousands of other flora and fauna are in danger today. The research further states that this extinction of species and damage to the natural surroundings will gravely affect the balance of nature, which will eventually lead to the end of mankind too. Humans of this life-sustaining planet must understand that the world population is not the same as it was some…

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If you are happy and you know it, plant a tree

Innovator: Bakul Gogoi Vocation: Plantation enthusiast Location: Bishwanath, Assam About two decades ago, there lived a young man in a small village of Bishwanath district of Assam who had begun to stay very unhappy because of rampant deforestation in his region. He was so disturbed that he was even seeing trees, forests and rivers crying in his dreams. It was one such nightmare that woke him in the middle of the night one day. That day, he decided to dedicate his life to nature and its conservation. Our latest parinda, Bakul Gogoi, has a craze for planting trees. I don’t know how else to describe his love for plantation. Bakul…

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Linking weavers to end consumers

Innovator: Arup and Ruby Rakshit Vocation: Promoters of muslin weavers Location: Bardhaman, West Bengal Our latest parinda, Arup Rakshit, was teaching students at a government school in Howrah, West Bengal, after he completed his post-graduation in botany. As he had a keen interest in this field, Arup was also simultaneously working on a research project on Indian medicinal plants. It was during this research phase that he came across a bitter truth — our precious plants are not being utilised well due to the implications of modern development. The knowledge of using this traditional and medicinal flora seems to be disappearing from communities. If you’re wondering why, it is because…

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All the world’s a stage

Innovators: Ankur Roy Choudhary and Vartika Poddar Vocation: Playwright and actors Location: Kolkata, West Bengal Sustainable development cannot be discussed unless you discuss the issue of social injustice. India’s social structure is extremely complex; but our talks about environment protection are incomplete unless we understand this complexity. Even 52 Parindey’s efforts of last 10 months are incomplete unless we discuss the issue of social injustices. At every step of this society, one can witness discrimination and struggle of the underprivileged section. This discrimination can be seen between Brahmins and Dalits, between traders and labourers, and even between men and women. There are several layers to every struggle, and without understanding all…

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Soil holds our past, present and future

Innovator: Ishtiyaque Ahmad Vocation: Sustainable Agriculture Expert Location: Patna, Bihar   “The nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.”  –Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937   Most of us understand the importance of soil for life on earth. However, in the last few decades, we have adopted several modern techniques that had negatively affected our soil and reduced the content of necessary minerals and elements. This is the reason famine and starvation has become so common in the world. But people who do not have a direct relationship or contact with land will probably not understand this. People whose food comes from big grocery stores run by corporate houses or those who are…

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