Dr. Ravindra Kolhe and Dr. Smita Kolhe have transformed the lives of the tribals of Melghat. They have improved health outcomes in the area and helped the villagers gain access to electricity, roads and primary health centres. This is the story of their incredible journey.
The year was 1985 and Mr. Deorao Kolhe was working with Indian Railways. His son, Ravindra, was doing his MBBS from Nagpur Medical College. Everyone was waiting for the young man to finish his studies and return to his village Shegaon; Ravindra would be the first doctor in the family.
But little did the family know that instead of setting up a flourishing medical practice, their son was about to choose a completely different path in life.
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![kolhe7]()
Dr. Kolhe checking a patient in Bairagarh[/caption]
Dr. Ravindra Kolhe was highly inspired by the books of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. By the time he finished his MBBS, he had decided to use his skills not for earning money but to help the most needy. The only question before him was: Where should I start my journey? But, soon enough, this question too was answered by the cover page of the book
Where There is No Doctor, written by David Werner. The cover of the book showed four people carrying a patient, with the words – “Hospital 30 miles away" –written below.
Dr. Kolhe decided he wanted to offer his services at some place that was far away from any medical facility. He chose Bairagarh, a small village in Melghat, Maharashtra. The journey to Melghat started from Amravati and all transport ended at Harisal, from where one had to walk 40 km to reach Bairagarh.
According to Dr. Jaju, one of Dr. Kolhe's professors, any doctor working in such a remote location needed to know three things. First, how to deliver a baby without the facility of sonography or blood transfusion. Second, how to diagnose pneumonia without an X-ray. And third, how to cure diarrhoea. Dr. Kolhe went to Mumbai to spend six months learning how to do all three, and then left for Bairagarh.
But soon, Dr. Kolhe realized that an MBBS degree was just not enough to tackle the numerous problems faced by these medically deprived villagers.
“One man came on the 13th day after he lost one of his hands in a blast. I was not a surgeon and so I could not help him. That’s when I realized I need more study and more knowledge to help these people," says Dr. Kolhe.
Dr. Kolhe left Bairagarh to complete his MD in 1987. He prepared his thesis on malnutrition in Melghat. His thesis attracted the attention of the world towards this subject – BBC radio covered Melghat, thus bringing it to everyone's notice.
Dr. Kolhe now wanted to return to Melghat again, but not alone.
He wanted a true companion. He started searching for the right match for himself but had four conditions. First, the girl should be ready to walk for 40 km (the distance to be covered to reach Bairagarh). Second, she should be ready for a 'Rs. 5 wedding' (court marriages at the time cost Rs. 5). Third, she should be willing to manage financially with Rs. 400 per month (Dr. Kolhe charged Re. 1 per patient and had almost 400 patients every month). And lastly, she should be ready to beg too, not for herself but if needed, for the welfare of others.
After being rejected by almost 100 prospective brides, he finally met Dr. Smita, a doctor with a flourishing practice in Nagpur. She accepted Dr. Kolhe’s proposal, along with all his conditions.
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![kolhe1]()
Dr. Ravindra Kolhe and Dr. Smita Kolhe[/caption]
And so, in 1989, Melghat got its second doctor.
But there was another challenge waiting for the couple in Bairagarh. People there had accepted Dr. Ravindra and begun to trust him after the first two years of his stay with them. But Dr. Smita, who was not docile but a fighter for women's empowerment, had to still be accepted by the villagers.
One incident helped in this respect. Dr. Smita was pregnant with her first child. Dr. Kolhe decided to do the delivery himself in the same simple way as he did for the villagers. But due to some complications during the delivery, the baby was infected by meningitis, pneumonia and septicemia. People started suggesting that the mother and baby should be moved to a better hospital in Akola. Dr. Kolhe left the decision to Dr. Smita but he had decided in his own mind that if Smita opted to leave the village at this point, he would never come back to show his face to the villagers again.
But Dr. Smita decided to stay back and have her baby treated just like other village children would be in the same condition. This earned her the respect of the villagers.
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![kolhe]()
Dr. Ravindra and Dr. Smita in their early days in Bairagarh.[/caption]
Photo Credit : Melghatavaril mohracha gandh
“Every one knew that children were dying in Melghat due to malnutrition, or people were dying of pneumonia, malaria, snake bites, etc. So far, researchers used to find out just the reason behind the deaths, but no one researched the reason behind the reason for the deaths, which was poverty. They died of pneumonia because they didn't have enough clothes to keep them warm in winter. They died of malnutrition because they had no work and hence no money once the farming season was over. We wanted to 'cure' these root causes of death," says Dr. Ravindra Kolhe.
Once Dr. Ravindra and Dr. Smita had successfully worked on improving the health conditions in Bairagarh, the villagers started pestering them for help with cattle and plants too – thinking the couple had solutions to all their problems. As there was no other doctor in the village, Dr. Kolhe learnt about the anatomy of animals from a veterinary doctor friend, and studied agriculture at Punjab Rao Krushi Vidyapeeth, Akola.
He then developed a fungus-resistant variety of seed. But no one wanted to be the first to try it. So Dr. Kolhe and his wife started farming themselves.
![kolhe6]()
The doctor couple next went on to organize camps for youth to raise awareness about new farming techniques, saving the environment, and beneficial government schemes.
The message was simple: Farming is essential for growth and young people must take it up.
![kolhe3]()
This message had a greater effect once the Kolhes’ elder son Rohit became a farmer.
“We started profit oriented farming. Soyabean was not cultivated in Maharashtra – we introduced it in Melghat. Apart from this, we asked the farmers to do mixed farming and cultivate all the crops needed for their basic needs first. Today, I am earning as much from my farm as an IITian would in a private firm," says Rohit Kolhe.
The Kolhes also focused on conservation of forests. They kept a track of the environment cycle, which repeats after every four years. They can even predict a drought and help the villagers prepare for the same.
The couple also took up PDS (Public Distribution System) and made sure there was enough food for everyone at the time of rains too. This made Melghat a suicide-free zone for farmers.
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From Left to right- Rohit's wife, Rohit, Ram, Dr. Ravindra Kolhe, Dr. Smita Kolhe[/caption]
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. We wanted to do the later," said the couple
Once, the state's Public Works Department minister visited the Kolhes and was stunned to see how they lived. He expressed his desire to build a house for them there. Smita instead asked for good roads and he kept his promise.
Today, 70% of the villages are connected by roads.
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Dr. Kolhe's house in Melghat[/caption]
Melghat is considered the most backward part of Maharashtra. There are around 300 villges in this area but almost 350 NGOs work here. But all they do is distribute free stuff, whereas Dr. Kolhe and Dr. Smita want the tribals to be self sustaining and not dependent on NGOs.
This doctor couple's long battle has paid off and now Melghat has good roads, electricity and 12 primary health centres. Dr. Kolhe does not charge his patients anymore. He takes them to the government hospitals and makes sure they get the best treatment.
The village still lacks a surgeon and hence Dr. Kolhe’s younger son, Ram, who is pursuing his MBBS at the Government Medical college in Akola, wants to become a surgeon and follow in the footsteps of his father.
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Dr. Kolhe with his son, Ram[/caption]
The power couple is still continuing their struggle to give the tribals of Melghat a better life. Their next mission is to get electricity to all the small villages of Melghat.
“Though we got electricity in Dharni, there is a load shedding of almost 14 hours. Even that would have been enough but the voltage is so low that the farmers are unable to run their pumps. So this electricity does no good for their farming. If we go just 2 kms away from here, there is no electricity. Communication is also a huge hurdle to develop this place. Just like you could speak to us only after trying for a month, it's the same for everyone. If you are writing about us, then please add this point that the need for electricity in these villages for farming is as important as in metro cities to run a mall," concludes Dr. Kolhe.
To learn more about the journey of Dr. Ravindra Kolhe and Dr. Smita Kolhe, you can read the book
Melghatavaril Mohracha Gandh, written by Mrunalini Chitale, and
Bairagarh, written by Dr.Manohar Naranje. You can also write to them at :
Dr. Ravindra Kolhe,
Mukkam Post - Bairagarh,
Taluka - Dharni,
District - Amravati,
Maharashtra
Pin - 444702
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“I have been writing these letters since the Kargil war. I think that being in the army is a tough job, and it is the country’s duty to respect those martyrs who sacrifice their lives for us. There are many people who have been living under the dark clouds of grief after losing their loved ones, and we should fulfil our moral duties towards those families,” he says.
With this feeling, Jitendra started writing postcards to thank the families of Army martyrs across the country, to pay his respects, and to tell them that there is someone out there who is thinking about them. In the letters he acknowledges the fact that these martyrs gave up their lives to protect citizens like him.
Jitendra began by collecting the address and contact details from the local newspapers of the martyrs’ home-towns that he obtained from different libraries.
This patriot has been working as a security guard for 13 years now. He uses the money from his own pocket to send the postcards and to procure the required addresses.
“My family thinks I am crazy to be doing something that gives no returns in spite of coming from a middle class background, but I am determined and will not leave this path till the end,” he concludes.
Ramu receiving a prize after winning a competition in Class 6.[/caption]
Ramu’s sincerity and dedication made him a star among his teachers. But, in the year 2005, when he was in Class 12 and his college model exams were going on, he got news of his father’s death. The bus fare from Barshi to Mahagaon was Rs.7 those days. And since he received a bus pass for the disabled, the fare for him was just Rs. 2. But Ramu did not even have that.
Ramesh's father - Late Gorakh Gholap[/caption]
Just four days after his father’s death, Ramu had a chemistry model exam in his college. On his mother’s insistence he went and appeared for the exam but, after that, he skipped the other model exams. He did not even submit his journals. The final exam for Class 12 was just a month away when he received a letter from his teacher that he had scored 35 marks out of 40 in chemistry. The teacher wanted to meet him. With help and encouragement from his teacher, Ramu took his final exams and scored 88.5%.
Ramu chose to do D.Ed (Diploma in Education) in spite of scoring so well, because this was the cheapest course he could afford to do to get a job as a teacher and support his family. He completed his D.Ed and also pursued a graduate degree in Arts from an open university simultaneously. And finally, he was able to start working as a teacher in 2009. This was like a dream come true for his family. But, deep down, it was not what Ramu really wanted to do.
Ramu lived with his mother and brother in a small room provided by his aunt, who had got her two-room home through a government scheme called Indira Awas Yojna. He saw his mother making visit after visit to government offices to get a house for herself too under the same scheme, but she was turned away because her BPL (below poverty line) card wasn’t eligible.
Ramu was angry with the ration shop owner too, who sold kerosene in the black market instead of providing it to needy families like his.
He had already been through the frustration of seeing his father not get adequate attention when he was admitted for tuberculosis in a government hospital.
Ramesh with his mother, Vimal Gholap.[/caption]
During his college days, Ramu had been a member of the student’s union and consequently had to go the tehsildar’s office often to get approval for various college issues. He saw the tehsildar as being the most influential and powerful government official he had ever come across. Ramu decided he wanted to become a tehsildar too in order to solve all the problems he and his family faced.
In September 2009, he took the first step towards his dream. Using the loan that his mother had taken from a self-help group in his village, Ramu went to Pune to prepare for the UPSC exam, taking a leave of six months from his job.
“I did not even know the meaning of MPSC and UPSC since I had always lived in small villages. I did not have money to take coaching classes either. So, the first thing I did was to meet one of the teachers of these coaching classes, just to understand if I was eligible to take the UPSC exam. The first teacher who met me was Mr. Atul Lande. I requested him to write down the answers to a few of my questions, like what is UPSC, can it be taken in Marathi, am I eligible for it, etc. And he told me there was nothing to stop me from taking the UPSC. It is only because of that one statement that I finally did it,” says Ramesh Gholap.
Ramu appeared for the UPSC exams in May 2010 but unfortunately didn’t make the cut. In the meantime, he had also formed a political party with the help of some friends in his village of Mahagaon to fight the local panchayat elections. His mother stood as a candidate for sarpanch. The mission of the party was simple – to come to power and help the distressed. On October 23, 2010, the results of the panchayat elections were out. Ramu terms this date as the biggest turning point of his life in his autobiography, Ithe Thambne Nahi (I Won’t Stop Here).
Ramu’s mother, Vimal Gholap lost the elections by a few votes but the loss did not break Ramu. Instead, it gave him the strength to stand up and fight back again against the system. On the same day, he announced in front of all the villagers that he was leaving the village and would come back only when he became a powerful officer.
After this, no one could stop Ramu. He left his job and cleared the State Institute of Administrative Careers (SIAC) exam – this gave him a hostel to stay in and a stipend as scholarship. He painted posters to take care of his expenditures. And finally, this son of illiterate parents, who studied in a zilla parishad school and by correspondence with open universities, cleared the UPSC examination with an all-India rank of 287, without any coaching.
Celebrations in Ramesh's village when he came back after becoming an IAS officer.[/caption]
In the next couple of months, the MPSC results were also out and this time Ramu broke all records. He topped the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exam in the year 2012, scoring the highest ever marks of 1,244 out of 1,800.
Ramu to IAS Ramesh Gholap[/caption]
“Mala swatala shikta nahi aala pan porala khup shikwaycha asa tharwila hota…Aaj majha mulga itka motha sahib zalay he baghun khup anand hoto…pang fedala porane (I couldn’t get an education but I had decided that I would educate my sons. Today, my son has become such a big officer and that makes me so happy…. my boy has returned all my debts!),” says Vimal Gholap.
Ramesh helping a child labourer[/caption]
“Whenever I cancel the licence of a PDS shop owner who has been black marketing kerosene, I remember my days when I had to turn off the lantern for lack of kerosene. Whenever I help a widow, I remember my mother begging for a house or for her pension. Whenever I inspect a government hospital, I remember my father’s words when he had left drinking and just wanted better treatment. He would ask me to become a big man and take him to a private hospital. Whenever I help a poor child, I remember myself, I remember Ramu,” says Ramesh Gholap, IAS.
The project involved installation of biometric devices in every school in the district to keep track of teacher attendance – an issue that was very close to Suromani’s heart. He believed that if teachers start spending their time in classrooms, half of the education-related problems will be automatically solved. While the project was initiated by the District Collector, its complete responsibility was on Suromani’s shoulders and he ensured that all the devices were properly installed and the attendance of every teacher was recorded twice a day.
Teacher training session[/caption]
Now, a database of all the children has been created and if a child is absent for more than five days, the teachers get an alert either on their mobile phones or in person, following which they can take the required actions. This project was honoured with the National e-Governance Award.
During his tenure, Suromani started the Pehal initiative with the aim of educating children in Classes 9, 10 and 11 so they have the chance to reach a level playing field before the competitive exams. He used to visit the students personally, listen to the issues they were facing, and try to address them. Moreover, the district administration had decided to create model school campuses in at least 10% of the 2,000 schools in the area. As a part of this plan, every officer had to adopt a school and convert it into a model school with infrastructure development and other facilities.
A lawyer by education, Suromani completed his BA LLB from North Eastern Hill University in Shillong and worked in the corporate sector for two years as a legal associate. Not satisfied with the work he was doing, he quit his job and joined the fellowship programme. His father used to work as a wage labourer till Suromani started earning, but the young man did not allow the financial condition of his family to come in the way of his education. He took a loan to pursue LLB and repaid it with his earnings.
Since Suromani was aware how hard it was to get an education in his village, he always wanted to return one day and teach the children there.
Another thing his colleagues never heard him say was that something is impossible. “My driving force is that if I don’t do it, who will do it then? If I don’t do it now, when will I do it then?” he used to say. Even on the Sunday when he met with the accident, Suromani had been working since 4 am in a nearby village and was returning from there.
Anshuman Gupta, another PMRD fellow in Balrampur, has some very sweet memories of the time he spent with Suromani while working closely with him:
Dr. Kolhe checking a patient in Bairagarh[/caption]
Dr. Ravindra Kolhe was highly inspired by the books of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. By the time he finished his MBBS, he had decided to use his skills not for earning money but to help the most needy. The only question before him was: Where should I start my journey? But, soon enough, this question too was answered by the cover page of the book Where There is No Doctor, written by David Werner. The cover of the book showed four people carrying a patient, with the words – “Hospital 30 miles away" –written below.
Dr. Kolhe decided he wanted to offer his services at some place that was far away from any medical facility. He chose Bairagarh, a small village in Melghat, Maharashtra. The journey to Melghat started from Amravati and all transport ended at Harisal, from where one had to walk 40 km to reach Bairagarh.
According to Dr. Jaju, one of Dr. Kolhe's professors, any doctor working in such a remote location needed to know three things. First, how to deliver a baby without the facility of sonography or blood transfusion. Second, how to diagnose pneumonia without an X-ray. And third, how to cure diarrhoea. Dr. Kolhe went to Mumbai to spend six months learning how to do all three, and then left for Bairagarh.
Dr. Ravindra Kolhe and Dr. Smita Kolhe[/caption]
And so, in 1989, Melghat got its second doctor.
But there was another challenge waiting for the couple in Bairagarh. People there had accepted Dr. Ravindra and begun to trust him after the first two years of his stay with them. But Dr. Smita, who was not docile but a fighter for women's empowerment, had to still be accepted by the villagers.
One incident helped in this respect. Dr. Smita was pregnant with her first child. Dr. Kolhe decided to do the delivery himself in the same simple way as he did for the villagers. But due to some complications during the delivery, the baby was infected by meningitis, pneumonia and septicemia. People started suggesting that the mother and baby should be moved to a better hospital in Akola. Dr. Kolhe left the decision to Dr. Smita but he had decided in his own mind that if Smita opted to leave the village at this point, he would never come back to show his face to the villagers again.
Dr. Ravindra and Dr. Smita in their early days in Bairagarh.[/caption]
This message had a greater effect once the Kolhes’ elder son Rohit became a farmer.
“We started profit oriented farming. Soyabean was not cultivated in Maharashtra – we introduced it in Melghat. Apart from this, we asked the farmers to do mixed farming and cultivate all the crops needed for their basic needs first. Today, I am earning as much from my farm as an IITian would in a private firm," says Rohit Kolhe.
The Kolhes also focused on conservation of forests. They kept a track of the environment cycle, which repeats after every four years. They can even predict a drought and help the villagers prepare for the same.
From Left to right- Rohit's wife, Rohit, Ram, Dr. Ravindra Kolhe, Dr. Smita Kolhe[/caption]
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. We wanted to do the later," said the couple
Once, the state's Public Works Department minister visited the Kolhes and was stunned to see how they lived. He expressed his desire to build a house for them there. Smita instead asked for good roads and he kept his promise.
Dr. Kolhe's house in Melghat[/caption]
Melghat is considered the most backward part of Maharashtra. There are around 300 villges in this area but almost 350 NGOs work here. But all they do is distribute free stuff, whereas Dr. Kolhe and Dr. Smita want the tribals to be self sustaining and not dependent on NGOs.
This doctor couple's long battle has paid off and now Melghat has good roads, electricity and 12 primary health centres. Dr. Kolhe does not charge his patients anymore. He takes them to the government hospitals and makes sure they get the best treatment.
Dr. Kolhe with his son, Ram[/caption]
The power couple is still continuing their struggle to give the tribals of Melghat a better life. Their next mission is to get electricity to all the small villages of Melghat.
“Though we got electricity in Dharni, there is a load shedding of almost 14 hours. Even that would have been enough but the voltage is so low that the farmers are unable to run their pumps. So this electricity does no good for their farming. If we go just 2 kms away from here, there is no electricity. Communication is also a huge hurdle to develop this place. Just like you could speak to us only after trying for a month, it's the same for everyone. If you are writing about us, then please add this point that the need for electricity in these villages for farming is as important as in metro cities to run a mall," concludes Dr. Kolhe.
To learn more about the journey of Dr. Ravindra Kolhe and Dr. Smita Kolhe, you can read the book Melghatavaril Mohracha Gandh, written by Mrunalini Chitale, and Bairagarh, written by Dr.Manohar Naranje. You can also write to them at :
Dr. Ravindra Kolhe,
Mukkam Post - Bairagarh,
Taluka - Dharni,
District - Amravati,
Maharashtra
Pin - 444702
Yeshwant Ghadge[/caption]
Young 22-year-old Ghadge was a Naik with the 5th Mahratta Light Infantry, serving in the Upper Tiber Valley in Italy. The troops he was commanding came under heavy firing, injuring and killing many soldiers. As the enemy platoon advanced forward, he rushed to a machine gun. He threw a grenade which shook off some of the advancing platoon, and then fired at whoever was left. But two men from the enemy platoon still came forward. Ghadge, not getting the time to reload his weapon, instead picked up his gun and struck the two men on their heads, killing them. But he missed a sniper hidden at a distance, and was shot fatally.
Abdul Hafiz[/caption]
Rao Abdul Hafiz Khan was 18 when he was serving the British Indian Army as a Jemadar in the 9th Jat Regiment. In April 1944, he was fighting at the Battle of Imphal, where he was ordered to lead his platoon to an enemy position. He had led them across a bare slope and climbed up a steep hill. During the climb, the enemy opened fire and threw grenades, injuring him. But he climbed on nevertheless, and once he reached the enemy bunker on the crest, snatched a machine gun from a soldier with his bare hands while another man killed the gunner. He led his platoon forward, eliminating the enemy one by one. He had received machine gun wounds, but even as he fell, his hands did not leave the trigger, firing at the enemy.
Karamjeet Singh[/caption]
The 21-year-old lieutenant of the 4th Battalion, 15th Punjab Regiment was known for his bravery even before he was martyred. During the Burma Battle of Meiktila in 1945, while he was leading the infantry into enemy lines, he came face to face with two hidden Japanese soldiers. Only 10 yards away from them, he managed to kill them immediately. Later, towards the end of the battle, with just the last bunker to be eliminated, he led an army tanker till about 20 yards away, asking for a cease fire. He got 10 yards closer, but then the enemy fired at him, mortally wounding him. By then, the rest of his platoon captured the last bunker, securing a victory.
Prakash Singh Chib[/caption]
When 32-year-old Prakash Singh Chib was hurt in both his ankles, he was told to step down during the ambush at Kanlan Ywathit in Burma. A Jemadar in the 4/13th Frontier Force Rifles, he couldn’t stand it when the second-in-command was also wounded. Angered, he forgot all about his pain and wounds, and crawled back to position. He commanded his unit, ordering positions, firing at the enemy. He was shot at again - twice - but he only dragged himself from point to point with his hands. He refused to give up and instilled confidence in his platoon members to drive out the enemy. He succumbed to his injuries soon after.
Naik Fazal Din[/caption]
Fazal Din was all of 23 years old when he bravely fought off Japanese troops in 1945. He was an acting Naik in the 7th Battalion 10th Baluch Regiment. At the ambush at Meiktila in Burma, Din’s troops were surrounded by three bunkers on one side and a house on the other. Without a second’s thought, Din threw grenades at the bunker closest to him and silenced it. Then, he led his troops forward, despite heavy firing from the other bunkers. When he was faced with Japanese soldiers, he didn’t back down. One of the soldiers stabbed him with a sword but he pulled the sword out of him and stabbed the soldier back, killing him. Despite a gaping hole in his body, he went on to kill more enemy soldiers, all the while encouraging his troops. He lost his life soon after recording his statement.
The Victoria Cross Medal[/caption]
I stood there, watching him help each and every person who walked up to him. Finally, overcome by curiosity, I walked up to him and asked him the reason for his selfless service.
This is what he said:
Dr Rajgopal[/caption]
In the 1980s, Dr Rajagopal had yet another life defining moment, one that would go on to impact thousands of lives in the future.
“When I was working as an anaesthetist in the Medical College of Calicut, I treated a 42 year-old college professor who had cancer. He was in agonising pain and I treated his pain with a nerve-block. It gave him pain relief and I was very happy,” says Dr Rajagopal.
When the professor asked Dr Rajagopal when he could come back to continue the treatment, the doctor told him that he needn’t come back unless the pain came back. The professor went home and committed suicide that night.
Dr Rajgopal with a patient[/caption]
In 1993, driven by the desire to provide palliative care to the needy, the doctor started the Pain and Palliative Care Society. In one short year, the Society developed a full-fledged home visit programme with trained doctors making their way to bed-ridden patients, often in far-flung rural areas and sometimes in neighbourhoods in their own cities.
In a bid to curb the destructive effects of the disease on patients and their families, the organisation offers patients free treatment as well as free medicines. For families who are struggling to put food on the table, food packets are provided.
The Pallium India team on a home visit[/caption]
Several of these Centres conduct free home visits and offer free medication as well.
A few years into his work, Dr Rajagopal also realised that he was greatly handicapped by outdated and impractical laws that restricted access to essential pain relief medication like morphine. “We realised that without changing the laws and policies, we could not hope to make much progress,” he says.
While he had already been advocating policy change at the state level, with Pallium India, his voice found a national audience.
A doctor with Pallium India on a home visit[/caption]
Yet, in many ways, the work is only just beginning. “Legal barriers are not the only barriers we face. Two generations of doctors and nurses have not even seen a morphine tablet. They simply do not know about it,” Dr Rajagopal says. “More shocking still is that pain assessment and management is not a part of the medical curriculum in India. It is an atrocious state of affairs.”
Dr Rajagopal conducting a class[/caption]
The centres will help create a crop of medical personnel efficient in dispensing palliative care services, ensuring that palliative care becomes a more widespread phenomenon.The organisation is now looking at increasing its national presence and running several awareness programmes.
“When I was in Delhi recently, a doctor asked me what palliative care is,” says Dr Rajagopal. “A study published in 2014 found that one third of the doctors in UP had not heard of palliative care.”
Awareness is – undeniably – the need of the hour.
To know more about the incredible work the organisation is doing, log on to their website 
Abdul and his auto[/caption]
He had picked me up from outside an NGO doing work in the field of elementary education, and so he may have rightly assumed I was interested in children!
So, for the next hour or so, many child-centric songs played softly on his system while we talked, strictly only when he stopped at traffic signals. Clearly, no talking while driving for this gentleman!
Instead of looking out at the thick traffic on Bangalore's road, today I could let my eyes wander around the interior of the auto; there was so much to read there! Pithy sayings, SSLC exam schedule, helpline numbers, citizen awareness news, and much more.
[caption id="attachment_55402" align="alignnone" width="1836"]
Inspired by Gandhi and Dharmendra[/caption]
“I select songs in different categories, and save the collections on a pen drive - old hits, patriotic songs, inspirational songs, spiritual songs and Dharmendra songs,” he said at the very first signal.
Why Dharmendra, I asked and had to wait till the next signal to hear the answer.
Anti-dowry posters[/caption]
“So many people suffer because of this practice. A man has to be able to take care of his wife without having to take dowry from her family,” said Abdul, talking shyly about the time he dipped into his savings to buy his bride-to-be a sari and desi-ghee-ke-laddoo.
After one failed attempt to go work in the Middle-east when he was duped by an agent, Abdul tried a second time and was successful. After working with an airline catering company for several years and earning not just decent wages but also a reputation for being extremely resourceful and honest, Abdul returned to Bangalore.
So much to learn in an auto. (Photo credit: Purna Sarkar)[/caption]
Bahu is your Beti[/caption]
After he had dropped me home, I gave him a set of books to be given to his grandchildren. Abdul looked at the stack of books...and then at the interior of the auto. “I think I can fix a clamp here, and keep these books for passengers to read...”
This soft-spoken, auto driver is a hero to his regular passengers. Once their exam results are out, the kids are expecting gifts from Auto Uncle.
Auto-classroom. (Photo credit: Purna Sarkar)[/caption]
“I think I'll buy some school bags this year to be given away as gifts to the kid who do well in their school. I was not able to study much, but I want all the children of today to be educated well,” he said, as he left.
Certainly, much to learn from this little classroom on three wheels!
Ajeet Singh was still in his teens when he realized what he wanted to do.[/caption]
It wasn’t easy for an 18-year-old boy who was still in his first year of college to take on such a big responsibility. But Ajeet didn’t think twice and actually adopted the three children of the girl.
Ajeet provides educational opportunities to the children of women who work in the red light area of Varanasi.[/caption]
Ajeet organizes many campaigns and rallies to spread awareness about the issue of human trafficking.[/caption]
Once the girls are rescued, they are sent to government shelters and homes and, after counselling, sent back to their parents. A close track is kept of their activities to make sure they do not end up back in the same situation again.
Guria is working to prevent trafficking, especially of minor girls.[/caption]
Educational workshops and awareness campaigns are among the other initiatives of Guria.
Ajeet wants to make sure that no girl is forced to enter the dark profession of sex trade.
Also, the network of brothels is so complex that many girls always speak in favour of the brothel keepers.
“We went to the rural administration office and also panchayat asking for help. But they didn’t respond. So I, along with 40 other farmers, took up the initiative to construct the road, all by ourselves. Initially, it was difficult for me to convince the farmers,” says Ganesh.
Ganesh gathered money by going door-to-door in the village. Forty farmers from the village contributed what they could and Ganesh managed to get about Rs. 20,000 for the construction. Since there was a shortage of manpower, some farmers also worked as labourers.
Shweta Bhattad, a Nagpur based farm activist who was constructing a pond in her farm in Paradsinga, provided Ganesh with important machinery.
With the help of sarpanches from Paradsinga and Kodadongri, and a Nagpur based choreographer named Parvinder Singh Dadiyala, the farmers are also planning to construct a dam in order to increase the groundwater table in the area. This will help address the acute water crisis situation.
In the past, the farmers of Paradsinga village had ‘grown’ the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a field and penned a letter to him as well to highlight their plight. The letter went viral, with various social activists and farmer groups coming forward to help them. 
Photo Credit: Ketan Rindani
While he could study only till Class 8, he made sure that his children received their education. His daughter works as a manager with HDFC bank now, and his son is about to complete his Charted Accountancy course.
Gadadhar says that he was fortunate enough to experience the positive impact of being honest. In 2004, a couple liked his taxi and said that if he took the same route every day, they would regularly commute to work with him. However, on the fifth day, the woman left her phone behind. This was the first time that Gadadhar found a phone in his car. He reached her office, called her husband to inform, and returned it.
So he decided to water the existing and the new ones himself, as he went around the city in his rikshaw. Mr Gupta started carrying a 15 ltr water can in his rikshaw everyday to water the trees on the sides of the road. Later, as his solo efforts did not keep him satisfied, he also started to carry a register in the rikshaw and began convincing people to do the same, especially other rikshaw walas he met. He named his mission ‘Sadbhaavana – Hara Bhara Bharat’.
Purushottam Das Gupta has his family standing alongside him firmly. This is evident by the fact that he celebrated his anniversary in March, by planting two trees along the banks of Upavan Lake.
Environment week from 5th to 11th June 2016 was celebrated by Mr Gupta and his fellow members by planting 50 trees in the city which they had sourced from the Municipal Corporation.
Shrikant Jadhav, a young resident of Junnar, has been observing the severe problem poor people in the area face due to lack of drinking water.
Shrikant distributes water every day in the Pansumbapeth, Shukrawarpeth and Kumbhar Gali areas of Junnar. He now calls his initiative Parivartan Helpline Sewa.
Shrikant’s family has now started supporting him in his venture.
Please call Shrikant on 8055551616 for more information.
