Hemant Goswami

On October 2, 2008, when the health ministry announced that all public places in India would be smoke-free, Chandigarh didn't have to do a thing to enforce to the new rules. For, it had already bagged the distinction of becoming the first smoke free city in the country more than a year ago. Kicking the butt is never easy but the initiative of one man made all the difference.

Meet Hemant Goswami, whose commitment against tobacco use goes back to a school project he did in 1987. By 2004, Goswami had become a full-time activist. He filed a writ petition as a result of which the High Court ordered the government to follow the tobacco Act in letter and spirit.

In 2005 when the Right to Information Act (RTI) came into force, Hemant decided to use it to make Chandigarh the first smoke-free city. He filed over 300 RTI petitions with all government departments and offices, raising questions about their adherence to tobacco control laws. In a year, more than 1,800 signboards warning people of the health implications of smoking were up in all government offices. Educational institutes too fell in line.

To keep the momentum going, Hemant lobbied with the Chandigarh police which agreed to initiate an enforcement drive as well as train policemen on provisions of the law.

In just a month, compliance crossed 70% and the administration became serious about the ‘Smoke-Free City' initiative. Finally in July 2007, Chandigarh was declared smoke-free.

But Hemant wasn't about to stop. "We were aware that sustaining this effort is going to be a challenge." Since the Government lacked an enforcement mechanism, Hemant formed independent monitoring teams and made sure violations are reported. He sure is determined to smoke them out.

Shantipada Gon Chaudhuri

Crouching tiger, hidden diseases. Darkness after dusk and snuffed out futures. In the islands of the Sunderbans, it's easier spotting a tiger than a politician or a government officer.

But Shantipada Gon Chaudhuri thought differently. It was at this point that Gon Chaudhuri, director of West Bengal Renewable Energy Agency (WBREDA) of the state government, decided to step in and create magic – get electricity out of thin air. If the days have ended at sundown for years for these three lakh islanders, it was Gon Chaudhuri's use of solar energy that began lighting up homes. Now, Tarulata Kandar, an inhabitant, can sew till late to supplement the family income and her son Ashok study longer hours while her husband indulged in his pastime, tuning in to the radio.

But, it was not an easy task for Gon Chaudhuri. Electricity has been a standard promise before elections but never delivered. But, Gon Chaudhuri’s problems were different – explaining the concept to a sceptical populace. There were few who believed them. So, the WBREDA team spent days explaining the technology to the masses, in village tea-shops, haats and the jetties.

Nisheeth Mehta

In this age of global competition, you wouldn’t expect compromises on quality from a company that makes components for Volvo, Mercedes, Tata Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Reliance Industries.

And you would think that Nisheeth Mehta, CEO of Microsign Products, an engineering plastic fastener manufacturing company in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, has done just that by employing 60 per cent of his staff from among the physically challenged.

But, Mehta insists charity is the last thing on his mind. While the Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, reserves three per cent jobs for this category, as many as 13 of Mehta’s 20-member team are people with physical and mental disabilities.

Mehta claims his productivity has increased by at least 20 per cent, has almost zero attrition rate and has bagged several awards including the National Award for Welfare of People with Disabilities for fulfilling corporate social responsibility.

DASHRATH MANJHI

Over four decades ago, a frail, landless farmer got hold of a chisel and a hammer and decided to change the face of his village nestled in the rocky hills of Gaya. Dashrath Manjhi tore open a 300-feet-high hill to create a one-km passage.

Manjhi knew it would he easier to move a mountain than an apathetic government. He knew writing to the powers-that-be would only leave the hill tied in red tape. Instead, Manjhi, then in his early 20s, took up a chisel and hammered at the rocks for 22 years.

This feat, part of local folklore now, stemmed from Manjhi’s love for his wife. For, when she slipped off the rocks while getting food for him as he worked in a field beyond the hill and broke her ankle, it became a burning passion to tame the formidable hills that virtually cut his village off from civilisation.

And he completed the Herculean task — creating a short-cut which reduced a long and arduous journey from his village Gahlor Ghati to Wazirganj to a walkable distance.

Right to Know

Common people have generally been denied access to basic information through successive governments. But the fight to guarantee the right to information was taken up by illiterate villagers in the state of Rajasthan.

Noted social activist Aruna Roy united the voice of these people under the organisation called the Empowerment of Workers and Peasants (MKSS) on May 1, 1990. She along with MKSS mastermind Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh laid the foundation for a national RTI movement in India.

Other states also joined in and there were separate but simultaneous movement of a similar kind in Maharashtra and Meghalaya. All these combined with leading voices like that of bureaucrat-turned social activist Arvind Kejriwal bore fruit when the RTI Act came into being in 2005.

Administration today is more transparent, accessible and accountable to the common man than ever before. Any citizen of India can put in a request to see government files affecting his life.

Both Arvind Kejriwal and Aruna Roy were conferred with the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for their contribution in strengthening the voice of common people who were hitherto unheard and unnoticed.

Raju Narayanan

Kovalamkuppam, tucked away from the East Coast Road that connects Chennai to Pondicherry, has become one of the first villages in post-Independence India to implement rainwater harvesting in the whole village. It had been years since Raju Narayanan, founder of Coastal and Rural Development Trust (CRDT), showed an active interest in rainwater harvesting (RWH) but never got the support from agencies specialised in managing water resource. A notification by the State government finally woke up the villagers.

They are now willing to listen to Narayanan. Where village welfare is concerned, these fishermen sink their differences and work together for the overall good of everyone. The village has done a lot. Long before the State government launched its scheme of rotating loans from a corpus fund to be managed by women, Kovalam had its own scheme going. Such and many other villagers who may be illiterate but understand the significance of community initiatives when it comes to the availability of basics are the true heroes of a changing India.

Rajendra Singh

Bringing water within reach for everyone is Rajendra Singh’s mission and full-time occupation. After his early lessons with the Minhas, he realized this is what he had to do – find water for the thirsty villages of Rajasthan. The real beauty of the work that the Tarun Bharat Sangh (the voluntary organization that Singh created) is now doing lies in the simplicity of the tools they use. Involve the local people, explain everything to them, and get them to build small earthen storages near water sources. The toil of the last 16 years has indeed paid off. The construction of over 4500 check dams bringing water to and rejuvenating more than 1200 villages is living testimony of this man’s accomplishment.

The Magsaysay award in 2001 was a recognition of his efforts.