Saalumarada Thimmakka

Initially, both she and her husband were made fun of, but now the 300 or more trees they have planted almost smile back. Saalumarada Thimmakka has been described as an "Indian environmentalist from the state of Karnataka, noted for her work in planting and tending to 284 banyan trees along a four-kilometre stretch of highway." A U.S.-based environmental organisation has been named after her. Thimmakka is from Hulikal village, Magadi taluk in Karnataka and has worked most of her life as a labourer in a quarry. She started to plant the banyan trees as she didn't have children. For her achievement, Thimmakka was given the National Citizen's award (1995), the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra (1997) and the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award - 2006. An unsung hero.

Mohammed Saidullah

He is, without doubt, a man of ideas. Mohammed Saidullah grew up in Motihari district, Bihar. Though not well educated, it was soon clear that he loved to innovate, (with almost every article named after his wife). And here's a list of his inventions - an amphibious cycle, a mini tractor, a key operated table fan, a fodder cutteroperated mini water pump, a spring loaded cycle . But it was his amphibious cycle that got him international fame and which he designed after a flood, in 1975, in Champaran. In 2005, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presented him with the National Innovation Foundation's (NIF) lifetime achievement award. In the same year, he was selected as one of the 12 finalists for the Wall Street Journal Asian Innovation Awards. He was also profiled for Discovery Channels' "Beyond Tomorrow" programme.