skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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.
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.
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.
Posts
