News from India : of positive action, steely endeavour and quiet triumphs ~ news that is little known
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India is a million new initiatives now and GoodNewsIndia is dedicated to publicising them.
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Why is GoodNewsIndia not being updated?

Many regular readers of GoodNewsIndia [GNI] have wondered why this site has not been updated since 2006. The simple answer is this: the one-man team, that is me, D V Sridharan that publishes GNI is busy with a land restoration project christened, pointReturn . It will need my undivided time and attention at least till 2010; that leaves me with little time or energy to travel and do stories for GNI as I have done since 2000. So work on the site is temporarily suspended.

That is the reason. But there is a connecting story behind how I came to undertake pointReturn. In case you are interested, do pull up a chair and listen. It's a long one, and I must caution, somewhat opinionated.  ⇒⇒


Why do I trust and admire Anna Hazare –  Pongamia: a mid-course check –  The Grand Spirits of India –  Out of ‘10 and into ‘11 –  What moves pointReturn –  Beginning to grow –  Falling in love with swales –  The new pavilion at pointReturn –  Status report: June, 2009 –  Adventures with the Rocket Stove – 
What is pointReturn | Mission


MAGAZINE

List of all stories

Random Picks

Raging into the night:
ymc
The creation of Yusuf Meherally Centre near Mumbai is only a part of Mangla Behn and Dr G G Parikh’s 62 year commitment to India. Their smiles belie their fire.


After micro credit, it’s micro capital, now:
aavishkaar
Aavishkaar is a pioneer attempt by India’s overseas professionals to bring venture capitalism to socially, environmentally relevant small businesses.


A soldier’s march into peace:
ralegan
Anna Hazare’s work with Ralegan Siddhi has thrown up a model for all round development of India’s villages.


Digging deep into Sanskrit:
melkote
Prof. Lakshmi Thathachar at Melkote is a teacher, ecologist, animal breeder, computer adept and a champion of Sanskrit as an unmined knowledge source.


Help for puzzled visitors:
shristi
Caring for autistic and special children in India, has been entirely mothers’ and private citizens’ effort, as typified by Shristi Special Academy in Bangalore.


A Gandhi education pays off:
cherkady
Cherkady Ramachandra Rao, now 86, lost his parents when 2, found Gandhi when 7, and has not been lost ever since.


Minimalism in service:
dada
Dada Lakhiani is a role model for everyone who is sitting out for the right time, funds and opportunity to do something for India.


A daughter returns:
pWhy
Anuradha Bakhshi’s sense of debt to India is over-imagined considering how little she has taken from this land but therein lies a lesson for many of us who have drawn much.


Biodiesel goes from lab to land:
svo
Prof Shrinivasa’s SuTRA has proved to India’s tribal people that biodiesel is the best way to electrify their homes. And they are making a revolution of it.


Making the foot run:
ymc
Not many know that top bureaucrat D R Mehta’s 30 year long commitment and leadership are what revived the famed Jaipur foot from slumber and taken it to a third of a million people round the world


Beyond even his dreams:
rValley
When J Krishnamurthy spotted that banyan tree in 1925, it is doubtful if he envisioned how it might change the grim landscape and lives around it.



Young voices rising:
cwc
Nandana Reddy and Damu Acharya have approached the issue of India’s working children by creating activists from children’s own ranks.


A rare and enviable school:
olcott
The free school for the poor he founded in 1894, is an equal legacy of Henry Steel Olcott to the Theosphical Society that he co-founded and promoted


Battling for governance :
santosh
Parivartan’s unknown little Indians like Santosh, have fought to clear the thickets to form tracks to good governance.


A Marathon man in village-India:
elango
The success of Rangaswamy Elango at Kuthambakkam village justifies the hope that Gram Swaraj will yet bloom all across India.


The two-pit privy man:
sulabh
Perfecting a simple sanitation solution and getting it to revolutionise Indian society has taken 35 years of Dr Bindeshwar Pathak’s life


Dreams come true in Ratnagiri:
rwh
An unlikely team of clerks in government offices in Mumbai are reaching out to rural school children in Ratnagiri district


The road from Marx turns right at Gandhi:
timbuktu
Mary and Bablu didn’t settle at Timbaktu to retire, but to begin again with the conviction that nature is what really matters.


The Ganga in the sky:
rwh
Residents and establishments in Tamil Nadu have taken to rain water harvesting and water recycling proving that local action can alleviate shortages.


This postman delivered more than mail:
postmanSingh
This vintage classic from the 1930s should give us heart because it shows service to fellowman is intrinsic to Indian way of life.


Reality catches up with GNI’s Publisher:
mgm
Having published GoodNewsIndia since 2000, it was hard to overlook MGM Beach Resort’s ways in my own backyard.


World standard toilets:
fuad
Since 1999, Fuad Lokhandwala has been demonstrating in New Delhi that building and running toilets to world standards is possible along sound commercial lines.


Staring down droughts:
dharwad
Amidst the gloom of droughts and suicides, we have this transformation of farmers who will look a drought in its eye.


Jim Garthe’s innovation:
plastoFuel
The pioneering work of Jim Garthe at the Univ. of Pennsylvania, in converting plastic waste into an energy resource has a great significance for India’s environment.


Sifted from main media

Apr 29, 2006

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company [BESCOM] has been successful in having its services and collections managed by village level entrepreneurs, known as Gram Vidhyuth Pratinidhi [GVP].

There are 3,425 GVP -many of whom, women- across over 5,000 villages in Karnataka. Average collections have gone up 30% and service quality for consumers has got better. Power theft and bill default have practically disappeared. Villagers don’t have to travel to a nearby town and waste all day to pay their bills - these are collected at their door-steps.

With bonuses and incentives, a GVP can expect to earn Rs 4,500 per month, which is a considerable income in villages.

You can read the full story told at length in the April 24, 2000 issue of Outlook Magazine.

OTHER PICKS:  10 ponds revived by civil society in Meerut |  A Muslim restores Hindu temples |  ...more


SUPPLEMENTS

List of all articles

Recent Reports

Jan 28, 2007::Activism
§ Siege of Goa… defeated!

Not since the success of the movement to save the Silent Valley in Kerala has there been a people’s victory comparable to how the siege of Goa was broken.

Jan 24, 2007::Energy
§ Emerging alternate energy breakthroughs

Although not of Indian origin, two new developments could favourably affect our environmental and energy situation.

Jan 16, 2007::Reforms
§ The Supreme Court growls

The Supreme Court has settled once and for all, that the Parliament’s freedom to legislate is not unfettered but subject to provisions of the Constitution

Jan 12, 2007::Sciences
§ A miracle rice

A new variety of rice known as the Aerobic Rice has been discovered which requires little water, generates no methane and produces good yields.

Random picks:

Dec 04, 2004:Innovation
Children’s own bank

They showed they had a mind of their own: they wanted to start and run a bank exclusively for children.

Feb 20, 2005:Activism
Time for a pledge to Ganga

Schools, community groups and villagers have joined in scientific testing and spreading awareness of Ganga’s sickness.

Sep 19, 2003:Energy
Rising bio-diesel tide

A workshop on biodiesels in Bangalore on Sep 6 and 7,2003

Jul 17, 2003:Elsewhere
Pre-history of democracy

Democracy is more than governments through elections-- it is governance by discussion

Jul 15, 2003:Economy
Gathering pace

We have a self-reinforcing pattern with trends beginning to inter-lock.

Jan 12, 2004:Innovation
Two recycling successes

A quick composting technique and a plant recycling TetraPak cartons

Mar 04, 2004:Resources
Bamboo futures

It takes 60 years to replace a 60 foot tree but only 60 days to replace a 60 foot bamboo

May 20, 2003:Sciences
Two breakthroughs

India will gain her identity due to the efforts of her little known sons

Feb 03, 2003:Economy
India to prepay World and Asian Dev Banks

Unaccounted money that used to flee India may be returning to India

May 21, 2003:Ideas For India
Hydrogen power for India’s villages?

The Van Ooetegham discovery seems precisely targeted at India.

Dec 21, 2004:Innovation
The busy, busy bus

The bus plays two roles- that of a school bus and that of a school on wheels.

Sep 02, 2003:Ideas For India
Seed balls for greening India

“Seed balls are a small universe in themselves.”

Oct 18, 2004:Enthusiast
Ashok Tungal: People-built check dams

For a great communicator, he is a quiet man of few words you are unlikely to track down, as he is always on the move.

Mar 13, 2003:Sciences
India’s cryogenic engine comes of age.

“We have been able to successfully develop cyrogenic engine on our own”

Oct 21, 2003:Trend
Poor and female, but smart

Barefoot Solar Engineers are now working across eight states in India

Jan 24, 2003:Initiative
Preparing slum children for the outer world

Costs run to Rs.60,000 per month and she needs donations

Jul 05, 2004:Ideas For India
People-sized desalination

An ox driven desalination plant is capable of producing 600 to 700 litres of potable water per hour

Jun 15, 2005:Ideas For India
Food forever, for nothing

All it requires is some subtle management of a fully integrated, zero-waste system

Feb 20, 2003:Newsclip
College girls save an industry.

“We owe this tremendous success to college girls and rural women.”

Jan 01, 2003:Economy
Economy passes a master health check

Growth rate of 5.5% is “one of the highest ever recorded by a democracy.”

Dec 23, 2004:Sciences
An apology to Dr. Herbert Kroemer

An abject apology to Dr Herbert Kroemer, a Nobel Laureate

Apr 14, 2006:Activism
Lessons from Daurala

Globalisation that spawns much evil, has also created many tools and resources for grassroots activists

Dec 07, 2003:Ideas For India
Holistic farming

These are ideas that a rapidly changing India needs

Jan 04, 2003:Trend
Women Sarpanchs to hoist flags in Maharashtra

The greatest achievement of the last decade has been the effect of including women in local governance

Aug 22, 2004:Innovation
Somender Singh builds a better IC Engine

Singh was awarded US Patent No 6237579 in May 2001 for his idea

Oct 29, 2003:Innovation
Plastic recycling moves ahead

Luckily,India has already exhausted that reflex reaction of shallow thinking: ‘ban plastics!’

May 13, 2006:Ideas For India
Novel energy options

Here are some promising paths that lead away from fossil fuel dependance, towards a sustainable energy future

Jul 15, 2003:Activism
The fight to save Kali

The Kali Bachao Andolan (Movement to Save the Kali) has been formed by Parisara Samrakshana Kendra of Uttara Kannada

Feb 16, 2005:Profile
Remembering Dr H Narasimhaiah

He was a tree that bore many scientists as fruits.

Feb 09, 2004:Activism
Why be afraid of TI?

Very few Indian commentators have bothered to question Transparency International’s techniques

Aug 21, 2003:Initiative
Good cheer on IDay-56

Read the Sam Singh saga...that would be enough to fill you with optimism

Jan 02, 2004:Memory Speaks
More than a cooking stove

The whole family gathered around it

Oct 23, 2002:Trend
Carbon Trading arrives in India

Right now, there is a market opportunity for India

Nov 19, 2002:Energy
Ethanol blended auto fuel debuts

The implication of this move is enormous for India

Sep 09, 2004:Initiative
Bio-diesel moves you can make right now

Reality is, there is a huge shortage and and a need to create new supplies of them.

Oct 22, 2003:Trend
Gandhi’s revenge?

30,000 executive positions in Britain’s finance and insurance industries are likely to be transferred to India over the next five years

Jan 13, 2005:Initiative
Reasons for GNI’s silence

Often what we cannot achieve by fulminating, can be achieved by switching off disappointment and working for a greater objective.

Jun 08, 2003:Trend
Justice on faster track

The number of heinous crimes had come down, particularly in Rajasthan and Maharashtra

Nov 09, 2004:Innovation
The import of EDUSAT

It is unlikely that any other country made such a decision, before it became affluent.

Sep 15, 2002:Initiative
A model to fight bio-piracy

Prize for Dr Pushpangadan’s work with the Kani tribe



...list of all articles




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