Press Coverage

Click here to see the original article on Mid-Day.

Article reproduced below:
Making a Difference
by L. Romal Singh on 13th August, 2008

We all seem to love bad news, at least that’s what news surveys tell us. Every time we look at stories with the most coverage, they are usually ones that are the most violent. Media houses proclaim that bad news sells and channels and newspapers say that they are the only type of story that keeps their readerships balanced. How many of us agree? Not many. And that has been made obvious by a lot of negative responses media houses receive from time to time.

This is where thebetterindia.com steps in. The common man hates reading bad news every single day, and since there is no other option available, he just accepts what he gets as a mute spectator. Dhimant Parekh decided not to jump on that bandwagon and joined a few of his friends to start www.thebetterindia.com.

What’s different?

The website, that runs more like a blog aims to bring out ‘happy’ stories, highlight those who deserve credit and yet are often ignored, apart from progress that India makes when it comes to industry and economy.

Spearheaded by Dhimant Parekh, the website is updated regularly but with one motive keep the bad news out.

The articles are well chosen and diverse in content, and are quite an interesting read, refreshingly different sans all the violence.

The recent most post is on Prakash and Mandakini Amte winning the Magsaysay Award, something most publications in the country happily forgot.

The author’s say

“On a day-to-day basis we read our newspapers and magazines almost all of them devote their prime space to negative stories: stories of murder, arson, scandals and gossip. We however, found that hidden inside, in the deep annals of these publications are the happier stories: stories to use a clichéd phrase that kindle your heart and tell you that all is not lost. We decided to give these stories their due and that’s how this happened,” says Dhimant. “The Better India is an attempt to bring out these stories, those unsung heroes and heroines, those small good deeds, and showcase them to the world. We hope that by showcasing these here, we might be able to inspire at least one amongst our readers, to do something that leaves an impact,” adds Dhimant.

The blog has maintained this original dream and the stories that are chosen reflect this very hope in Dhimant.

You can subscribe to the stories and can also contact the blog owner via email and comments. If you’d like to keep in touch regularly, subscribe to the updates through the RSS feed.

Click here to see the original article on Bangalore Mirror.

Article reproduced below:
The sunny side of India
by Nishanth S Coontoor, Susheel Karkada & Vinesh Vasanth Betrabet on 18th April, 2009

Switch on the television or flip through the newspapers and you are sure to feel a sense of gloom – most of the information that we get these days portrays the negative side of life – political clashes, acts of communalism, murder, suicide, deceit. Is there anything we can hope for and look forward to?

This is where Dhimant and Anuradha Parekh come in. The Bangalore-based couple has launched a website which highlights stories that show the positive side of India, stories that give us hope in times of gloom.

“We wanted to know more about the India covered under all this sensationalism. We wanted to know the better India. So, we started searching for the happier stories of our country and put them up on a website so that our effort could reach out to more people,” says Dhimant. That is how www.thebetterindia.com was born.

“Over here, you will be able to read about the incremental progress being made by the industrious people of this country and the developments happening on the social and economic front,” says Anuradha.

Many inspirational stories of unsung heroes who have worked for a cause are part of the website. Better India has now tied up with charity website www.giveindia.org so that those who read these stories and want to contribute to a particular cause can do so through the site.

Many of these stories are from Bangalore – how the residents of Rainbow Drive, a layout in Sarjapur Road, adopted rainwater harvesting to overcome acute water shortage in their area; an initiative called Youth for Seva that gives a platform to the youth to involve themselves in community service; and how residents of a colony in Bangalore created a safe haven for birds to nestle and feed.

Anuradha quit her well-paying job to dedicate all her energy on the Better India initiative. A civil engineer with an MBA degree from the Indian School of Business, she manages content for the website and also works part-time with NGOs to streamline their management processes. Dhimant is Associate Director of  Products at a consumer Internet company. A computer science engineer, he too got his MBA degree from the Indian School of Business.

“We believe that by showcasing stories of hope and empowerment, we can inspire at least a few people and make some impact, be it big or small,” says Dhimant.