In our society, the differently-abled and mentally challenged citizens find it extremely difficult to be able to make a living and live a life of dignity. These individuals do need work and subsequently the advantages of work. However, prejudices towards them have caused them to be treated as surplus citizens incapable of being contributing and productive members of society.

This is where Diya Foundation makes its mark. Started in 1999, Diya Foundation is a vocational training center which provides training and, more importantly, employment to adults who are mentally challenged as well as others who are differently-abled physically.

Sarah Santamaria, founder of Diya Foundation, shares her insights with us:

This Diwali, Diya Foundation urges you to add sparkle to your life by doing more. They have a range of delicious chocolates and colourful diyas on sale for individuals and corporates. Handcrafted using imported cocoa, the Chocolyn chocolates are available in a range of flavours and along with the diyas, make for a delightful gift. A gift that will give you double the joy because of the cause it supports.

Diyas for Diwali

Diya Foundation Chocolates

The products can be custom wrapped to suit varied preferences and budgets. For more information and to place your orders, contact Diya Foundation here:

One question that you would perhaps like to answer is “How do I reduce my contribution to the city’s garbage system without altering my lifestyle too much?” Well, let Daily Dump answer that for you.
Daily Dump provides a commercial compost ‘pit’ that you can have at your home. All your leftovers and other organic waste can be dumped into these pits. Within a few months this becomes manure and you can use it for your garden or just sell it off to a needy farmer maybe.

Early Days

Daily Dump, the brain child of Ms Poonam Bir Kasturi, evolved from the question – How can design make a difference? Poonam graduated in Product Design in 1985 from the National Institute of Design. She worked in a small scale manufacturing company after college and then set up a craft based design company called Industree with two other partners. She quit after 5 years and set up Playnspeak, a proprietorship concern, to make products for the home. At the same time Poonam also was the founding faculty of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore which she in May 2008 to start Daily Dump.

So, what exactly is Daily Dump?

In simple words, this product allows every homeowner to reduce their contribution to city waste. In India, no commerical home composter was available till the Daily Dump product was launched.
It is designed for a single family as the “customer”. It is supported by a service backup and customer support. It actually helps families convert their wet waste into eco-friendly compost. The knowledge base is open-source to encourage micro-enterprises.

The Product and its elements

Daily Dump has designed a product with which anyone can convert kitchen waste into compost at home. The product, made of terra-cotta, is sourced from village potters. It is marketed through word-of-mouth referrals, media awareness, and their website. It is sold through channels including individuals, retail stores, and societies. The designs are ‘open source’, so individuals in other locations can replicate, adapt, build on, sell and use – for wide and rapid propagation of the idea.

The current product works well in independent homes; and they are working on a ‘mechanical composter’ for use in flats. Daily Dump’s vision is to see a composter pre-fitted in every flat sold in the country, as a standard fitting. Daily Dump not only retro fits composters at homes and other establishments but also provides maintenance advice and assistance through its service plans, essentially allowing you to just dump and letting nature and Daily Dump do the rest.

Product Range

This product, in addition to reducing waste, serves as a way to get over the social stigma attached to waste in our country. Without being preachy it makes the job of taking care of your waste “doable” and “possible”.

The potters who make the terra cotta pots have benefited significantly – their profitability has increased since they started making these products.

The Team

The current Daily Dump team comprises of:
Poonam Bir Kasturi (Founder), Delara Damania (Designer), Savitha, Shwetha, Vinita, Trupti, Sudheer and Anupama

Current Challenges

The challenge faced by the team presently is to create sustainable revenue streams and make money out of all the research and design work that they have done. The team has also learnt a lot and is looking to partner with NGO’s now to make strategic connections to enable waste to be managed better all over the country. Daily Dump has a robust design and an easily replicable one, which can be adapted by most people all over India.

Looking forward, Daily Dump is in the process of prototyping a mechanical composter to be retrofitted into homes in India. For this, they are looking to work with builders and see if this product can then enter into every home as a standard fitting.
The Daily Dump team is constantly trying to figure out:

• How to get builders to retrofit a composter in each balcony and utility?
• How to design a new mechanical composter such that it follows the cradle to cradle philosophy and yet is cheap and fits into the informal manufacturing setup that dots the Indian urban landscape?

Recognition

Daily Dump has received the following awards & honors:

• “Nominated for the INDEX awards 2007 – an international award to improve the quality of life
• Awarded the Green Product of the Year by Anchor Better Interior Excellence Awards 2007
• Made it to the final round of the TATA NEN Hottest Startups 2009.
• Indira International Innovation’s ‘Star Entrepreneur of the Year Award’, 2009
• Made it to the final round of the Sankalp Social Enterprise and Investment Forum Award 2009.

This article is a reader contribution. Our reader Neeraja Raghavan talks about her tryst with a wonderful Government officer, breaking the myth that everyone out there is inefficient. Read on in her own words:

I was told by my auditor that IT returns of quite a high amount (above Rs 25K) were due to me, from the filing of tax returns for the financial year 2007-2008.

Although these had been filed before 31st July 2008, and the returns are supposed to ‘automatically’ get credited into one’s account after six months, my auditor told me: “Madam! This is the most corrupt department in the country! The officer handling this told me he wants a 2% cut.”

“Bribe?” I asked.

“Yes, madam,” was his answer.

“I am not going to bribe,” I replied.

“Then, Madam, it will take more than 2 years,”he replied.

I said ok, let it take as long as it takes, but I refused to bribe anyone.

Nevertheless, I filed a grievance on some website in December 2008, when 6 months elapsed, but apart form getting a fancy and instant acknowledgement on the website with a registration no:, nothing further happened. (Needless to say, every attempt of mine to get the name of the bribe seeking IT officer from my auditor failed utterly.)

Well, I had an eventful day about two months ago.

Hot as the afternoon was, I decided to invest some of my sleepy time at work, in telephoning the IT department. So I went onto the Net and searched for every telephone no: there is for IT officers in Bangalore.

From the lowest to the highest: that is my usual thumb rule in such cases. So I patiently telephoned from the lowest rung in the ladder to the highest.

Firstly, every single number of the fifteen EPABX numbers rang off the hook, with no one even bothering to pick up the receiver.
Secondly, the PRO cell by some fortuitous chance, managed to tell me which ward/range my PAN number came under, so that helped in my further tracking.
Very knowledgeably, I then began asking for the IT officer in charge of my Range, if at all I was lucky enough to have a human voice answer me at the other end.

Now this went on and on from 2 to 3:30 pm, after which I was emboldened enough to go all the way upto the COMMISSIONER in charge of my Range, and listen to this: at 3:30 I was told by his peremptory secretary: “He has gone for lunch and will be back at 4:30 pm. No, I don’t know his e-mail address.” I laughed: for if an officer goes for lunch saying he will return at 4:30 pm, you can be sure he will not return for the day, for don’t all Government offices close at sharp 5 pm?
Well, I made good use of the time between 3:30 and 4:30 pm, and managed to get the e-mail address of this commissioner, from his colleague, yet another commissioner in charge of yet another range/ward. (Madam, I am sorry this does not fall under my jurisdiction…OK sir, could you please tell me whose jurisdiction it does fall under? And would you be so kind as to give me his e-mail address?)

I mopped the sweat off my brow and sent off an e-mail to the lunching Commissioner, and no sooner did the clock strike 4:30 pm than I called up his office. Very reluctantly, his secretary handed him the telephone.
I explained my problem. I took care to also add that all EPABX numbers were just ringing off their hooks, and since I could not reach the concerned officer, I was sorry but I had no option but to bother a high up person like him.

He not only listened to me patiently, he also asked me if I would be interested in exposing the officer who purportedly asked for a bribe (to which I said sure, but since I only had my auditor’s word without a name for it, I really had no authentic proof).

Then he noted down all my contact numbers, and called me back within 15 minutes.
He explained that due to some new system of computerisation, there had been enormous delay in processing of 2007-8 returns, and I was amongst 80% or more tax payers who were still waiting for the refund.
He said that despite this, since I had been inconvenienced to such a degree, he had arranged for my returns to be credited into my account right away. (He also clarified that the bribe angle could not have much truth in it, as there were so many whose dues were pending, so my auditor could well have been voicing his won desire! I agreed that this could well be the case.)

Further, he said the EPABX was indeed not responding as he had himself tried the telephone nos and found my experience to be his as well. He said he was looking into this as well.
All this happened on that one day. Now, I am not only in receipt of the full money (with interest), my attempts to thank the concerned officer have met with embarassed brush offs! “I am only doing my job!” he said.

So there are good Government officers, too! And it has been my good fortune to encounter one such!

Above article written by Neeraja Raghavan. Thanks!

In this post we bring to you an insightful interview with Maitreyee Kumar who is the founder of Dream School Foundation. Before we get into the actual questions, here is a brief background about Maitreyee.

Maitreyee started her career as software professional and worked with multinational software development firms in India and abroad for over 8 years before she made a shift towards social development. Her desire for social change and interest in child development through civil society mobilisation urged her to join CRY (Child Rights and You). She worked with CRY in the resource generation and volunteer management divisions for a decade and was instrumental in setting up and coordinating Volunteer Action at national level. Educated at Pune University (Masters in Computer Science), Maitreyee provides leadership and direction to the organisation and is primarily responsible for the overall management and administration of the organisation. She was also a recipient of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust Fellowship.

Interview

The Better India (TBI):Tell us about Dream School Foundation (DSF) and the work that it does?
Maitreyee: Dream School Foundation (DSF) is a Bangalore based non-profit organisation working to ensure the child’s right to quality education. Our School Development Programmes help with holistic development of government schools while our initiative – HeadStart, addresses and assists a smooth transition from primary to secondary stages of education and strives to ensure continuity till the 10th grade for the vulnerable and underserved children.

We started as a group of committed individuals volunteering their time and skills for the cause of quality education for disadvantaged children in Govt. schools. Later we formally registered the organization and now 4 years later, we are fairly established with organizational framework in place, focused school programmes and two Education and Development centres for High School students. The underlying belief of our organisation is faith in people’s ability to contribute towards the education and development of our children.

DSF Volunteers with Maitreyee (5th from right, standing)

TBI: Who has benefited from your program and how have you made a difference?
Maitreyee: The objective of the our intervention at the school level is to enhance the learning levels of the children studying at the government schools through support and partnership with teachers, active participation of the community coupled with intensive class room and school level interventions through trained personnel, teachers & volunteers. We believe that these interventions create an environment and processes, which ensures holistic development and enhanced performance of the school and its students.

Our initiative HeadStart aims to mentor and track individual students from the various schools, we support, through and beyond their Higher Primary / Middle school and High School Education. The underlying driver of the programme is to ensure that children both continue into high school (not drop out) and make an informed choice of schooling in the neighbourhood schools that are willing to give them an opportunity to share a learning experience without being discouraged by the financial liabilities.

The programme is strengthened by volunteer-involvement to mentor and track the performance of the participant – students and motivate them through the commitment of financial support for 3 years of High School Education. It is closely associated with our Learning Centres where the student-participants will have the opportunity to capitalise on Spoken English and Life –Skill Tutoring. We have seen marked improvement in the academic performance as well as personality development of these students and they are much better equipped to face the challenges of the world today.

TBI: What inspired you to create an organization like DSF?
Maitreyee: My experience and exposure as a software professional and later work with CRY gave me lot of opportunity to have a world view of society and social development. I came across several well meaning individuals who wanted to do something to bring about a change but very few ended up doing anything worthwhile. Some of us who were really passionate for the cause of Education and felt it is the only sustainable tool that can empower the nation and bridge the economic divide between communities in India started getting together.

We saw that while govt. efforts have ensured that most children have access to schools, quality education in these schools was still a dream. Schools needed to be equipped to provide education that is more than just development of cognitive abilities and rote learning and make learning an exciting and stimulating experience for children. Thus was born the idea of a Dream School which was developed by this group of passionate individuals with a keen desire to bring about a change.

TBI: How does DSF sustain itself?
Maitreyee: A large percentage of our funding comes from CSR initiatives of corporate firms while another significant part is from individuals and groups.

TBI: What are the schools that are currently under the purview of DSF?
Maitreyee: DSF partners around 20 schools across Bangalore for the Holistic school development and extends its services on smaller scale to several other needy schools. Our schools are primarily located in North Bangalore – RT Nagar, Yeshwantpur, Rajajinagar areas, while we also work with some schools around HAL airport area. Our Learning centres are situated at Yeshwantpur & RT Nagar.

Students at a DSF Adopted School

TBI: What plans do you have for the future?
Maitreyee: This year we would primarily focus on strengthening our interventions both at our existing partner schools and Learning centres. Meanwhile the public education scenario in the urban context is undergoing several reforms and changes. We need to wait and watch before we step further in our programme expansion in urban areas.

Instead it’s the rural schools that are kind of orphan and need developmental support. There we also have tremendous scope for enhancing community participation in the school development. We plan to take on a pilot School development programme in the outskirts of Bangalore, extend our existing programmes to the rural community and then explore possibility of scaling up the initiative.

Computers at the DSF's R T Nagar Center

TBI: In what ways can our readers contribute to DSF?
Maitreyee: DSF owes its beginning to few committed individuals who volunteered for the cause of quality education. We have full faith in people’s ability to contribute towards the nation building process. Whether it is through volunteering your time or financial contributions, each one of you can reach out to underserved children. One can be a member of our School Support teams and volunteer at a school or mentor / teach students at our centres. We are in need of sponsors to contribute to the High School education of our HeadStart children.

One is also welcome to help in specialized areas like website & content development, financial accounts, counseling, child psychology, education etc.

TBI: Any other message you would want to provide or talk about?
Maitreyee: We believe that people at large are responsible for the situation of the state of education and children today. And people should play a proactive role to change the situation through collective action. We need to work on formation and strengthening of alliances that promote collective action which will finally result in influencing govt. policies and bringing about constitutional changes. We as educated citizens need to widen our perspective, get more aware and involved in the education system and advocate the right cause that would benefit a larger population than a narrow segment of society.

Maitreyee is ably supported by DSF’s Co-Founder Sabu Joseph. Sabu holds the post of Director – Strategy & Partnerships. Here is a brief bio of Sabu:
Prior to initiation of DSF, Sabu worked with Centre for Environment Education (CEE), in Bangalore where he initiated and managed projects in Environment and Sustainable Development. He taught Social work and management in IIRM, MATS school of management and was visiting faculty in many management institutions and organisations. His interest lies in training and development and has conducted various programmes in corporate, academic and NGO settings. Sabu currently consults with global organisations on sustainability and business transformation.

He provides vision and direction to DSF and is responsible for strategic planning and partnerships. He holds a Masters in Social Work and also a recipient of Common wealth Secretariat scholarship on Environment Education (TEE).

Contact DSF

For further information, please click here to visit the website of Dream School Foundation.

You can also e-mail DSF: info[at]dsfindia[dot]org

How much fun can Science be, you ask? Lots, if it is taught with the help of a simple rocket experiment and other practical applications! The techie duo of Udaya M V and Adithya B, who visit select government schools in Bangalore on weekends, do precisely this.

Both young software engineers who are in their early twenties realized that Indian students need to break away from the traditional mould of “mugging” and start taking a greater interest in their learning, with the aid of science projects. While educating themselves on the internet, they came across a demonstration on how to make Water Bottle Rockets. Taking off from that, they haven’t looked back. After successful programmes in six schools and a summer workshop as well, they are overwhelmed by the tremendous response. So much so that it has inspired them to create an NGO called Education Informal for improving the education process.

Handling everything by themselves, the two techies have so far funded their little experiment on their own. They do hope however that if they were to come across some talented student in need of financial backing, they will be able to source help.

Read the complete article in Bangalore Mirror.
Image Courtesy: Bangalore Mirror
Link Courtesy: Rithish. Thanks!

How many people would pay from their own pockets to restore life into old trees? Perhaps not many. That is why it is inspiring to hear about Dr Ramana Rao, who paid nearly Rs one lakh of his own to relocate two ancient peepal trees that were felled in Bangalore to make way for new roads.

Catching sight of the two giant trees – one 225 years and the other 240 years old, lying at the side of a highway, Dr Rao decided he could not let them die. With the help of 40 people and two 50-tonne trailer trucks, he managed to transport the trees to T Begur village, where they have been planted and given a new life.

Dr Rao wishes he could find sponsors for many more such rescue efforts, as more and more trees are being subject to the axe. Infrastructure projects in Bangalore have recently evoked the ire of citizens in their injudicious and widespread tree-felling. The latest victim to this mass tree-cutting drive has been the pristine locale of Lalbagh – a 250-year old botanical garden that has been the pride of Bangalore since the days of Hyder Ali.

A portion of this beautiful garden has been earmarked to make way for the Bangalore Metro rail project, which will lead to the felling of nearly 300 old and lovingly preserved trees. Dr Rao wishes the City authorities would take an interest in conserving trees, especially those of great significance like the ones in Lalbagh.

“These trees have seen and weathered so many storms. It would be tragic to uproot them merely for the sake of new infrastructure,” he said.

Citizen protests have fallen on deaf ears as the government refuses to consider alternatives. Read more about the citizen efforts and how you can participate at Hasiru Usiru. There is also a rally on Saturday, May 9th, at 8.00 am on Nanda Road in a final bid to save these trees. Bangalore readers, do try and be there to lend your support to the campaign.

Deccan Herald carries the remarkable story of Dr Rao’s efforts in this article.
Image Courtesy: Flickr

Link Courtesy: Faiq Gazdhar. Thanks!

A cooking stove that not only cooks faster, saves fuel but also reduces harmful emissions by 80%. This is the promise of the stoves manufactured by Envirofit India Pvt. Ltd, part of the Shell Group. And they have already found 50,000 takers in the southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Eliminating the dependence of poor people on gas and electricity, both of which are expensive and hard to come by in rural areas, the Envirofit stoves work on wood which is easier to collect. By working on a fuller combustion model and using heat insulating material, they reduce cooking time by as much as 40% as compared to traditional three stone stoves. However, at a retail price of a minimum of Rs.700 for a single pot burner, they might still be a little unaffordable for the large population living below poverty line. Envirofit aims to bring down this price to Rs. 500 in order to cater to this segment as well.

Poornima Mohandas reports in Mint:

The retail channel in south India sure seems ready. Sadathulla, a home appliances retailer in Gundalpet, says he sells more Envirofit stoves in a month than kerosene, electric or gas stoves.

With a reported 1.6 million deaths globally due to the use of solid biomass fuels, 400,000 of which are in India itself, it appears that the Envirofit stove could not have arrived sooner.

Read the complete article here.

Photo Courtesy: www.livemint.com

On Sunday, I was invited by a volunteer to visit the premises of a school which is crumbling in terms of infrastructure. The school is Deena Seva Sangha, located close to the old Kino theater.

We first entered a small room termed as ‘hostel’. It was a dark room, perhaps 20 feet by 7 feet wide. Aluminium chests were stacked wall high in one corner. Various pants and shirts hung on top of one makeshift wooden wall which served as a provider of privacy.

Going ahead, we were taken to the main hall that served as the dining and sleeping area for the 65 students who study and live here. Then we were shown the store room, where the food rations are kept. The school sends its students to the city market once a week to get vegetables, which are given free to them by some generous and charitable vendors.
Moving on to the school building, which lay adjacent to this ‘hostel’, we were shown a pipe jutting out of the wall, gaping with its outlet wide open. In the past, the volunteers have put a tap on it to facilitate drinking of water, but every time they have done that, someone has stolen the tap overnight. A measly 10 rupees for us, but perhaps a meal for someone else. I then entered the building, which is two storeyed. Walking through the corridors, I see the empty classrooms with wooden benches strewn around. I reach the last classroom and look at the blackboard. Someone has scribbled the famous four letter ‘f’ word on the board, in cursive handwriting.

I move back towards the entrance and by now one of the volunteers has managed to get the door to the library opened. I enter the library and find that it is being used more as a junk yard, with all sorts of things lying around. There are broken tubelights jutting out of brown dusty cardboard boxes, a broken abacus lying in the middle of the room. In one corner, is a small two door cupboard that has the much sought-after books (much sought after by the visitors, since this was a libary after all). The books are few and most are torn. I then get out of the building and look at a smaller building in front of me. This one has the words ‘War on Want, UK’ engraved on top of it. “Why would someone provide war when you want it”, I wondered to myself. It took me a few more moments before realizing that the word “want” was used as a noun, not as a verb. Which meant that the word “want” here referred to the property of being in need of something. A little google-ing later gave me the website of this organization – War on Want.
We then get out of the building and there is a tea session held by the volunteers. Their aim? To showcase the state of the school and garner some funds.

If you would like to visit the school or donate, contact these folks: Yuva Bengaluru

(This post originally appeared on Dhimant’s personal blog with the title War on Want: www.dhimantparekh.com)
Image Courtesy: http://yuvabengaluru.org

Prof. AV Ramani

A Chemical Engineer and lecturer at IIT Madras is an unusual candidate to have worked on a heart valve that has drastically reduced the cost of such a medical procedure, in turn bringing relief to millions of poor cardiac patients in Asia. However, Professor AV Ramani has done just this.

The Heart Valve Prosthesis

damage to their heart valves. The device – an indigenous heart valve, which costs a fraction of the imported ones in use at the time, has been created after years of research and hard work.

Developed at the Chitra Thirunal Institute (CTI) under the patronage of Dr.Valiathan and Prof. S. Ramaseshan, the heart valve adheres to all international standards and has a titanium-based metal cage that is long-lasting and wear-resistant. The engineering demands of such a valve were very high. Deepa Mohan tells us more about the requirements of such a machine in this article for Citizen Matters, a Bangalore based news magazine:

“It is worth remembering,” points out Prof. Ramani, “that the life of the heart valve IS the life of the patient”. The human heart beats about 80,000 times a day. For even a ten year life-span, the valve would have to function for at least 400 million cycles, which means a very high-precision engineering requirement, and, because the heart valve, typically, would be surgically implanted in younger people, it needs to be something that would last for a ‘normal’ lifetime.

Important decisions like allowing contributing partners to retain their intellectual property rights under a concept of joint ownership, and designing the valve specifically for Asian anatomy, where the valve dimensions are different from those of the western population, were other factors contributing to the success and prominence of the venture. Once developed, the challenge of marketing and large-scale manufacture of the product was undertaken by the TTK group, which set up a unit for this in Bangalore.

The indigenous heart valve is, in the words of Deepa Mohan:

..a living proof of how academicians, government officials and business people can work together with great synergy to bring out a product that is both profitable and beneficial.

Read the complete interesting article here.
Image Courtesy: Deepa Mohan in Citizen Matters

Link Courtesy: Uday Arya. Thanks a ton!

He is 66 years old. He has recently had a bypass surgery and a cataract operation. He is a retired senior executive at Mico. And he is a voluntary traffic cop at a very busy junction near his house. He is B M Ramachandra of Bangalore.

Having undertaken these duties for the past six months, Ramachandra has managed to restore some sanity to one of the busiest and most chaotic junctions in the city. At an age when most men his age would enjoy a life of leisure and retirement, spending more time with friends and family without having major commitments anymore, Ramachandra has been dutifully executing his duties as a ‘traffic cop’, controlling and directing the traffic flow during peak hours everyday. Clad in tee and Bermudas, and blowing his whistle furiously, he is present at the junction in Arakere-Mico Layout locality off Bannerghatta Road at 7.30 am everyday till 9am, and then again from sunset till 8.30 pm.

The impact of his dedicated service is plain to see. Here is feedback from one of the shopowners in the locality, who has been a witness to this phenomenon:

“Honking and road rage incidents were on the rise and it took more than an hour to reach our homes through this road. It was real hell. After this man took over control of traffic, there is order and there is smooth flow of vehicles,” said Srilakshmi Anand, who owns a commercial establishment in the area.

Not just this, Ramachandra also wakes up very early and cleans the street outside his house. And on his way to the junction, he picks up litter and drops it into the box. So what makes this model citizen tick?

“I am blessed in that I am immune to dust, sound and pollution related allergies. So, this traffic work has not taken a toll on me. I see it as a game and enjoy it. To my surprise, my health has dramatically improved after I took this up. After heart surgery, I was advised to do respiratory exercises. Whistle blowing compensated for that”, he said.

MK Ashoka and Hemant Kashyap report in Bangalore Mirror about what inspired this amazingly positive man to take up this mission:

One day, the local residents’ welfare association president R N Baliga casually spoke about the traffic issue to Ramachandra and how difficult life had become after the apartments had come up.

Ramachandra went the very next day to the spot, stood in the middle of the road and started directing the traffic. Initially, the motorists ignored him, but his persistence and obvious sincerity soon made them fall in line. Later, he politely requested shop owners near the junction not to park their vehicles, and they were more than willing to oblige. Soon, the situation improved so much that motorists started giving him flowers, some even garlanding him.

A responsible citizen, a man of action and not just words, a problem solver, an inspiration – there are many ways to describe B M Ramachandra. Most of all, he is a person we can all attempt to emulate in our own lives.

Read the complete article on this remarkable personality here.
Image Courtesy: Bangalore Mirror
Link Courtesy: Sridhar Raman. Thanks!