News

Malthy never thought loans could be issued in 30 minutes flat. Or that she could ever shop in a supermarket. Or own a car.

Her past experience of insult and ridicule created a sense of fear in Malthy. But now she walks confidently, deposits her savings and draws at will, asks for loans and gets them in quick time too. She’s also a partner in the supermarket business and will soon buy Tata Sumos to rent out.

Read more in the Hindustan Times, Sep 09 2007

Suresh Kamath, the managing director of Chennai based Laser Soft Infosystems Ltd is an unusual man. Unlike most other entrepreneurs, he does not aspire to create a business empire; his sole ambition is to provide employment to 10,000 people. He also plans to reserve 40 per cent of the jobs for the disabled.

Suresh started Laser Soft in 1986 with just Rs 200 and five people. Today, the company is a force to reckon with in the banking software arena.

In recognition of his commitment to the disabled, President of India A P J Abdul Kalam felicitated Suresh with the Best Employer award in December 2005. He also won the Best Employer award from the Tamil Nadu government. He has been awarded the NCPEDP shell Helen Keller Award for giving equal rights and gainful employment to persons with disabilities.

Read more in Rediff.com

The Briton who turned the canons of conventional homemaking on their head and became one of India’s greatest living architectural legends, is no more. Laurie Baker, 90, passed away at his Thiruvanantapuram home this morning after prolonged illness. He will be buried tomorrow.

Read more in the Indian Express (Apr 2, 2007)

For Lal Muni Devi, the challenge was to survive on her farming skills without having any land of her own to plough. So the poor, uneducated woman from Azad Nagar village in Patna district used her dank, thatched house to grow mushrooms.

And now she is in a Mexican gallery of top farmers from Asia. A photograph of Lal Muni and the story of her achievement have been put on the website of CIMMYT (www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/news/ 2006/feb/whats_wheat.htm), a well-known Mexican institute engaged in research for improvement of maize and wheat crop.

Read more, in the Indian Express, Mar 07, 2007

Dr. Venkataswamy, known as Dr. V, founder of the Aravind Eye Hospitals network, passes away at 87.

Read more in The Hindu.

KHADAKWADI, INDIA - Until just three months ago, life in this humble village without electricity would come to a grinding halt after sunset. Inside his mud-and-clay home, Ganpat Jadhav's three children used to study in the dim, smoky glow of a kerosene lamp. And when their monthly fuel quota of four liters dried up in just a fortnight, they had to strain their eyes using the light from a cooking fire.

That all changed with the installation of low-cost, energy-efficient lamps that are powered entirely by the sun.

"Children can now study at night, elders can manage their chores better," says Mr. Jadhav. "Life doesn't halt anymore when darkness falls."

Read more.. (The Christian Science Monitor, Jan 03, 2006)

Tens of thousands of prisoners in Kenya plan to skip their meal on Sunday to raise money for fellow Kenyans affected by food shortages.

Prisoners in jails across the country are hoping that by diverting funds for their meal to the charity Food Aid, it will help the starving.

Some 2.4 million people are threatened by severe drought across Kenya.

Read more.. (BBC News, Dec 31, 2005)

(Submitted by Sumeet Bhatti)