The 'ambulance' is Indian ingenuity at its best: a modified four-stroke motorcycle equipped with a first-aid kit and fitted with a sidecar comprising a mattress to provide comfort to pregnant women.
Back home, most of them had never imagined earning their own keep. In India, they are using exile as an opportunity.
Numair Wani and his friends have created an anti-pollution device that makes smoke from Srinagar’s hamams less toxic.
In the drug-ravaged district of Tuensang, Chingmak Kejong and Phutoli Shikhu have not only built roads and health care centres, rehabilitated drug addicts and treated HIV-patients, but created a lasting atmosphere of hope, love and trust.
Residents of Little Tibet are as much a part of Karnataka as the dosa and idli that the refugees from the Himalayan plateau have adopted into their daily diet.
"Of course, it is true that we Kashmiri Pandits have suffered for 30 years. But who is stopping us from showing empathy and compassion? No one."
Basant Rath started giving out books to students during his probation period as a newly appointed IPS officer, in Mandi, in Poonch district; and by the time 2002 came to an end, the initiative had grown bigger, and more organised.
The road to redemption, especially for inmates, is long and fraught with hurdles. And Mandavi believes that the society makes it harder for them to lead a normal life.
In 2016, the district administration of Bijapur, one of India’s worst Left-wing extremism-related violence-hit districts in the country, decided to invest in sports by opening a sports academy in the district headquarters, to bring children out of the cycle of violence.
Sai Vamsi Vardhan, then a Prime Minister Rural Development Fellow, was abducted by Maoists along with three Panchayat-level workers in one of the interior regions in Jharkhand. The Indian Express traces his journey from a software engineer to UPSC rank holder who runs an NGO that sponsors the education of underprivileged kids.
The football club from Kashmir is surprising everyone with their dream run and enthralling fans in the process.
Once a cadre of the ULFA’s most dreaded battalion, today Moni Manik Gogoi is still waging a battle. But this time around he has a different set of weapons.
In Meghalaya’s densely forested Garo Hills, once infamous for being a breeding ground for insurgent activities, this co-operative society has emerged as a rare success story.
Launched in 2006, Youthnet has changed the lives of close to one lakh youngsters, helping them seek employment in a state grappling with one of independent India’s longest-running insurgencies.
In a toxic environment where hate crimes are on the rise, these Muslim artistes believe their challenge is to find a way to overcome social divisiveness and help create a sane and more understanding society.
A retired Army colonel and his trusted team are building a network of schools and hostels to promote peace and education in the remotest, most strife-torn parts of Northeast India