Leading by example
Angum Das, a 61-year-old-farmer, is justifiably proud of all the certificates he has received since 1970 from Doordarshan and the district officials for his voluntary activities.
Das is the leader of the Gouri Kalyani Club in Kakori block, Lucknow district, Uttar Pradesh,and a committed social worker. His list of his activities goes thus:
- Convinced more than 40 men and women to adopt permanent methods of family planning
- Inspired 20 families to construct toilets at their houses
- Motivated 65 persons to donate their eyes… and so on.
Augum Das does not merely advise people to do good; he leads by example. For instance, in spite of objections from his own family members and the community, he donated the eyes of his granddaughter, Ananya,who had died in an accident, to two girls, both of whom are now able to see the world.
Angum’s daughter, Nurpati Singh Bharati, leads another Kalyani club of ten women members in Hardoiya village. The women regularly watch the Kalyani programme on Doordarshan and send their feedback.
Talking about his daughter brings a smile to his face as he says, “I am proud of her!”
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Leading from the front....
Diwakar Tejaswi is a doctor, who left a well paying job with UNICEF Ethiopia, to work in the village of his birth -- Bir Origaon in Dhandua block of Patna district, Bihar.
Dr Diwakar had received a gold medal for his outstanding performance in the MBBS exam and got busy carving out his career. After many years, when he visited his village, he saw the dire need for health services. And that made him leave the UN service to open a clinic in Patna and form an NGO, Public Awareness for Healthful Approach for Living (PAHAL), in his village.
Apart from treating the sick, he motivates people to adopt healthy habits. The villagers are now aware of the value of education, health and hygiene. As Dr Tejaswi is often on TV for the Kalyani programme, the villagers have started watching the programme with interest. He is also well known for his services towards HIV/AIDS. He has received many national and international awards for his outstanding contributions. Bir Origaon today owes its improved health status to the outstanding services of the committed doctor.
