Stories  

Chandra Mishra never liked the sight of poor people and children begging on the streets. In hopes of making their lives better, he launched a mission called ‘Beggars Corporation’. Under this, he trains poor people in groups and helps them set up their businesses. So far, he has been able to give a better life to almost 14 families.

For the last 25 years, Bhoop Singh Yadav, an SI from Uttar Pradesh, has been running awareness campaigns to inform people about the traffic rules and regulations. He has organized over 1600 camps in schools and other institutions and more than 8 lakh people have attended these sessions.

Ruma Devi had to discontinue her studies after class 8 due to extreme poverty. She continued the tradition of embroidery that she acquired from her grandmother and established her creative business. Ruma Devi has employed over 22,000 women across 75 villages. She received a special invitation from Harvard University where she engaged in discussions with around a thousand academics, students, and entrepreneurs.

IAS Vijay Wardhan is a resident of Sirsa district of Haryana. He appeared for 30 competitive exams but was not selected in a single one of them. He failed in his first four UPSC attempts and became an IPS officer in 2018. Vijay Wardhan did not stop there and appeared for the exams again in 2021. This time, he accomplished his dream of becoming an IAS officer.

Ghazal Alagh, the Co-Founder of Mamaearth, established a company with a desire to make chemical-free products available in the market. She co-founded the company with her husband in the year 2016, with an initial investment of Rs 25 lakh. The company began with just 5 products and has since expanded to over 500 products.

Anirudh Devgan is a computer scientist and an alumnus of IIT Delhi. He is the CEO of Cadence Design Systems, a software company with a market capitalization exceeding $62.14 billion as of August 2023. According to salary.com, Anirudh Devgan’s annual salary was approximately Rs 2,200 crore in the year 2022.

Savita Pradhan was born in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. She was the first girl from her village to complete class 10 studies. Savita was married off at the young age of 16. At 21, she moved out of her husband’s house with her sons and started a new life. She cleared the MPPSC exams in her first attempt and became a PCS officer.

Jagdish Chand Chaudhry, the founder of Aakash Institute, climbed up the ladder of success with his belief in numerology. His early years were spent in poverty and today he is considered one of the most powerful ed-tech giants in India.

Karnataka’s Nandini KR studied civil engineering for her higher education and then went on to pursue UPSC exams to become an IAS officer. She faced multiple setbacks in her first few attempts, but she persevered and emerged victorious in her fourth attempt at UPSC 2016 by becoming an All-India topper.

Manisha Koirala is a film actress and social worker. She made her acting debut with the 1989 Nepali film ‘Feri Bathola.’ She appeared in her first Bollywood film ‘Saudagar’ in the year 1991.

Oshin Sharma hails from Kangra district and was raised in Shimla. She received acting offers in films, but she declined them due to her family’s disapproval. Oshin Sharma is the brand ambassador of Ladli Foundation. Since 2019, she has been serving as a Himachal Administrative Service officer.

Dr Shishir Kumar Pandey completed his education from government schools and local universities, and today he serves as the Vice Chancellor of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Divyang State University, Chitrakoot. For a brief period, he was also a representative of the Indian embassy in Russia and gave lectures at various Russian universities and inaugurated events related to Indian cultures.

Uttar Pradesh’s Rajkumar Mishra made paddy threshing machines in efforts to make his family’s financial condition better. He was awarded with a sum of Rs 1 lakh for making these machines, by the Grass Root Startup category at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University.

The founder of Zoho Corporation, Sridhar Vembu, had humble beginnings, and yet, with sheer hardwork, he managed to establish a business empire. According to Forbes, Sridhar Vembu’s net worth is around Rs 39,000 crore.

Sonali Bendre is an Indian actress, model, and writer. She made her acting debut with the film ‘Aag’ in the year 1994 and received the Filmfare Award for her debut performance. In 2015, Sonali Bendre published her first book ‘The Modern Gurukul: My Experiments with Parenting.’