ReadeRsdigest.co.in 37Reader’s DigestHEROES:
Tiger GuardianFor Anil Mistry, a resident of Bali
island in the Sunderbans in West
Bengal, hunting used to be fun.
That was until his group of
poachers shot a mother deer,
leaving her fawns in distress. It’s
been 20 years since Mistry has
held a gun. He is now a wildlife
activist, waging war against
poachers and an acclaimed
conservationist in the area.The founder of Bali Nature and
Wildlife Conservation Society, an
NGO that works for the protection
of tigers and the mangrove
ecosystem, Mistry has been
instrumental in releasing more
than 70 tigers into the wild after
they were either captured or had
strayed into settlements. We
salute this eco-warrior.
Sources: Education—
Hindustan Times
, 05.06.19,
Giving
—The Hindu
, 10.03.19, Access—
SheThePeople
, 24.05.19, Heroes—
The Better India
, 20.02.19
Man on a Mission
GIVING Sreeman Narayanan is always
on a new mission. Last year he dis-
tributed fruit saplings, 50,000 of
them, across the Ernakulam district
in Kerala. This summer Narayanan
is giving away 10,000 earthenware
vessels to anyone willing to provide
water to birds. A Gandhian, Naray-
anan started full-time social work
in Muppathadam, his village, by
gifting around 5,000 copies of M. K.
Gandhi’s autobiography a few years
ago. He also distributed cloth bags
some years ago to discourage the use
of plastic. “Whatever I earn from sell-
ing lottery is ploughed back into my
social work,” says Narayanan. We
could do with many more Narayan-
ans to make life better for all.Citizen Legislator
ACCESS Remya Haridas, the 32-year-
old daughter of a daily-wage worker
was catapulted into the limelight
when she was nominated as the
Congress candidate from Alathur
in Kerala, pitted against P. K. Biju of
the CPI(M). Haridas’s personal assets
amounted to just `22,816 according to
her election affidavit. But her strong
social work track record and good
oratory skills propelled her to victory
over her strong adversary. Here’s one
Member of Parliament with a genuine
grassroots connect.
—COMPILED BY V. KUMARA SWAMY