Awaz the voice

  Sarpanch Farooq Ahmed Ganai receiving the State award for cleanliness drive from Lt Governor Manoj Sinhamidst villagers of Sadiwara during a cleanliness drive   Anantnag Can plastic be converted into gold? It can be provided you are living in a picturesque village of South Kashmir Sadiwara. In a pioneering effort, the village Panchayat offers a gold coin to anyone who can deposit a certain amount of plastic waste with it. In collateral, Sadiwara is a proud plastic-free village located in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The campaign  Plastic do Sona lo  (Give plastic and take golld) is the brainchild of  Farooq Ahmed Ganai, Sarpanch of Sadiwara village. The campaign is so effective and has evoked interest everywhere that the government of Talangana recently adapted it. Based on the Sadiwara campaign, the Telangna government has launched a scheme offering silver coin in lieu of plastic to its citizens. "We have a responsibility towards our motherland – or say it is our religion

Sarpanch Babita Bhat tying Rakhi on the hand of a security force personnel   Aasha Khosa/New Delhi For the initial two years of Babita Bhat being elected Sarpanch of the Ladhoo-A village of Pulwama, South Kashmir, not many villagers knew they had a woman village head. “This information was deliberately kept away from the womenfolk. It’s only after I started interacting with the students of the government schools that the news about me spread making women come to me for work,” Babita, who is among a few non-Muslims and women village heads in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir told Awaz-the Voice on phone from Kashmir. She won the 2018 Panchayati elections from her ancestral village against perceived threats from terrorists. “I just started walking knowing that I can be killed,” she said stoically. Mother of two young children, Babita Bhat says her family never left Kashmir because her father Som Nath Bhat was among the four notables of their village. “Life was difficult for everyone but someh

  Nakul Shivani / New Delhi Tucked away in the scenic district of Mallapuram in Kerala is Perinthalmanna. The capital of the erstwhile Princely state of Valluvanad, it is a major commercial hub and was, till not very long ago known as the Hospital city of the district for its medical services. But the identity is slowly changing. This small town is today pioneering a mini-revolution in ushering education as a tool to uplift the lives of people belonging to the marginalised sections of society. The credit for allowing the young and their parents to dream big here goes to the first-time MLA from this constituency, Najeeb Kanthapuram of the Indian Union Muslim League. A former journalist, this young member of the Legislative Assembly was moved by stories of children being forced to given up their education due to lack of financial resources. “I wanted to ensure no one was left behind in getting proper education because of little or no money,” he says. As an active politician since his col