In 1997, the village of Pattuvam in Kannur District of Kerala, India, created history. They declared their absolute ownership over all the genetic materials currently growing within the village area. They announced that biodiversity belonged to the current and future generations of the village. Nobody could access the genetic material without the people’s permission. A…
052. Siemens: From bribery scandal to ethical leadership
The Siemens Logo In 2008, there was a financial scandal in Siemens AG, Germany, which is a multinational company working in diverse fields. The company had been engaging in systematic corruptive mechanisms. The scale of bribery was unprecedented – 4283 payments in 332 projects with the bribes totalling US$ 1.4 billion. A settlement was reached…
051. Vijay Jardhari and Beej Bachao Andolan: Saving indigenous seeds
Vijay Jardhari Vijay Jardhari is a farmer and social activist of Jardhargaon, a village in the Tehri-Garhwal district of Uttaranchal in north India. In the late 1980s, he realized that modern agriculture was destroying traditional farming. In Garhwal, there were once more than 3000 varieties of rice alone, but just a few varieties were promoted…
P01. Hope in dark times: Poems
Beginning April 14, 2020, I have been publishing on this site one inspiring true story or a meaningful tale every day. After the 25th story I published a set of quotations on the theme “Hope in Dark Times”. Yesterday, I published the 50th story. Today, I am posting something different again: A set of poems…
050. Three Questions
Leo Tolstoy A certain King thought that, if only he knew the answers to the following three questions, he would never fail in anything he might undertake: How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time? Who are the people I most need, and to whom I should, therefore, pay more…
049. Johnny Appleseed: Planting apple nurseries all his life
Johnny Appleseed (Image from Howe’s Historical Collection) Johnny Appleseed was born as John Chapman in Massachusetts, US, in 1774. Not much is known about his family except that his mother died when he was young and that his father fought in the American Revolutionary War. He is known in the US as the legendary outdoorsman…
048. Jane Goodall: Unparalleled primatologist, conservationist, and peacemaker
Dr.Jane Goodall (Photo: Michael Neugebauer) Born in 1934 in London, England, Jane Goodall became interested in animals and Africa very early in life by reading the books of Tarzan and Dr.Doolittle. At the age of 26, she went to Africa at the invitation of the famous anthropologist and paleontologist Dr.Louis Leakey. She began her landmark…
047. John Kralik: The power of showing gratitude
John Kralik This is a true story. Depth of despair It was December 22, 2007 and 52-year-old John Kralik felt it was the lowest day of his life. His law firm was going bankrupt, he was going through a difficult divorce, he had no money, and even his sons had grown distant from him. His…
046. Anna Hazare: Gandhian fight against corruption in India
Anna Hazare Kisan Baburao Hazare, affectionately called Anna Hazare, comes from a poor family in Maharashtra, India. He joined the Indian Army as a driver and had an epiphany of sorts in 1965 when all of his comrades were killed in action and he alone survived in an incident at the Khemkaran border. Transformation of…
045. Laurie Baker: The man who built for the people
Laurie Baker Meeting Gandhiji Born in England, Laurie Baker (1917-2007), a British Architect, worked during World War II in an ambulance unit in China, Japan and Burma. When he was in India sometime in the early 1940’s, he had a chance encounter with Mahatma Gandhi, which changed his life. In 1945, he came to India…