Real Heroes

WB: Real Hero Sangita Bauri wages battle against child marriage

Purulia: Every second girl in India is married underage, according to UNFPA data. The UNFPA also says that India has the highest number of child brides. Nearly 47 per cent of girls are married under the legal age of 18. The agency adds that nearly 140 million child marriages may take place between 2011 and 2020 across most developing nations. This means that on an average, 39,000 child marriages will happen everyday.

It is this scary statistic that 16-year-old Sangita Bauri says she wants to change. She won't allow any child marriage in West Bengal's Purulia district, not under her watchful eyes.

Four years ago, she herself was on the verge of becoming a child bride. Her grandmother wanted to marry her off just because she was the oldest girl in the family.

However, it was in the local child labour school that Sangita learnt that marrying off a girl before 18 was illegal. Today she's studying in Class 8 and wants to be a policewoman....more    

Meet 'Vijeyta' who exposed a sex scandal at a child care shelter

New Delhi: At a time when stories of child abuse are hitting headlines every day, CNN-IBN meets a 17-year-old girl who dared to do the unthinkable. She blew the lid off a horrific sex scandal at a child care shelter in Haryana. The young girl showed tremendous courage to expose rampant sexual abuse at children shelters in India. CNN-IBN is calling her Vijeyta to protect her identity. Vijeyta's story started...  

J&K: Sabbah Haaji gives free education in a remote village

CNN-IBN Real Heroes in partnership with the Reliance Foundation is an honour that recognises ordinary people who are making an extraordinary contribution to society. Real Hero Sabbah Haaji from Jammu and Kashmir is giving the gift of free education in a village called Breswana, literally at the back of beyond. ...  

Priti Patkar runs night shelters for children of sex workers

Real hero Priti Patkar runs night shelters for children in Mumbai's red light areas. Her mission is to provide children with a safe haven and grooming them for a future away from prostitution. ...  

Woman fights child labour in Karnataka's silk factories

The sixth edition of Real Heroes is celebrating ordinary women performing extraordinary service. Real hero Saroja amma is fighting child labour in Karnataka's silk industries. According to the Census 2011, 12.6 million children work as labourers in India. India has the highest number of child labourers in the world, according to UNICEF. ...  

WB: Bhawani Munda's football team perseveres despite no assistance

The sixth edition of Real Heroes is celebrating ordinary women performing extraordinary service. Real Hero Bhawani Munda and her football team are girls who persevere despite no equipment and zero encouragement. ...  

Real Hero Laxmi transforms lives of widows in Vrindavan

CNN-IBN's Real Heroes Awards in partnership with Reliance Foundation is an honour that recognises and acknowledges ordinary Indians doing extraordinary things. One such story is that of Dr Laxmi Gautam, a professor by profession, who is transforming the lives of the widows of Vrindavan. ...  

Hyderabad: Gangrape survivor makes a film on her trauma

On International Women's Day, CNN-IBN brings a story of hope. A gangrape survivor herself, Sunita Krishnan fought back and set up Prajwala, a home for sexually exploited women and children. Sunita was CNN-IBN's Real Hero in 2008. She has now made a film on her trauma and the trauma of others like her. ...  

'Real Hero' struggles for wife's treatment

Jamshedpur: In Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district, Kantha Singh is a father to 65 orphaned children. His extraordinary work fetched him the CNN-IBN Real Hero award in 2010. But two years down the line, Kantha Singh is facing the biggest challenge of his life. He doesn't have enough money to take care of his ailing wife. His wife is suffering from cancer and Kantha is helpless. He has been languishing in...  

Babar buys land for school after Real Hero award

Murshidabad: Babar Ali was CNN-IBN's Real Hero in 2009 as he was perhaps the youngest school principal in the world. It's a unique school where a 27-year-old Mumtaz Begum sits attentively and listens to the teacher and her 7-year-old daughter studies in the nearby classroom. Mumtaz is in her 9th standard and wants to give board exams next year. Babar was a young and lanky 16-year-old when CNN-IBN met him...  

'The Real Hero title was a morale boost for my students'

Sundernagar: Karsanbhai Patel has been training state and national level swimmers in a small village lake in Gujarat. He said the CNN-IBN Real Heroes award helped give them a boost. The swimmers prepare for the championships in a canal at the tiny hamlet of Sundernagar. The canal that has produced many state and national level swimming champs. It is the government school teacher Karsanbhai Patel, CNN-IBN's Real Hero in 2009,...  

Real Hero Krishnan gets international recognition

Madurai: Narayanan Krishnan, a former five star chef who left his job, to feed the homeless was CNN-IBN's Real Hero in 2008 and went on to become a CNN Hero in 2010. It's been 10 years since the former five star chef decided to leave his promising career and dedicate his life to feeding the homeless. In 2008, Narayanan Krishnan was recognised as a Real Hero by CNN-IBN for his...  

Real Hero from Ladakh to construct reservoirs

Ladakh: It is just the beginning of harsh winters in Ladakh. Come December and mercury dips to a chilling -15 degrees here. But for 78-year-old Chewang Norphel, temperature is just a number as he literally skips to the top of a very rocky mountain near the Numb village. The former civil engineer, fondly called the "ice man", became CNN-IBN's Real Hero in 2008 for building more than seven artificial glaciers...  

Real Heroes Bablu & Mary transform Anantapur

Anantapur: Two persons Bablu and Mary is the reason for transformation in Anantapur. Over the past 20 years the two have turned the barren land of 140 villages into an agro-forest habitat also helping villagers set up small scale industries. Many believed that the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh was destined to the wrath of scorching sun and barren arid land. But the will of two people, Bablu Ganguly and...  

Real Heroes Jo and Manju train special children

Dehradun: Two friends Jo chopra and Manju Singhania have set up a school for children with Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Down Syndrome. Their school is responsible for transforming the lives of more than 1500 special children. It all started with a child who was neither meant to be born nor was she meant to survive. But Moy Moy was born and even survived. In many ways this happy girl is...  

Reliance launches Braille newspaper with Real Hero

Mumbai: Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Mukesh Ambani launched India's first registered national Braille newspaper in Hindi in association with CNN-IBN's Real Hero Swagat Thorat on Monday. It was Real Hero Thorat's dream to print India's first Braille newspaper in Hindi, and Reliance Foundation made his dream a reality. Nita Ambani launched 'Reliance Drishti' with Thorat as the chief editor, lighting up the lives of the blind and giving them their...  

Real Hero Sheeba helps parents of ailing children

Mumbai: Sheeba Ameer, who has been through the pain of watching her 13-year-old battle cancer, has now set up an organisation that provides financial aid to parents who cannot afford treatment for their terminally ill children. It was a moment that altered her life forever, when Sheeba found out that her 13-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer. "I can't explain the pain we felt everyday, not knowing whether our child...  

HIV positive woman helps 20,000 others

New Delhi: Kousalya Periaswamy was the first Indian woman to openly admit that she was HIV positive. Over the years, she has helped over 20,000 women across the country fight the stigma by supporting them financially and legally. Vimly, a HIV positive woman, says, "My biggest fear is that if people come to know I am HIV positive, they will not come near me." Helping women like Vimla overcome their...  

TN: Flowerseller buries unclaimed bodies

Coimbatore: Shantakumar, a flowerseller in Coimbatore, has made it his mission to offer a dignified funeral to those who no one cares for. Like in most cities, in Coimbatore too, the mortuary at the general hospital was becoming a store house for many unclaimed bodies, until one day, Shantakumar landed on their doorstep. Said Shantakumar, "One day, when we went to the government hospital, we felt a bad smell emanating...  

Couple who lost kids now parents to many orphans

Nagapattinam: A couple lost all their three chilren in the 2004 tsunami. But in sorrow the couple, Parmeshwaran and Chudamani, found a new reason to live when they reached out to the many children who were orphaned by the same tsunami in Nagappatinam. Today 26 children can dream of a future because of the couple. As the tsunami swept through the coasts of Nagapattinam in 2004, Parmeshwaran and Chudamani lost...