Making roads safer, remembering Dr SS Badrinath, a teen's farming solution—our top stories of the week

Raghavendra Kumar, better known as the ‘Helmet Man of India’, has distributed 56,000 helmets across Kanpur, Lucknow, Delhi, Meerut, Noida and more. His mission? To distribute helmets to riders who aren't wearing one. 

His work towards road safety started in 2014 after he lost a dear college friend to a road accident. In 2020, Kumar founded his non-profit organisation, the Helmet Man of India Foundation. As part of this initiative, Kumar aims to establish a helmet bank operational from 6 am to 8 pm, all year round, and start a helmet store outside schools and colleges in Noida. These facilities will offer free helmets to students who have forgotten to carry one.

Read more about his work here.

Compassionate doctor, visionary surgeon

Legendary eye surgeon Dr Sengamedu Srinivasa Badrinath, or Dr SS Badrinath, passed away on the morning of November 21, leaving behind a legacy in charitable healthcare and an army of close to 1,500 surgeons mentored by his institution Sankara Netralaya. Since its establishment in 1978, Sankara Netralaya has facilitated 100 free-of-charge surgeries, benefitting at least 1,200 patients every day. 

“He was the only one doing vitrectomy (a branch of surgery to treat problems of the eye's retina and vitreous) in 1984, and to his patients, he was the most compassionate doctor,” says Dr S Natarajan, Chairman and Managing Director of the Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital in Mumbai. 

A Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee, Dr SS Badrinath finds his name in the Retina Hall of Fame by the American Society of Retina Specialists.

In other positive news across the country:

14-year-old girl lauded for innovative crop rotation study

Anapurna Parida, a 14-year-old student from the Government High School, Purohitpur, Orissa, has garnered acclaim for her pioneering study on crop rotation and pulse cultivation, earning recognition at the State Level Children’s Science Congress held at Bhubaneswar and securing a spot at the upcoming National Children’s Science Congress (NCSC).

According to a report by The New Indian Express, Parida’s research, focused on raising awareness among local farmers about the benefits of crop rotation and pulse cultivation, highlights the critical role pulses play in providing nitrogen to the soil and reducing diseases in humans. The lack of knowledge about these practices among farmers led Parida to conduct a case study in Chandura village under Taradapada panchayat in Jagatsinghpur block.

Kerala officer’s compassionate act

In a touching display of compassion, Civil Police Officer M A Arya from Kochi Women's Police Station breastfed a four-month-old baby while the infant's ailing mother was hospitalised nearby.

According to a report by Deccan Herald, Officer Arya, a mother of a nine-month-old herself, stepped forward to breastfeed the crying baby of a Patna resident undergoing treatment in the ICU of Ernakulam General Hospital. Her four children, left with no one to care for, were brought to the Kochi City Women's Station for assistance on Thursday.

While police personnel in the station pitched in to provide food for the three older children, Arya went beyond her call of duty by feeding the youngest one.