Great Teachers

Sudham Mali and Balaji Patole

 Both are teachers with an unquenchable love for education. They run a school in a village called Pashti (which consists of 6 hamlets and a population of 282) since 1997. Children come from 8-10 km away to this school. Mali draws a salary of only Rs 1,800 for last 10 years, and he along with Patole spends double the time required to be spent as a teacher. Instead of an 8 hours job they do a 14-16 hours job to ensure that kids get a better education. The privately run school has a 100 per cent pass rate in SSC exams.

The duo has striven to create a strong mindset among village communities of sending the girl-child to school and to address the extremely high dropout rates. They have reached out personally to parents to ensure attendance and spent time post-school hours with their students to make sure they fare well during exams. Today, their school provides the students with English and Computer training, thanks to the help provided by Swades Foundation.

POOREST AND PUREST CM IN INDIA......

MANIK SARKAR

BORN: 

22 January, 1949

Radhakishorepur,Tripura

POLITICAL PARTY: 

Communist party of India(Marxist)

SPOUSE:

Panchali Bhattacharya

 Manik Sarkar, who is running for the fourth consecutive term as Tripura chief minister, is probably the poorest of all the chief ministers in the country. And he has only become poorer after his third term.

The 64-year-old CPM stalwart, who is always dressed in white kurta and pyjama, starts off his campaign this election with just Rs 1,080 cash in hand. In 2003, he was better off with Rs 3,000 cash in hand.

In 2008, his total cash in hand and in bank deposits was Rs 16,120.38, which has reduced by Rs 5,320 in the last five years, according to affidavits he has submitted to the Election Commission. Sarkar has just one savings bank account, at SBI, Agartala branch, (account number 01190058811) with a deposit of Rs 9,720.38. In 2008, he had a different savings account (number 10915315442) with the same branch and a deposit of Rs 8,992.38.

He also had a second savings account with UCO bank in Agartala (number 35789) with a deposit of Rs 4,928.

His wife, Panchali Bhattacharjee, is a retired state government employee, and according to the mandatory declaration of her financial position, Sarkar's affidavit says she has Rs 22,015 cash in hand. The Sarkars' gold assets have grown by 10 gm in the last five years.

His wife, who has retired now, has cash deposits in banks worth Rs 24,52,395, of which Rs 18,930 and Rs 84,118 are in two savings accounts with the SBI, Agartala branch. The rest of the money is in the form of fixed deposits. Five years ago, she had a savings account with the SBI with a balance of Rs 49,193 and a fixed deposit of Rs 80,080. She also had a provident fund deposit of Rs 6,53,453.

The Sarkars don't own a vehicle. While the chief minister used his official vehicle to commute, his wife travelling in a rickshaw to office has been a common sight on the streets of Agartala.

He has no email account, neither does he carry a cellphone. He can be reached on the landline numbers of his official residence and his office.

Sarkar had also inherited a 0.01 acre plot of agricultural land along with his sister from their mother at Krishnagar after her death in 2009. Sarkar is a 1971 batch commerce graduate from Maharaja Bir Bikram College of Agartala.

Manik Sarkar can arguably be dubbed 'the cleanest and poorest' chief minister in the country with personal property, movable and immovable, valued at less than Rs 2.5 lakh.

According to the affidavit submitted by the 64-year-old Sarkar during filing of nomination in Dhanpur constituency for the upcoming assembly elections, he had Rs 1,080 cash in hand and his bank balance stood at Rs 9,720.

After the death of his mother Anjali Sarkar in 2009, Sarkar inherited a small house in Agartala. He donated it to a kin