Mr Alok Sagar, a former IIT Professor but from last 26 years he is working for tribals and sacrificed his whole life for them. Now he’s living in a village which is 165 meters away from Bhopal, the population of this village is 750, lacking both electricity and roads.
He completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering and also pursued Master’s from IIT Delhi, and has a PhD from Houston University, he also worked for more than a year in the US then came back in India and became a Professor in IIT Delhi.
Alok is a resident of Delhi, his father, who was an IRS officer, passed away last year. His mother was a physics teacher in Miranda House, DU and his brother is a professor in IIT Delhi.
While teaching at IIT Delhi, Alok has groomed many students, including Raghuram Rajan, the ex-RBI Governor.
It’s been 32 years and Alok has planted more than 50,000 trees in the region, and he believes everyone should work at the grassroots level to serve our country. Alok can speak many languages and dialects used by tribals in the region. He owns just three sets of kurtas and a cycle.
Now, he spends his day collecting and distributing seeds among tribals.
“In India, people are facing so many problems, but people are busy proving their intelligence by showing their degrees rather than serving people,” said Alok, when asked about his objective behind doing all this.
Alok had to show his long list of qualifications during recent elections at betul when local authorities grew suspicious and asked him to leave.
Anurag Modi, an activist who works with Sagar said:
“Unlike the baseless fight over degrees of politicians, Sagar has set an example of being a true social worker.”