Good News: A Spotlight on India's Hidden Heritage, Spain's Cancer Breakthrough, a River Reborn and more
Positive news from around the world that shows humanity at its best
Unearthing India’s Hidden Heritage
Historic monuments in India are architectural time capsules, preserving the cultures that built them. While some are globally celebrated, thousands more lie hidden in plain sight or scattered across remote corners of the country. India: Lost & Found, founded by photographer Amit Pasricha, is helping a new generation rediscover these lesser-known marvels.
Launched in 2018, the initiative first began as an archival project that paired striking photographs of overlooked monuments with accessible historical narratives. Images—shot on both high-end mobile phones and professional cameras—were contributed by photographers and history enthusiasts, and accompanied by contextual writing from historians and experts. “Our images and their narratives created a powerful tool to influence youngsters and make them aware of these monuments,” Pasricha tells Reader’s Digest India.
Since the Covid pandemic, the project has evolved into a more research-driven platform and built a large online following. Today, it relies on around 300 volunteers, dubbed ‘bird-feeders’—who contribute to the effort by performing research, mapping and writing to complement the images.
Pasricha says the team is also developing a ‘Heritage Map’ app: “Its purpose is to give young Indians an idea of home in an increasingly rootless society. To protect these monuments, they need to feel a strong sense of belonging towards them.” After all, monuments can only survive if people first learn to notice—and value—them.
Classrooms on the Lake
Historically, Kashmir has been beset with poverty, political turmoil, shutdowns, terrorism and various logistical issues. These factors have adversely affected children’s education, but a new current of hope has surged through the region’s troubled w...
Unearthing India’s Hidden Heritage
Historic monuments in India are architectural time capsules, preserving the cultures that built them. While some are globally celebrated, thousands more lie hidden in plain sight or scattered across remote corners of the country. India: Lost & Found, founded by photographer Amit Pasricha, is helping a new generation rediscover these lesser-known marvels.
Launched in 2018, the initiative first began as an archival project that paired striking photographs of overlooked monuments with accessible historical narratives. Images—shot on both high-end mobile phones and professional cameras—were contributed by photographers and history enthusiasts, and accompanied by contextual writing from historians and experts. “Our images and their narratives created a powerful tool to influence youngsters and make them aware of these monuments,” Pasricha tells Reader’s Digest India.
Since the Covid pandemic, the project has evolved into a more research-driven platform and built a large online following. Today, it relies on around 300 volunteers, dubbed ‘bird-feeders’—who contribute to the effort by performing research, mapping and writing to complement the images.
Pasricha says the team is also developing a ‘Heritage Map’ app: “Its purpose is to give young Indians an idea of home in an increasingly rootless society. To protect these monuments, they need to feel a strong sense of belonging towards them.” After all, monuments can only survive if people first learn to notice—and value—them.
Classrooms on the Lake
Historically, Kashmir has been beset with poverty, political turmoil, shutdowns, terrorism and various logistical issues. These factors have adversely affected children’s education, but a new current of hope has surged through the region’s troubled waters. Parents, volunteer teachers and local organizers have created floating schools on Dal Lake in 2020, when the pandemic shut conventional classrooms, to ensure that learning never stops.
Built on patches of floating land, these small, informal schools offer lessons in English, Urdu, mathematics, science, history and geography. Despite meagre resources and their informal nature, these schools have seen rising attendance, particularly among girls.
With fees kept at a minimum, their education is largely funded by income received from sales made to tourists visiting the lake. Now inspiring educators in Nepal and Bangladesh, Dal’s floating schools are proof of the power of community in the face of adversity.
A River Rejuvenated
In Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district, a remarkable community effort is bringing the Tamsa River back to life. In February 2026, residents across 111 villages joined hands to rejuvenate an 89-kilometre stretch of the river under the Namami Gange programme. The initiative quickly turned into a grassroots movement. Schoolchildren, youth groups, women’s self-help groups, voluntary organizations and gram panchayats worked together to clean and restore the river. Shallow stretches were desilted, while garbage, debris and illegal encroachments were removed to improve water flow.
Riverbanks were also greened with the plantation of fruit-bearing and native trees, creating useful green spaces for local communities. As an important tributary of the Ganga, the revival of the Tamsa strengthens the health of the wider river system.
A Breakthrough in Cancer Research
In January this year, scientists at Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre, led by molecular biologist Mariano Barbacid, reported a promising advance in pancreatic cancer research. In experiments on mice, the team eliminated aggressive pancreatic tumours using a combination of three drugs that block the signalling pathways cancer cells rely on to grow and resist therapy. In treated mice, tumours disappeared and did not return during follow-up, with no major toxic side-effects observed. The results are notable because about 90 per cent of pancreatic cancers are driven by KRAS mutations, which are notoriously difficult to target with drugs. While the approach is still in the preclinical stage, it marks a hopeful step toward new treatments.