The Change-makers

Living in a time where “to each his own” is a norm, where nature, fellow humans and discrimination go unnoticed and unattended, there are a few individuals who have taken an altruistic path to make the country a better place to live in. To appreciate their efforts, this 70th Republic Day, we chronicle some inspiring stories of students and professionals from the Garden City; from teenagers who are doing their bit to share knowledge, to those who fight for the rights of their loved ones, and others who are working to preserve our resources in a time of sheer greed. These stories are all endeavours in the pursuit to envision a better Republic.

For Gender pay equality
Anoushka Goenka, 12th grade student at The International School Bangalore
This 18-year-old student witnessed the discrimination at work places first hand when she realised that her mother and father, who helm similar roles at their respective offices, earned different salaries. She set about learning about gender pay gaps, threw herself into research, and then armed with information, Anoushka Goenka filed a petition with change.org to voice her concerns. 

“I filed the Gender Pay Gap petition eight months ago. I was exposed to the concept at a time when I didn’t even know what salaries meant. A little research into it and I felt the need to do something about it. It’s unfair to decide a person’s pay based on their sex, and not the work they do. Ever since I wrote the petition, I have gained 1,093 supporters. After doing more research on the matter, I intend to write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi once I have 1,500 supporters. I believe that it is the small steps that matter and eventually make a difference,” says Anoushka.

The TISB student wants to share her research with the ministry of corporate affairs to bring to light the disparity in gender pay. She is also joining a fierce band of intellectuals at Reed College at Portland, Oregon, where she plans to pursue her undergraduate studies in political science. She has written multiple research papers exploring Law, Politics and History too. 

Mental health for all
Aaryani Sahay and Kasish Singh
Despite living in a progressive world, we haven’t shed off the stigma attached to mental health. Aaryani Sahay and Kasish Singh, ninth grade students from The International School Bangalore recognised the urgent need to spread awareness about the same and visited schools in the city to talk about mental health and remove the stigma attached under a project called Let’s Talk.

“We had classmates and friends who had depression and panic attacks. They dodged the suggestion of seeking help of a professional and suffered in silence. That is when we decided to go to these schools and talk about the importance of mental health. We have visited five schools, an orphanage and conducted 13 awareness sessions about the same with the help of 85 volunteers. Our outreach is over 1,200 students. The project Let’s Talk was founded through the 1M1B Foundation’s future leaders programme. We have been invited for a presentation at the Active Impact Summit at the United Nations in Februar,” they say. 

Working with special children
Juhi Ramani, Programme Manager
Juhi and Bobby Ramani’s brother is a special needs child. He became one of the biggest inspirations for the two sisters to work with children having special needs as well underprivileged children. The city-based Juhi co-founded an NGO that works with special needs children in the city. She is currently working with six orphanages and three government schools across the city. “I work with orphanages where we carry out different activities. We have a football event that we have planned for January 27. It is meant to be a sort of fun activity that children can enjoy. The event is also an opportunity to find new talent among them. Apart from this, I am also working with restaurants on making them more disabled-friendly. I am trying to get other public spaces like government offices, ATM’s to have a more inclusive set-up,” says Juhi. With April 2 celebrated as World Autism Day, Juhi is planning a special Autism fest to spread awareness, and continues to work on making public places more disabled-friendly.  

Water warrior
Sumit Kapur, a marketing professional: A 36-year-old marketing professional who quit his job once he became aware of the negative impact of consumerism on our environment, he has been working towards saving water. Having joined an NGO, Centre for Sustainable Development, he has busy researching and trying to make people more responsible towards saving water, and highlighting the water footprint of different products. Educating people on their responsibility to save water, his recently-launched awareness campaign titled Sh2oonya —  #theshoonyainitiative, aims to give people ways and means to do their bit to save water.

“We live in a city that produces 5,000 tonnes of waste on a daily basis. We don’t realise that 15-20 per cent of what we consume is waste and a lot of water goes into it too. Everything we consume has a certain water footprint. The initiative Sh2oonya aims at making people aware of what they are consuming and making them more mindful of what they consume and how much they consume. It is an attempt at solving two problems: reducing production of waste and conserving water. We plan on developing an app and creating websites to take this forward,” says Sumit.