May 2016 < CAREERCONNECT < 8584 < CAREERCONNECT < May 2016

“Young people are needed to contribute to issues of governance”Swechha, an NGO which had its inception in the year 2000, aims to bring about change in the environment, both physical and social. Vimlendu Jha, Founder, Swechha is a young and spirited youth leader who has solely dedicated his life to erase the faults in the society, and is doing every bit to bring a change. In a candid interview with Roselin Kiro, he shares about the journey of Swechha, what made him come up with such a noble initiative, and what keeps him going. Excerpts:

Tell us about the inception of Swechha. What made you to come up with such a concept?My journey started when I was in college in late 90s when I used to volunteer for several social and environmental campaigns in Delhi; that’s when my interest in the social sector began. After completing graduation in the year 2000, I was clueless in terms of my next career move, while every friend around me were preparing for civil services, management, etc. I was very sure of what I didn’t want

to do but I wasn’t sure of what I actually wanted to do. So, I took a year off from my studies and started a campaign called ‘We for Yamuna’. The reason behind starting this campaign was because I had seen the river and the issues which revolved round the river and hardly anyone was talking about it 15 years ago. It came from a point of frustration that we are sitting in the capital of India, which is a hub for all the bureaucrats, netas, socialists, environmentalists and all the powerful people, and still, the situation is pathetic and no one talks about it. So, I

decided to do something about it. Interestingly, the campaign that

we started became really strong and to my pleasant surprise,

there were hundreds of young people who actually had the similar pain, anxiety, anger; they all joined the campaign which turned out to be successful. I witnessed t h o u s a n d s o f p e o p l e

campaigning, shouting and demanding for a clean river.

It was the first youth campaign in Delhi which did not have a flag,

didn’t have an organisation, didn’t have a logo, didn’t have a structure

but just had passion and concern for civil rights, environmental rights, and that’s how the journey of Swechha began. Later, we realised that a work like this cannot be a short-term campaign. It is not only for Yamuna; there are so many other issues around it. We also realised that it is very important to have enough space in this ecosystem for young people to come and do something on their own terms like creativity, freedom, passion, devotion,

career, etc., and having talents of all of these can create a difference in the society.

We wanted to break two stereotypes of social change. One is that anyone who wants to work toward social change or social or environmental issues has to make a big sacrifice in life, and secondly, you need to be extremely poor and impoverish to bring in social change. We wanted to break this notion and wanted to prove that young people who are cool, educated, who can go and watch a movie and still talk of social change. Social or environmental issues cannot be the domain only for the old or boring people. It can be exciting and interesting as well.

Tell us how Swechha operates and to which section of the society it caters to?Our journey from the year 2000 to 2016 has seen organic growth. It is not the agenda that we created in the year 2000 to only focus on a specific issue. The people around us or the ecosystem around us define our focus areas. We started with the Yamuna campaign and right now we work in three primary verticals-

We want to prove that young people who are cool, educated, who can go and watch a movie can still talk of social change. Social or envi-ronmental issues cannot be the domain only for the old or boring people. It can be excit-ing and interesting as well.

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1. Environment - Within this we have issue on waste, air quality, greenery, plantation, etc. 2. Education – Related to access to education which is our first right as there are thousands of impoverished people who do not have access to basic education.3. Enterprise - We are not dependent on the Government to come and change our lives. Rather, we took the initiative to do something for ourselves with innovation.

These are the three verticals that Swechha works on. We are primarily in Northern India (in Delhi) but there are lot of impact stories in other parts of the country and other parts of the world as well.

You were recognised as one of the top 25 youth leaders of India by some renowned media organisations. Do you think that with such recognition, you responsibilities towards the cause and purpose for you are working also increases?That could not be the reason why I am more responsible. If I look at the last 15 years of my journey, I could have been anywhere for the kind of education I have got or the kind of skills that I have acquired. Responsibility cannot be a condition, that’s my passion. I won’t say that I have become a little more responsible or the reason why I feel so passionate about this work is just because of the kind of recognition I have got in the past, but yes, I also understand that there are lots of young people who look up to me through different interventions,

through social media, through the work that I do in the mainstream media, my writings, etc. Therefore, it is very important for me to be aware of that and put the right foot forward to create some kind of inspiration, some kind of space for young people, and indeed that’s my responsibility how I become a modern day youth leader. There is a stigma in being a leader in our country, as most of the leaders are corrupt, old and fake. I want to be a leader and organically I have landed up in a space where my voice and my opinion matters. Responsibility lies on me that I put the right opinion at the right time to right set of people.

You are working for a great cause and also trying to involve many youngsters in your organisation. Do you think that the generation today is easily taking up such initiatives and work for such a cause?Young people all around the world are nice people; it is just the right opportunity, right stimuli and right trigger that young people need. The entire saying about the youngsters in the mainstream is that they are irresponsible, only like to have fun, only career-oriented, fashion- oriented, and like to waste the time. That is not true at all because along with that they have a great sense of responsibility, passion, concern and love; it is just how you are able to manipulate them, how you manage it properly and show them the right direction. The problem is not amongst the youth, but it is the lack of forums because of which we are not able

I want to be a leader and organically I have landed up in a space where my voice and my opinion matters. Responsibility lies on me that I put the right opinion at the right time to right set of people.

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to engage the youngsters positively. One of the reasons why young people are going astray is because our entire education system and our ecosystem of organisations have somewhere failed. Today, if a young person wants to do something out-of-the-box in life, he/she does not know where to go and ends up in disillusion. The disillusionment of young people is because of the society and not because they are irresponsible by design.

How do you generate revenue for the functioning of Swechha?There are two primary sources for our revenues. One is the grants that we raise--the funds that we get from several foundations and corporations, nationally and internationally. Secondly, the major chunk of our fund comes from the services that we deliver. We put our skills out in the market and create services for several institutions. We organise trips, trainings, classes and sell the products that are produced by us. So we have our self-sustainable model from where we generate revenues in a most innovative way.

Any message you want to convey to the youngsters about taking up such initiatives?Today, young people are needed more than any other time in contributing to the issues of governance, be it in the government or institutions that further the cause of the governance. Therefore, my call to them is that please continue doing whatever you are doing but also think about your responsibility as a citizen.

You don’t need to abandon or suspend your lives and start wearing chappals and khadi; you can do whatever you like and at the same time think about the nation, think about people around you and how your work can create an impact in your life and the society at large.

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