Youth For Parivarthan’s Ordinary to Extraordinary

Foreword From Pooh

January and February have been incredibly difficult for us at Jabberfoodwocky. Po’s kid Arlo has been sick numerous times and I have been incredibly busy with everything at home. In our search for Ordinary to Extraordinary, we have come across so many individuals. Choosing them was a very easy task but getting in touch with them, their organizations and getting a reply from them seemed like a mammoth task. When I first heard “Swacch Bharath Mission”, about 5 years ago, I thought how can one person contribute toward it? I was a bit skeptical since the government came up with this mission of taking “One step towards cleanliness”. I thought what the government is going to do about cleaning our cities when we keep on littering our streets, spoiling the environment and contributing to the landfill.

Then I dismissed the idea and thought it will be a doable task if we can at least keep our neighborhood clean. For some time, I left thinking about Swachh Bharath altogether. One day, I was talking with my friend regarding Swachh Bharath mission when one of my colleagues told me about “Youth For Parivarthan”. It is an NGO dedicated entirely for carrying out the “Swachh Bharat mission”. These are a group of people coming together to carry out the mission of keeping India clean and they are starting with Bangalore, the garden city, itself. This is a team of dedicated 1200 + members who will do everything in their power to keep the city clean.

Your organization is amazing. What made you start this organization and how did you get the motivation to start?

Bengaluru which was once known as Garden city slowly entered a phase where it was held by the clutches of garbage dumping. There was an uproar to save Bengaluru. Citizens started complaining about the issue, that was when the idea of “Stop complaining and start acting came up”. This eventually led to the start of our organization on 5^th May 2015.

How was it in the beginning? What were the challenges that you have faced?

Youth For Parivarthan, the brainchild of Amith Amarnath (Founder & President) came to reality when he discussed his idea of starting the organization with his friend Anup Gangur (Vice President). The idea was well supported by other peers, Sanketh (General Secretary),

Rakesh (Secretary) and Nishanth (Secretary) who also came together and joined hands for the cause. The organization was registered on the 5th of May, 2015 under the provisions of the Trusts Registration Act, 1882. What started with dedicated members eventually multiplied with more dedicated and like-minded members and it still continues to grow. The initial focus was to work on the environment sector and that is when ‘spot-fixing’ became a signature event of the organization. Apart from environmental activities, the organization has also ventured into the areas of education and health. It has been receiving great support from the public at large and in the coming days it aims to expand its activities across Bengaluru.

When you were starting out did your family or friends help you out? How much support do you get?

Families of every volunteer has stood as the main mental strength ever since the idea was born. Youth For Parivarthan had also dedicated its annual day to the families of the members. Initially, there was a bit of uneasiness among family and friends under the cover as cleaning garbage is something which is looked down in the society. As the events progressed, our work spoke for us and since then support is flurishing at high scales.

Tell us a little more about Youth For Parivartan.

The word “Youth” does not specify a person’s age. It represents the youthfulness of a person’s heart. Our vision is to identify and work for the impoverished, weaker and vulnerable sections of the society in order to find solutions to the challenges daunting their lives in the sphere of health, education, and environment with an aim of initiating a responsible and progressive society based upon social justice and brotherhood. To lay down emphasis on human rights, promote a culture of social service and creating a strategic partnership between the Government and the general public.

Tell us about your typical day at Youth For Parivartan. Do you have a full time job? Or have you dedicated your entire time to this?

Youth For Parivarthan has members who are full-time doctors, lawyers, engineers, students, artists, retired professionals and eminent people from various professions. All these people come together on a weekend to do their bit to the country. Most of the members don’t invest their full time in YFP but invest their thoughts into it. Our members are our eyes. Members or general public notify us about a notorious garbage spot. Later the team analyses the feasibility and appears to fix it with all zeal. A typical day of every member in Youth for Parivarthan is to be a better citizen of this country in all manners.

Who do you draw your inspiration from?

Every spot fix or an educational/awareness event poses to be our inspiration to the next. Sometimes it is smiling faces of under privileged kids, sometimes it is the words of blessings given by some random strangers walking by the event and most of the times it is the big beautiful wall standing proud and free from garbage which was in-turn an ugly spot of the city few hours from then.

How can we help you in helping the world? Any advice for those who want to bring the change?

Over the years the number of volunteers has grown as people contacted us through social media and more importantly because of the spread of the word from mouth to mouth. If any person believes in the motto, “Stop Complaining, Start Acting” then they too can become a member and contribute their bit towards the goal of Swachh Bharath and Swachha Bengaluru! Interested citizens can contact us through Facebook or can also give a call directly.

Here is our Facebook page.

You must have a huge team supporting you, could you tell us more about them?

Youth For Parivarthan’s strength is our volunteers. Their ever-lasting energy and zeal to clean the country have made wonders on the walls of Bengaluru. Volunteers who live a sophisticated life on weekdays shred all their inhibitions and join hands to make the city clean. It is all about work and perfection. Volunteers who turn up to the event maintain their dignity and decorum as an unwritten rule which is the plus point. Our volunteering group comprises of kids of age 8 to adults of age 70! As mentioned previously, all our volunteers are youth at their hearts.

We cannot even tell how hard this month has been. Our grateful thanks and our heartfelt gratitude to Amith and his team. Our nagging must have been a deter in their life, and we are glad that we got to interview one of the most necessary NGO’s in today’s world. We need more NGO’s like Youth For Parivarthan that is playing a pivotal role in taking responsibility for our environment and our surroundings. We hope YFP succeeds in their goal of cleaning up our streets. We wish YFP spreads across the county and the globe. A shout out to Srinivas who has endured our outright badgering for him to give us answers.

If you live in Bangalore area, do not forget to volunteer or help YFP in some way. Cleanliness starts at home and our city is our home. Let’s start educating our children the importance of keeping our surroundings clean. Let’s help them save the world that we have been destroying directly or indirectly. YFP has also been playing a crucial role in beautifying roads and school buildings. The efforts of YFP have not gone unnoticed. We wish all the best to Youth For Parivarthan in spreading their positive attitude.

We wish YFP happy cleaning!

Love,
Pooh & Po