SBI Youth for India Fellow

25-year-old engineer, Gautam Kumar, traded his chance at earning a hefty paycheck to reforest Khedi and two other remote villages in Madhya Pradesh - one patch in the backyard and one household at a time!

The project that Saloni has undertaken in this village is to set-up a social enterprise in partnership with an NGO, BAIF Development Research Foundation, for the tribal bamboo artists of Dang. These artists earn a meagre living by making jewellery and bamboo products, while keeping the culture alive.

Today, the waste management system of this Rajasthan village is in alignment with the Swachh Bharat Mission and is being considered as a replicable model for the entire district. This is a result of the efforts put in by two engineers – Kavya Raman and Shuvam Das Choudhury.

She plans to take up the topics of alcoholism, domestic violence and tuberculosis through the Nukkad Nataks before she leaves.

Children in different villages of Jawhar taluka in Thane district of Maharashtra were not aware of the traditional agriculture, art, and conservation practices adopted by their elders. Swetcha Poladi is now helping them learn these.