Age does not really matter when it comes to doing good and the nominees of the Young Changemaker category clearly prove this. The cut-off age we set for this category was 30 years but the nominations we received included people who had just turned 15.
The final list of nominees for this category cannot be more diverse — a college girl, an LGBT activist and a couple of youngsters trying to solve a diverse set of problems for the world. The nominees for Young Changemaker are:
Garvita Gulhati (18): She began to see herself as a problem solver when she was barely 13. That is when she initiated the #saynotocrackers campaign. Two years later she started Why Waste?, an initiative that hopes to save millions of litres of water from being wasted in restaurant glasses.
Kuldeep Dantewadia (28): Through the start-up Reap Benefit that he co-founded, he is trying to get youngsters to solve civic and environmental issues. He also wants them to do so in a ‘green’ manner. Youngsters that Reap Benefit has been working with have so far developed six low-cost solutions, including a waterless urinal, an organic enzyme that purifies water and a weather station that measures air quality.
Mohammed Rafiul Alom Rahman (25): He was brought up in a very conservative Muslim family. He has today become an activist fighting for the cause of gay Muslims in India. Rahman runs a facebook page ‘The Queer Muslim Project’ that serves as a platform for empowerment of LGBT Muslims. He also launched a zero-tolerance campaign to end violence against LGBT students and faculty in Delhi University.
Ritesh Agarwal (24): OYO, the startup he founded, provides a standardised, predictable, affordable budget room experience across India. He has leveraged technology to make this offering simple and effective. OYO, backed by some top venture capitalists, has in the last three years transformed the budget accommodation space in India.
Srikanth Bolla (25): Born blind into a family of agriculturists in Seetharamapuram in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, his entire life is testimony to the manner in which he has defied considerable odds and driven change – in his own life and in the lives of others. Today, he runs Bollant Industries Limited, with five factories and 650 people, nearly half of whom are disabled men and women.
(The winners of the Changemaker awards will be announced at a function in Delhi on March 16)
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