City Pulse

A walk around Bengaluru South might bring you face to face with walls painted in bright terracotta red with pretty white motifs. The spotless clean corners will definitely catch your eye. However, don’t be surprised if the same corner was considered ugly and worth avoiding until a few days back, before ‘Youth for Parivarthan’ came along.

Founded by 21-year-old Amith Amarnath, a law Student of Christ University, Youth for Parivarthan works on a simple principle, “Stop complaining and start working”.

“People usually complain about what’s imperfect and wrong but no one steps forward to make things right. That’s when we decided to work towards bringing change,” says Amith who organises clean-up drives called ‘Parivarthan Drive’.

The first Parivarthan Drive was held in a children’s park in Banashankari in March 2014. Maybe it’s the good response or the satisfaction one feels while contributing to the society that propelled the NGO forward. In the span of 11 months, the NGO has organised more than 30 Parivarthan drives.

The NGO was officially registered on June 3, 2014 and has a small office set-up on Amith’s terrace in Banashankari II stage.“When we started, there were only four people. Today, there are 150 registered members and over 950 volunteers, who actively participate in Parivarthan drives which are mostly held on weekends,” says Amith.

He further adds that social networking sites have contributed a lot towards the NGO’s growth. “Whenever we organise a Parivarthan drive, we speak about the event on Facebook, and this helps us in getting good responses from aspiring volunteers,” says Amith who also adds that 90 per cent of their volunteers are students.

Usually our volunteers identify the spots that require beautification. Even those who are not volunteering with us are free to call and inform us about ugly spots in their neighbourhoods, and we are more than happy to clean, he adds.

"Garbage and posters on the walls are the two main reasons for the city’s untidy look," points out Youth for Parivarthan General Secretary Sanketh S.

During the drive, we clear garbage and paint walls, giving the spot a complete facelift. However, it is disheartening to see people dirtying the spot after we clean it up. Hence, we also aim to change people’s mindset during these drives, he says. This is achieved through various social experiments undertaken by the group.

Amith explains that a social experiment conducted by the NGO at VV Puram Food Street in May was a grand success. “After organising a clean-up in the area, we stood there carrying posters that said, ‘If you want to throw garbage, throw it on me’. People seemed to get the message. Even after 10 days, the area is still clean,” he says.

“Change is slow but we believe that citizens are becoming more socially responsible. Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has contributed a lot towards this change,” says Amith.

Apart from Parivarthan Drives, the NGO also organised a march on Martyr’s day and besides which they conducted an awareness campaign on eye donation.

Speaking about the NGO’s future plans, Amith says that Parivarthan Drives will increase in the near future. The NGO will also work in areas of health, environment, and education as well as provide aid to the poor.

To know more about Youth For Parivarthan visit website or Facebook page.

Article By: Sandhya C D'Souza