Not ready to be perceived as just-another-student, Saketh Kothamasu started to put in efforts to make a difference in society while at college. He created a bigger platform for community service by starting Yuvatha with a tag line ‘Awakening the generation’ in 2009 at Hyderabad and Guntur with 10 members in each branch. The organisation has two verticals — Eco Hub and Helping Hands. As part of Eco Hub, the organisation works for betterment of the environment by making people aware about sustainability issues. “During Ganesh festival, we distributed a thousand eco-friendly Ganesh idols to people and we also asked people not to immerse the idols in lakes but to immerse them at home, thus creating awareness about environmental issues,” says Sawan Kabalavai, director of Eco Hub.
They conducted a ‘Ban-plastic’ campaign in the city, by asking shop-keepers to adopt cloth bags instead of plastic bags. For Diwali, they are planning to promote lighting of lamps and saying no to crackers, “With this we want to promote a pollution-free Diwali. We will also distribute sky lanterns to spread the message,” says Sawan.
Members of Yuvatha also provide food for old people in homes, celebrate important events with children in orphanages and spend time with them too. Saketh says that their activities are not limited to just the two causes “We do take up other issues in the society. Our aim is to reach out to more people,” he says.
— shiva.shanker@newindianexpress.com