By Aarya Hallikeri:
Today’s world needs youths who are willing to strive, think out of the box and create a homogeneous environment with fun, smart work and have great enthusiasm towards making people become socially responsible. A program called LEAD provides such opportunities to students by igniting in them the spark to come up with creative solutions. It is like an incubator where it provides nurturing to a student with innovation where implementation is required, along with knowledge and experience on social issues, with solutions and efforts that can create a larger impact. I came across the story of a student as part of the LEAD project that I found extremely interesting.
One of the students of LEAD is Mr. Santosh Patil who gives credit for his success to his illiterate father who supported him and his siblings during their youth so that they could lead a comfortable life. When he came across this programme, he took it up in great spirit and kept up his father’s well wishes by inventing many strong and innovative ideas which are a basic necessity in villages and other surroundings for the entire society. At first he thought of an idea where plant wastes from the field could be converted into usable fuel so that the use of pesticides can be avoided. He also transferred knowledge to 100+ farmers about the importance of Organic Farming and the negative effects of pesticides, which influenced him to complete 26 other projects. He was also recognized as the Master Leader and then promoted to a LEAD Ambassador. These small initiatives and promotions motivated him to develop more ideas like providing the government schools in his village cleaner kitchens and proper food facilities. He and his team succeeded in renovating the entire infrastructure of the same.
Apart from all these inventions, he ideated more solutions as part of the LEAD project, like attaching radium and brakes to bullock carts to prevent accidents at night. It was cost effective for the farmers and avoided them from getting into the potholes as well. Since there is phosphor as a substance in radium, it radiates visible light at night that persists for a long time and helps the farmer’s visibility.
Our country is in dire need of solutions, and youngsters mostly prefer to move to Tier 1 cities after they get a job. Very few engage themselves with ground work. [envoke_twitter_link]People like Santosh are an example for many others[/envoke_twitter_link]. Santosh’s innovative policies have helped many. There is a need to create awareness in the youth about such programmes, which help them discover another side to their interests. Santosh shares his experience through this video:
