4 Extraordinary Changemakers You Must Listen To At ‘Kaizen’, IIT Delhi This Week

Bringing about change in the world is a desire of many, but often remains an unfulfilled one, for most of us are scared of facing the struggles and vagaries of time. But change needs to happen and will happen in good time.

As students living in a complex society wherein, transgressions happen aplenty, it sometimes troubles us, and it’s hard to imagine a world where the situation indeed does get better. At “Kaizen”, we try and create a space where inspiring dialogue enriches, helps and equips us to cope better in the difficult times we live in.

For the last two years, students associated with the National Service Scheme at IIT Delhi have been organising the social extravaganza, “Kaizen”. With the involvement of 40+ student bodies and NGOs, the event has been a focal point for discussion and interaction between multiple social bodies.

The inaugural event at “Kaizen” 2018 – “Sangहर्ष” (sangharsh/struggle) focuses on bringing to the forefront, the struggles of extraordinary individuals working towards a noble cause, and how in the process they brought about collective happiness and prosperity.

Jai Prakash Dabral

The President of the Himalayan Chipko Foundation, JP Dabral, is a social entrepreneur and a social activist. He has led a decade-long crusade against Garhwal’s timber mafia, and saved thousands of trees in Uttarakhand. He began studying law at 55 to fight Garhwal’s timber mafia in court. With the forest cover in Uttarakhand depleting fast, his activism assumes a key role in conserving what remains. The struggle didn’t just exert him physically and mentally but affected his personal life too. He had to flee from home when no action was taken on complaints that the timber mafia was threatening his life. His emotional connection with the cause, however, remains. He is currently pursuing more than 11 cases in the Supreme Court against the timber mafia in Garhwal.

He has been honoured by the Ashoka Fellowship, Real Heroes Award by CNN IBN, International Green Apple Award by Green Organization, UK and the India Awaken Award by Hindustan Times.

He aims to conserve flora and fauna of the Himalayas for future generations by restricting the thoughtless plunder of natural resources by the criminal-bureaucratic-politician-judiciary nexus. His major interventions have come in the form of policy changes in developmental projects to make it more environment-friendly. As one of the few environmentalists in India, he has time and again emphasised that electricity, water and roads are a fundamental right of every citizen of the country.

Srijan Pal Singh

Srijan Pal Singh is an author, public speaker and social entrepreneur. He is the CEO and co-founder of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Centre, a non-profit organisation working on integrated missions across multiple dimensions to continue on the vision and works of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. There are over 150 branches of the Kalam Centre across the nation and abroad, working on how youth can transform the world around them.

He was appointed as an Officer on Special Duty and Advisor for Policy and Technology to the 11th President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, where he worked as a close aide on various consulting works. He has co-authored three books with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam – Target 3 Billion, Advantage India and Reignited. Padma Bhushan Shri Anna Hazare recently launched his latest book, The Black Tiger – about defeating India’s corrupted and realising Dr Kalam’s dream of a corruption free India. Two of his books, Reignited (2015) and What Can I Give (2016) were nominated in the Top 5 books of the year at the Raymond Crossword Book Awards.

Pritika Mehta

Pritika Mehta has challenged multiple stereotypes in her life. She is a mathematician, data scientist and social experimenter. She has done her Bachelor’s in Computer Science from India and then followed up with a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence from State University of New York, Buffalo. She sits on the advisory board of Queen Elizabeth’s Young Leaders and is mentoring young Commonwealth leaders on AI and technology innovation.

Pritika has also worked with three startups and multinational companies like Bank of America, Tripadvisor, etc. She is leading Kiddycoders, an initiative to teach young kids about coding and Artificial Intelligence. Pritika was a mentor at ‘Girls Who Code’ to support and increase the number of women in computer science. She was also selected as a ‘City Awake Delegate’ of Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. She is a TEDx speaker and gave her talk at TEDxWilmington, USA and is also a licensee for TEDxChandigarh.

Simarpreet Singh

Simarpreet Singh is an emerging face in the world as an edutainer. Passionate about education, entertainment, technology, media, marketing and anything that requires original thinking, he is the founder of the media-tech venture Mindbatteries. He has spent a lot of time in social experimentation, cognitive surplus utilisation and designing social campaigns, and has designed and conducted more than 300 knowledge events like quizzes, spell bees, trainings, conferences, etc. wherein each quiz series has engaged more than a million students in India. He has received accolades from Economic Times, world’s second-largest business newspaper, as a business quizmaster.

Selected by World Economic Forum as a Global Shaper. He has also represented India at World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Headquarters in Geneva, been invited to WEF’s Global Shaper Conferences – Shape North America and Shape China. He was chosen to represent India in ‘Aman ki Asha’ peace debates with Pakistan. And that’s not all, he was elected as Curator (Chair) of WEF Global Shapers Hub in Chandigarh, India and chosen by TEDx to curate the first ever TEDxChandigarh.

Witness the stories of these extraordinary change makers at “Sangharsh” on February 24, 2018. The event is from 09:15 AM to 12:00 PM, at LH121, in KAIZEN 2018, IIT Delhi.

This, and many more such motivational and inspiring events are awaiting you, at “Kaizen” 2018, organised by NSS IIT Delhi, held on February 24 and 25, 2018, in the premises of IIT Delhi. Experience multitudes of NGOs and social startups discussing a plethora of ideas and presenting their work aimed towards building our nation as a better place to live.