A youth on a mission to cleanse Yamuna with Swechha

Concerned about environmental degradation due to massive urbanisation and industrialisation, Vimlendu discovered a subject - Delhi's river Yamuna. He felt sad that the 'lifeline' of Delhi was now ignored by the very people it nurtured.

CJ: Ramesh Kumar Raja

Wed, Jul 29, 2009 09:27:50 IST

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Pollution on Yamuna River :

REMEMBER THE movie Rang De Basanti, in which a bunch of disillusioned youngsters, captained by lead protagonist DJ (Aamir Khan) rises up against the corrupt political system. Though it ends on a violent note, in real life, the film created a fire amongst youth to do something to cleanse whatever they considered unjust in the society and the nation.

Here is a real-life story that goes back years before the blockbuster was made. The plot here is non-violent and non-political but certainly, encouraging for today’s youths, who want to make a difference on the social front. Meet Vimlendu Jha, 29, who like the RDB character DJ, was typical disillusioned during his college days at St Stephen's in Delhi University. Perplexed at the compulsion to prepare for the civil services examinations, after graduation, he bid adieu to the regular way of doing things and decided to something extraordinary for society at large. Concerned about the environmental degradation due to massive urbanisation and industrialisation, Vimlendu discovered a subject - Delhi’s river Yamuna.

He felt sad that the ‘lifeline’ of Delhi that catered to almost all the water needs of the city over generations, remained forgotten and ignored by the very people she nurtured. He felt irate about its pitiable situation – the citizens who allowed it to turn black and the government that surely slept over a suffocating river. This helplessness, apathy and anger, drove Vimlendu to the wall to do his bit for the river. Soon, he brought some like-minded friends on board and thus ‘We for Yamuna’, a campaign, came into being in 2000. Suddenly, the campaign became so strong and uproarious that a lot of young people found their voice in it and they joined the group led by Vimlendu. The campaign’s main focus then was to create a lot of noise to bring Yamuna back to the mind map of the populace; in 2001, it eventually turned into a full-fledged NGO, christened “Swechha – We for Change Foundation".

Meanwhile, Vimlendu also completed his Masters in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and returned in 2003 only to find ‘We for Yamuna’ was no more. He was disheartened though undeterred and in the course of time, the audacious activist reestablished the ambitious movement – a consensus among people about the nature of society, its problems and possible ways to work towards a positive change. Today, it comprises of people from all walks of life and is gaining endorsement from different social bodies of repute. Apart form ‘We for Yamuna,’ Swechha has been industriously running programs in the field of environment education. Now, over to Vimlendu (itself).

Excerpts from an interview with Vimlendu:
Q. There are a number of NGOs country already dedicated to ‘environment’ and ‘education’. So how is your organisation different from others?
VJ: We are a team of young people and concentrate on hands-on experience. We have also integrated the concept of citizenship in all the work we do. Above all, it is our organisation that brought to notice the pathetic and deplorable conditions of Yamuna, a river of religious importance. It is only us who cried first to our fullest capacity for the conservation of polluted river. We are totally against the concretisation going around it, which is ecologically devastating. Moreover, there are three issue areas we focus on: environment education, life skills and promoting active citizenship. We work closely with some of the leading schools in Delhi namely, The Shri Ram School, Modern School, Sanskriti School, Vasant Valley School, etc, where we run a curriculum, ‘Bridge the Gap’ focusing on different environmental issues.

Q. What have been your initiatives; what are the unique issues that your NGO has reailsed?
VJ: Swechha is totally working for the welfare of the environment and the upliftment of Yamuna and other waterways. We have thrown our heart and soul into it. Over the years since its inception, we’ve organised a number of programmes such as, Circus for Change, Yamunotsav and Yamuna Shramdaan, to name a few, to highlight the issues of this river. While Circus for Change was organised in partnership with an American circus team, Dreamtime Circus to promote out-of-the-box methods for raising awareness and spreading the message of ‘One Earth, Your Earth’, Yamunotsav is a regular feature (event) on the World Environment Day, which witnessed the premiering of environment related films and endorsement of eco-friendly goods in our daily life. During this, participant-youths and guests of eminence shared their experiences and delivered lectures respectively. Likewise, Yamuna Shramdaam is one of the biggest annual events organised to mark the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development. It brings together thousands of school students, media persons and residents of Delhi for a symbolic cleansing of the river bank. The idea is to raise awareness about Yamuna, pressurize the government and stakeholders to take concrete action to revive the Yamuna, and promote the spirit of volunteerism in the society and especially amongst the youth.

Q. What would you say ‘Swechha’ is all about today?
VJ: Swechha was, is and will be, about raising concerns about the environment. It is a mission to live a better life on the environment front. So, it’ll go on until it has been accomplished. We need everyone's participation and support.

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