Lead The Change – Igniting Hearts (6 weeks… 5 issues… 30 Changemakers… 9 Role Models…)

Youth Alliance has come up with a new program “Lead The Change”.

Apply Now: http://youthallianceofindia.org/lead-the-change/apply-now/  (Last Date 28 February)

Presentation: http://bit.ly/zCCbGf

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela

Lead The Change (LTC) is dedicated to developing social leaders; well-rounded youngsters who are equipped with leadership skills to solve the challenges faced by their communities. Its core aim is to ignite young hearts with holistic concern for their society and nation.

LTC  Program will involve upto 30 youngsters in a six week  program. The program will expose them to pressing issues of our societies such as human dignity, education and rural immersion. They will study solutions offered by role models, personalities and get a short experience in leadership education. They will be expected to apply this experience to come up with solution for a small local issue and in the process, understand how to set up an enterprise. They will emerge with the wealth of a rich network and a sound understanding of systemic social change.

LTC’s Core Purpose:

Youth wants to contribute but often finds it hard to figure out the right way to go about it.  We believe that by exposing passionate young people to these issues and giving them opportunities to interact with role models, we can sensitize them and sow a seed deep in their hearts.  It will also help them in making informed choices of how they shape their future.

• It will change the outlook of young people towards issues surrounding them and enhance their skills and knowledge to address them
• It will provide the young with the ability to seek holistic long term solutions and provide them great alternate career choices
• Turn the direction of conversation among youth groups  from mere discussion of problems to solution oriented talks, and eventually action oriented plans
• Develop a pool of social leaders and build a strong network
• Create a community of youth who could serve as role model for their contemporaries
• Inspire  to act, cause attitudinal shift in mindset

About Youth Alliance:

Youth Alliance is an organization working with a vision to “Connect EACH Youth With a Cause”. We believe in the philosophy of sensitizing young people towards the society by showing them the real picture and connecting them to ground reality.We also have a range of programmes like “Samarpan”;”Come Alive” meant to create awareness as well as bring change in society.  It is an initiative of a  Teach For India alumni from 2009 batch.

Apply Now: http://youthallianceofindia.org/lead-the-change/apply-now/

Agnipath !! Agnipath !! Agnipath !! अग्नि पथ! अग्नि पथ! अग्नि पथ!

Just loved this poem...A lovely composition !!!

वृक्ष हों भले खड़े,
हो घने, हो बड़े,
एक पत्र-छॉंह भी मॉंग मत, मॉंग मत, मॉंग मत!
अग्नि पथ! अग्नि पथ! अग्नि पथ!

तू न थकेगा कभी!
तू न थमेगा कभी!
तू न मुड़ेगा कभी!
कर शपथ! कर शपथ! कर शपथ!

ये महान दृश्य है, चल रहा मनुष्य है,
अश्रु श्वेत् रक्त से,
लथ पथ, लथ पथ, लथ पथ !
अग्नि पथ! अग्नि पथ! अग्नि पथ!

--हरिवंशराय बच्चन

अगर नींद से प्यारा है सपना...तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ....

अगर नींद से प्यारा है सपना, 
और ज़िद के साथ ले सकते हो जोख़िम
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ...

अगर शुरू कर सकते हो अकेले,
और बढ़ने के लिए नहीं ढूंढोगे सहारा
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ...

अगर भरोसा है खुद पर,
और अविश्वास नहीं है जग पर
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ...

अगर चल सकते हो अनथक,
और छाव का इंतज़ार नहीं है
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ...

अगर भूख लगे और याद आए भूखा,
और प्यास पर, तालाब एक सूखा
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ...

अगर आँख नहीं है पर दृष्टि है,
तन का एक भाग नहीं है, पर मस्ती है
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ...

अगर नहीं चाहते आग लगाना,
और चिंगारी है एक मकसद
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ...

अगर नींद से प्यारा है सपना,
और ज़िद के साथ ले सकते हो जोख़िम
तो यह जगह तुम्हारी है ... 

- अंशु , 1/1/12
By Anshu Gupta (Founder GOONJ.. )
I and many of us at GOONJ, believe in it and we want the community to grow !! 

Ups and down before I came to this world...B'day Special ; )

My life was in danger when I was in my mother's womb, being the fourth child she never wanted to bring me to this world. As my family belonged to a typical Indian village family having four siblings was a common thing. She was in the cart on  the way to hospital for abortion but my Grand Paa was the one who fought against everyone to bring me to this world. He had a great vision that there would be a baby boy and claimed that he had three sons so my son will also have three sons. As far as I know he hated girls. Luck was on grand Paa's side and he won, mom did not go to hospital and came back with a heavy heart.

Soon my father got transferred to Kanpur city and I was the first among my four siblings to be born in a city. Finally after all those ups and downs I was there before this mighty world. Youngest one in the house, I have been the most loved one since then. My upbringing has been done in the best possible way, whatever may be the financial situation, I was admitted to best convent school of the city. As I grew up  I saw my family dreaming with me, they have dreamed big and always believed in my potential. Today also they have such high hopes from me.

Till date I have never been able to give them their desired happiness(be it IIT or job or MBA), they have always compromised by finding happiness in my happiness. Sometimes I feel that our(me and my family) goals(success parameters) in which we see happiness are really different. But I am really sure that one day they would see the larger picture and understand what I have been working for !!

Nevertheless I will make them really proud one day : )

"Service before Self"
Prakhar Bhartiya

Vipassana: Look within : ) {May all be Happy }

Its hard...one of the toughest time I ever had but at the same time its a great learning experience.

Getting up at 4:00am in the morning, no meal after 12pm (just tea and two bananas in the evening), meditating for 12 hours a day and to practice silence(maun) for 10 days . All this seems tough but getting up at 4am, practicing silence and hunger wasn't an issue at all. The difficult part was mediation where I failed miserably, it was really hard for me to focus for 1hr in these 12 hours everyday. My mind was so unstable, it used to think so much, making future plans, thinking on topics that have bothered me since long.

I used to enter the Dhamma Hall(meditation hall, where everyone used to sit together to meditate) with complete focus that today I will surely meditate. First 5-10 min. used to go well and then again, the planning used to start. It was a good reality check for me, I don't know whether to take this in a negative way. But as the teaching of Vipassana says take it as it is, nothing is permanent, "This too shall pass". Every minute when the music was off, my mind was full on and when music(direction by the Acharya ji) were on I had a great focus. After 4th day there was a rule to sit for 3 hours(in three shifts of one hour each) in a position where you can't move your hands, leg and sit like an idol with eyes closed...ohh this was tough. One hour was like so hard, it seemed a day, I hardly managed to do it twice out of 18 opportunities ; )

All this apart I had planned a lot during these 10 days, streamlined all my messed up ideas, now I have concrete goals to work on, no more deviation, time to deliver. These 10 days have really helped me a lot to know more about myself, to streamline and prioritize the things I need to do, to make some tough decisions and the best part was the scenic beauty(no other beauty to look for :) ), I have never lived in such a beautiful place before. This course has strengthened my belief in "Dharma" and Gandhiji's and Buddha's saying "Truth is God".




On the way back to Delhi, I witnessed beautiful snow capped mountains, it looks just incredible, I have never seen such beautiful mountains before. But I dont know whether my grand children would be able to see this !!!

As from the plane...they just look magical !!!

                                                                             "Bhavatu Sabb Mangalam"




- With Love

"Service before Self"
Prakhar Bhartiya

Freezing Kathmandu !!

As I got down from bus, thoughts were that there would be some checking and all but nothing was there. I just walked through the border and reached Nepal. On the other side I went to the bus ticket counter to take the ticket for Kathmandu, I gave him 1000Rs. and he returned me 1150Rs.(ticket was of 300Rs(NC)), I thought he did some mistake but then realized that INC is around 1.6times NC. Was happy to have more money : )

The bus stopped twice on the way for tea break, it was chilling cold. We reached Kathmandu at around 7am and it was freezing there, had a coffee and then took a taxi to Vipassana City Centre office at Kanthipasth road.

Journey from City Office to Vipassana Centre: 

I am just loving the journey from the city centre to the main Vipassana centre situated at the foothills of Shivpuri National Park. I don't know about the experience but one thing that I surely know is that I will love this place, actually I am loving it. Kathmandu has a chilling weather but hot and decent girls.

We are sitting in a small van with around 20 students, 16 facing one side and four towards other 16. I am in the four and as I look towards their face I feel as if Vipassana has started, none of them have any expression on their face. Everyone is so quite like something has happened to them.

So, we are at our destination and this place is really very beautiful, its so green and the Kanthmandu valley looks amazing from here.

Time to get down : )


- With Love

"Service before Self"
Prakhar Bhartiya

My First ever foreign trip : )

I have been talking to my friends about my first ever foreign trip. They also laughed, when I say "foreign trip". So, finally the day came !!!

My train is from Delhi. Oh! I forgot to tell you where I am going, I am going to Kathmandu, Nepal. I am not very excited about going to Nepal but I am quite excited about my purpose of going there. I am going for a ten day meditation course, famously known as Vipassana. As per the schedule send by them, I had to get up at 4:00am and sleep by 9:30 pm and more importantly no diner only breakfast and lunch would be served. These things were enough to make a hogger(: )) bit nervous. I have heard that it would be freezing cold in Kathmandu, my father has called me several times to remind me of keeping warm clothes. I was finally set with my bag of woolen clothes and my most trustworthy "Lalimli" shawl(it has been in my rescue several times).
I was telling you that my train is from Delhi.

Journey Begins:

As usual after doing all the preparations beforehand, I managed to leave home just on time, then come the Delhi traffic which is always there to haunt you. My train to Gorakhpur was at 8:25pm but I managed to reach station 20 min. earlier. So, thought to have my dinner, went to the Jan Ahaar at platform no 16, ordered to give a packed Veg-Biriyani, he took 5Rs. extra to pack it. As I took it in hand a thought peeped in mind that I have nearly 18 min in hand, did some calculations in mind and started eating there only. Now 10 min left to reach platform no 7, rushed through the ever increasing population of our country and reached the platform.

There was constant announcement since last 10 min that Gorakhdham is arriving on platform no 7 and it went on for 20 more min after I reached the platform.

Isse acha to khana araam se khaya hota... ; )

Finally train came and guess what it reached Gorakhpur nearly 5 hours late. Then I took a bus from there to Sanauli border !!!

Yippee !!! About to step in a foreign nation: )

- With Love


"Service before Self"
Prakhar Bhartiya

Connecting The Dots: The Role Of Youth In India’s Progress

When we talk about “Nation Building” on the basis of policies, politics and (old) people; we miss a very important critical role which has to be played by the youth. But thanks to the changing scenario of our country – people have started realizing that the youth are not useless, but are just used-less.

I am a firm believer of the youth power and feel that if it gets connected to the society, a lot can be changed. But this connection has to be a deep rooted one, it can’t be a superficial effort to bring in bigger changes; it has to be at an emotional level. During my graduation days, I was trying to grab opportunities to work for various social causes and also connect my friends to them. What I realised at that time was that there were many people who wanted to work for a good cause but the problem was finding the right opportunity.

I was fortunate enough to get a few opportunities during college days and then, Teach For India happened. Teach For India gave me a chance to work at the ground level and understand the problems pertaining to the people belonging to the bottom of the pyramid. I joined Teach For India because I wanted to understand the need of “Bharat- The Real India”. I wanted to connect to these people, be with them, be a part of their lives and eventually find a way to connect youth and make it the solution of ever growing problems of this nation. Teach For India is the place where I met like-minded, committed and passionate people who were ready to come out of their comfort zones to make a difference. These young people made me realise that we all have the capacity to challenge the challenges of the world; they gave me hope and empowered my belief in the power of youth.

My classroom and community gave me the opportunity to learn more about the basic issues that are ignored not only by our government but also by the so-called civil society. Every day was a new lesson for me. The under resourced classroom taught me to be resourceful, 52 kids in the first year and 38 in the second year taught me perseverance, patience and sense of possibility. It actually made be believe that yes, “I Can” and “I Will”. The love showered by the students and community gave me the strength to work harder even in the gravest situations. Being a teacher is a phenomenal experience and one of the toughest ones.

Working in a government school for two years has immensely helped me understand how the government system is made dysfunctional. Education, which is one of the most important tools of our nation’s progress, is given least importance in a school. Today, I can say that in most of the government schools where focus should ideally be on its students, it is in fact on completing attendance registers and admin work. The system is made in such a way that the officials give least importance to studies; the teachers are engaged in so many other things that they hardly have any teaching time.

As an example, this year in the month of February and March, teachers were pulled out of classrooms to conduct population surveys. Classrooms were without teachers for more than a month and nobody cared. Why were only school teachers selected? Why were bank employees not selected or new people hired for this project? The answer is that the profit and loss of banks is easy to assess and is tangible. Our education system is made in such a way that there is no accountability check at any level. The first check, in case of the schooling system in India, is at Grade 10. Till then, a student has been under at least ten different teachers who can’t be held accountable in case of failure. Banks and PSUs are also government departments but they are profitable because they regularly check their profit-loss statement.

The big question is – why is education, especially primary education, ignored in our country? For a kid – the first profession that s/he witnesses is teaching, then why don’t we make our primary teachers the real role models?

Here is where I feel the role of Teach For India alumni strengthens; the journey actually starts after the two years of Fellowship. The two years of Fellowship, for me, are the learning period that equip one with tools to come out and be the change. To sum it up in a line,“Empower yourself to a position from where you can bring in the desired change.” I strongly feel positive about the potential of youth and hence, I am currently working to connect the youth to a cause under the flagship of Youth Alliance. Youth Alliance is an organization that I started during college and now it serves as a platform for youth to work for different causes.

Teach For India has taught me to question my actions before pointing out to other’s follies. Hence, at the end what matters is, “What will I do about it?”

-With Love

“Service before Self”

PrakharBhartiya is currently working on connecting youth to social causes through Youth Alliance and on NGO Reach Program with NIIT Foundation. He taught for 2-years, full-time at a Municipal School in Mumbai as a part of Teach For India’s first cohort of Fellows (2009-2011).

I wrote this article for "Youth Ki Awaaz" and it was published a month back !!!
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/10/connecting-the-dots-the-role-of-youth-in-indias-progress/

The Youth Alliance:"Featured as Inspiring Story by Microsoft India"

The ‘youth’ of a country is the faction that is a time-honoured scapegoat and never fails to be a source of disapproval to someone at some point. They don’t have focus; they don’t wear too much, they smoke too much, they don’t do too much, they don’t participate politically, they ‘participate’ way too much socially – the list is endless! Even in calmer times, there’s a sword of Damocles hanging over them as a reminder that a slump in positive feedback isn’t too far behind.

The Youth Alliance, initiated by Prakhar, should keep that slump well at bay! Youth Alliance was visualised as a website that would serve as a comprehensive database of the social sector and that’s what it has turned into. Its mission statement – ‘Connect Each Youth With a Cause’ is completely understandable in a world where people are often blindsided by the amount of information there is out there and by the prospect of having to spend time going through it. 

A highly motivated person, Prakhar who is a consultant with NIIT, spends a majority of his spare time on the Youth Alliance and the load of work that accompanies it, though he informs us that he should begin working on the endeavour full-time in a short while. The organisation has as strong an offline presence with projects being undertaken (such as volunteers heading into a village near Kanpur to replace all bulbs with CFLs) that would put high-level NGOs to shame. 

“I have volunteered with Janaagraha when I was in my second year of engineering in college and later even became a fellow with Teach for India. Post attaining my fellowship, I went on the Jaagriti Yatra (an 18-day train journey that takes hundreds of India's highly motivated youth on a national odyssey to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship). Through my experiences, I found that even though I wanted to help, there wasn’t a cohesive platform to go to. I wanted to create such a platform,” says the activist earnestly. 

What has the response been like, we ask? “(The response)...hasn’t been very high but it’s all relative. We had a seminar for Mass Communication and MBA students recently and about 150 people turned up. They were quite interested and asked a lot of questions,” says Prakhar. 

If you ask who’s behind the Youth Alliance, Prakhar eagerly tells us that Youth Alliance is a family of 7 to 8 core members with 55 volunteers in Delhi alone. They have a host of volunteers in Kanpur and Lucknow and are looking to expand to the south of the country, if possible. 

Endeavours like the Youth Alliance should be supported fully since the goal that they’re furthering is too important to be allowed an indecent burial under the aegis of being ‘a lost cause’ or even worse - ‘unattainable’. 

Contact details

Official Website

Mail : info@youthallianceofindia.org

Telephone: 

Divya - 09868638883

Vibhuti: 09582870628 

Prakhar: 07838540546


Note: We were featured by Microsoft India as an inspiring story on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti. Thanks to all our supporters.
Original Link: http://specials.msn.co.in/sp11/india365/archives_story.aspx?ID=9793705d-860d-419d-8a4e-9f007d220942&index=36

Youth Alliance: For the cause of India

By: Unnati Narang | August 16, 2011 "The Better India" http://www.thebetterindia.com/3918/youth-alliance-for-the-cause-of-india/

Prakhar Bhartiya

Youngsters are always standing at the crossroads of life, constantly taking decisions and shaping their careers. It is very rare for modern day youth to think beyond the nitty-gritties of their own lives and take up the service of their nation as their primary goal and endeavour. And hence, when I met Prakhar Bhartiya, who seemed like any other youngster at first, I was surprised to see the kind of initiatives he was leading – all in the interest of our great polity. On our sixty fourth independence anniversary, I can’t help but take note of this young man – a consultant by profession – who has been the inspiration and fountainhead of a youth organisation called Youth Alliance.

The aim of his organisation is to connect youth with a cause. It acts like an information portal for youngsters to work in the social sector, keep them updated about issues of national importance and help them become the future torchbearers of our nation. Recently, in order to support social activist Anna Hazare in his campaign against prevailing corruption in the country, Youth Alliance led motorcycle processions at Shaheed Stambh in Motijheel, Kanpur. The procession was flagged off by freedom fighter Manwati Arya.

Apart from their ongoing offline drives, the Youth Alliance group is highly active on Facebook and can be seen posting updates several times every day. It is an encouraging platform for youngsters who want to make their voice heard.

Every now and then, when I get updates from this Facebook group, it serves as a constant reminder of the need to reclaim India’s lost glory, and not let greed and corruption overpower our patriotic fervour. In many silent ways, Prakhar has been able to connect to millions of youth across India. He has also previously worked as a Teach for India Fellow in Pune, apart from being involved with the Jaago Re! movement.

Anti-corruption rally organized by Youth Alliance

Recently, as part of Youth Alliance, he has also started an initiative called Samarpan under which youth can volunteer with an NGO and try to be a solution to India’s ever growing problems.

“Youth Alliance has come up with this initiative (Samarpan) with a dual objective of providing human resources (volunteers at the beginning stage) to NGOs and at the same time raising the emotional quotient of the youth who are still under the shackles of ignorance which eventually will enable them to be a change maker in the long run. The idea behind the initiative is to make each youth contribute to the social development of the country. As it has been seen that today’s youth is aware and has a will to give back to society in a corner of their heart. BUT there is a section of youth who is still unaware of the gravity of all social issues from poverty to illiteracy to corruption and some who are aware do not get the right platform to contribute to nation building. We believe that the ground level exposure at an NGO will help them in understanding the magnitude of the social issues/concerns our country is facing today and thus will in due course make them realize the need of the hour,” says Prakhar.

Youth Alliance believes that by coming in contact with the under-served people and by being there in the moments of pain or joy, we can look forward to augment their lifestyles. This initiative provides the young people of our country with the opportunities to have their careers inclined past the welfare of the society and to have a look towards their life in a much more sensible way. Once they are out of their college, it provides them with the responsibility of being ‘Agents of Change’. As these volunteers have been a part of the community, they can empathize with them and help them in a significant way.

In its own big and small ways, Youth Alliance is playing a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the needs of our nation and the capabilities of the youth. So if you are a young Indian, looking to make a difference, you know where to start now.

Visit http://youthallianceofindia.org/

And Join http://www.facebook.com/groups/youthalliance/

Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/changeagents

Click like on this link if you liked it: http://www.thebetterindia.com/3918/youth-alliance-for-the-cause-of-india/
This was published by "The Better India"  on the eve of Independence Day.