Youths were felicitated for different projects they worked upon during the fellowship by the State Bank of India at SBI Academy here on Thursday
Thirteen months in remote villages of different states, living amongst strangers, working on projects that will benefit the community at large, taught 53 youngsters the meaning of selfless service. These young boys and girls were part of a 13-month long programme called SBI Youth For India, devised to bridge the rural-urban divide, using the young blood as a catalyst.
These youths were felicitated for different projects they worked upon during the fellowship by the State Bank of India at SBI Academy here on Thursday. From women empowerment, environment conservation, watershed development, female reproduction health, the project was “life-altering” according to the youths.
22-year-old Jaswanth Dadi, an engineering graduate remembers how a visit to Bandgaun, a village in Ajmer district of Rajasthan, made him realise the significance of water. As he went around talking to villagers, each one came up with one common woe – water scarcity. Making matters worse was the huge quantity of fluoride in it that made them susceptible to dental and skeletal fluorosis. “I spent the first five months in researching the village and a college campus nearby that was affected by fluorosis. Once we identified the quantity of water required, we developed a water filtration plant using reverse osmosis,” Dadi shared. He helped more than 1,400 beneficiaries to have clean, fluoride-free water for usage.
However, the journey in the field of sustainable development has not been easy for all of them. As 25-year-old Shriti Pandey, who worked with more than 420 women in Pandhana village of Madhya Pradesh, says. “The biggest challenge is to form a bond of trust with them. I was seen as a typical city-bred girl. During my initial weeks when I started working in the village, it took them some time to take me into their fold,” she adds.
Source: Daily News & Analysis
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