His mission – to make Swaccha Saragur by encouraging segregation of wet and dry waste at the household level. A plan for managing it long term both scientifically and sustainably.

He knows changing the mindset of people is not easy when it comes to managing their own waste. It calls for a different approach. People look at a differently abled person with a lot of curiosity. It gives me an opportunity to convey a message that is often ignored.

When he was young, he fell from the stairs while playing with his brother and soon started having seizure attacks. His parents took him to different temples, yet the problem persisted and later affected the entire right side of his body. His right arm and leg forever caught in a tight muscle contraction. He grew up with a conviction not to depend on others, often doing odd jobs.

He’d sell lottery tickets, unwantingly earning himself a title of ‘Lottery Bhadra’. But he wanted to reclaim his identity, the identity his parents gave him, the identity others just couldn’t see. All that was needed was a disruption in his story. SVYM approached Veerabhadra through its Program for Specially Abled Persons, offering him a proposal to apply

for Swacchta Saarthi Fellowship for Govt.’s Waste to Wealth Mission & lead the campaign of household level waste segregation in his Saragur Town in Mysuru District. By fate or by design, Veerabhadra saw it as a chance to redeem his identity.

SVYM has engaged with the local community in Saragur and neighbouring areas for WASH related interventions for nearly a decade. Role models like Veerbhadra are agents of sustainable change to encourage community taking ownership of development.

Our approach of building the human & social capital serves in making development an organic process that is directed from within – facilitating sustainability by being contextually relevant & culturally appropriate.

Every student in the audience could relate to her silence speaking volumes, each one of them knowing the pressure of  lifting their family up and out of intergenerational poverty – through the power of education.

Harshitha spoke about the 6 years she was engaged with VSP Program right from PUC to B.Sc Nursing, she recalled the day when the VSP team visited her house and assured
her parents, she will one day ‘stand on her feet’. Today, working as a Nurse, she feels she is on the right course.

Isn’t it everyone’s dream to gift their parents something with their first hard earned salary. Harshitha donated her entire first salary to the VSP Program. Deep down she believed the donation will help another Harshitha fulfill a dream that will change the life of an entire family.

Tyaga (sacrifice) is one of the Core Values of SVYM. Someone who exercises Tyaga sees the virtue of that action detached from the ego, the self. Harshita saw the value of her decision in the impact it could potentially make in a student’s life over her own.

The stories of VSP students go far beyond academic excellence. VSP students have redefined the very meaning of the Program, expanding it to dimensions that are spiritual and rooted in service.

Some students right from the first VSP batch in 2006 went on to sponsor other academically meritorious & economically disadvantaged students like  themselves, teaching, mentoring and guiding them to set forth on their career paths, breaking the circle of intergenerational poverty with the ripple effect of good. Some shattered the stereotypes of girls representing technical fields by becoming the first ever engineer from their village. Some starting their own NGOs and serving others.

For us at SVYM, VSP is the realization of Swami Vivekananda’s dream, of young and energetic men and women, who can transform our Nation. It is the affirmation of our development paradigm, that building human and social capital leads to positive economic consequences. We thank everyone who has supported us and through us these diamonds that shine on to illuminate the world.