Teen activist on a mission to make Chennai greener and hunger-free

Disappointed over Chennai’s public spaces and lakes being covered in trash, civil engineering student Naveen Kumar decided to work towards change rather than wait for it to happen. With the help of a few of his friends from college, he embarked on a journey to clean the city — one public space at a time. Gradually, he noticed hundreds of students wanting to join him in his green mission as well. This was how his NGO Anbin Kural (The voice that cares) was born about six months ago, which now has over 100 active volunteers associated with it.

“We began with cleaning Pallavaram Railway Station a few months ago. My friends and I were inspired to make the city cleaner after hearing Prime Minister Narendra Modi urge for a ‘Clean India, Green India’. What started as a cleaning campaign gradually expanded to our visits to orphanages that struggle to receive funds and slums to teach the children residing there,” recalls 18-year-old Naveen, speaking to DT Next.

As a resident of Porur, the teenager’s attention was drawn towards Porur Lake, which lay covered in heaps of trash. Combining forces with another social group, Naveen was involved in mobilising a total of 800 volunteers for the lake clean-up. “Every weekend we spend our time at the lake, clearing all the plastics that float on the water surface and around it. We noticed that despite us spending several hours in cleaning, people would soon throw more trash in the same areas due to lack of awareness. But, with the support of the student volunteers, we are hopeful of completely cleaning the lake in a few weeks. Once done, we will be planting at least 2,000 trees around the lake to create a green space,” he adds.

While several teenagers his age are often caught up with managing their classes, competitive examinations for higher studies and their hobbies, Naveen asserts that it is the responsibility of every youngster to care for the environment around us. “While the first clean-up had only 50 students, the word about ouractivities spread very quickly and we now see an average of 500 students and even a few adults joining hands to involve in each cleaning drive. I believe that youngsters are capable of bringing about a change in our society,”he stresses.

Apart from the on-ground activities, the NGO’s volunteers also aim at inspiring social media users through a ‘Daily Challenge’. “We ask the volunteers to help at least one homeless person a day by providing them with a meal, and share their act of kindness on social media to inspire others. We aim at being able to support more orphanages and slums in the city by educating their children and also look to take up more clean-up campaigns to make the city greener,”remarks Naveen.