The power of one

These individuals have single-handedly mobilised task forces and sparked movements to work towards the United Nation's sustainable development goals (SDGs), in ways that are both innovative and intuit

Jun 12, 2019, 13:44 IST3 min

<p><strong>Afroz Shah, 38</strong><br />This practising counsel at Bombay High Court has dedicated every evening, all his weekends, all his holidays, and one morning every week in the last four years to a cause that is very close to his heart: Tackling marine litter by cleaning rivers, beaches, oceans and mangroves. <br />He runs the Mindset Change Ground Action Campaign, which focusses on citizens living in the human-ocean conflict zone. United Nations has labelled his clean-up as &lsquoBiggest Beach Clean-Up in World History&rsquo. About 180,000 adults and 80,000 students from 27 schools and colleges have been participating in his clean-up, community development and circular economy activities on a regular basis. He is the first Indian to be awarded the UN&rsquos highest environmental honour &lsquoChampions of the Earth&rsquo. He wants more people to spend time in the lap of nature, love humanity and other species. For him, that&rsquos all there is to life.</p>

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Afroz Shah, 38This practising counsel at Bombay High Court has dedicated every evening, all his weekends, all his holidays, and one morning every week in the last four years to a cause that is very close to his heart: Tackling marine litter by cleaning rivers, beaches, oceans and mangroves. He runs the Mindset Change Ground Action Campaign, which focusses on citizens living in the human-o

Image by Mexy Xavier

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Ayyappa Mahadevappa Masagi, 62Also known as the Water Warrior, Ayyappa Masagi combines native intelligence with modern technology and ideas, to respect, harvest, conserve and utilise water more effectively. He has executed 9,000 conservation, irrigation, industrial and rainwater harvesting projects in 13 states, making them more water efficient. An Ashoka Fellow, his goal for the next fiv

Image by Nishant Ratnakar for Forbes India

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Nayantara Jain, 32Nayantara Jain was working as a scuba diving Instructor when she experienced her first El Nino event where ocean temperatures increased by 2-3°C for a couple of months and healthy, vibrant coral reefs underwent bleaching and died. The dead coral, covered with algae, eventually weakened the reef and it crumbled. Jain realised she wanted to spend the rest of her life savin

Image by Sumer Verma

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Ankit Kawatra, 27The Delhi-based founder of Feeding India works with an army of 20,000 volunteers (Hunger Heroes) and is on a mission to end hunger. Winner of the Queens Young Leader title and the United Nations Young Leader award, Ankit Kawatra spearheads a not-for-profit social organisation which aims to solve the problem of hunger, malnutrition and food waste in the country. Using an a

Image by Amit Verma

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Kriti Tula, 30Alarmed at the scale of wastage in the fashion industry, Kriti Tula, creative director and co-founder of fashion label Doodlage realised the urgent need for making fashion circular: Starting from the raw material to how the garment will be disposed of at the end of its life. She works with eco-friendly fabrics, such as organic cotton, corn fabric, banana fabric, and leftover

Image by Madhu Kapparath

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Shubhendu Sharma, 34An industrial engineer by qualification, the founder and director of Afforestt was inspired by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki&rsquos method of afforestation. Miyawaki&rsquos technique makes trees grow 10 times faster than usual, creating a self-sustaining forest within two to three years. Started in January 2011, Afforestt is a for-profit social enterprise that aims

Image by Forbes

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Pradeep Sangwan, 33Pradeep Sangwan, founder of Healing Himalayas, aims to keep the Himalayas plastic-free. He treks for an average of 2,000 km every year and has helped collect over 5 lakh kg of non-biodegradable waste in the last three years. Every cleaning campaign involves the local community and forest departments, and 30 to 35 volunteers. Ask him what he believes in, and he says: &ld

Image by Mecha Ende