JAGRITI YATRA 2007 SEARCHS FOR INDIA'S REAL HEROES
(8 November 2007)

As India celebrates its 60th anniversary since Independence, a group of young Indian professionals from the UK and India is to recreate 'Jagriti Yatra', a unique train journey across India to discover India’s real heroes. The Executive Team comprising Gitanjali Banerjee Bhattacharya as Project Director, Kaustav Bhattacharya handling media, Shishir Dhulla acting as the yatra Secretary, Anoop Unadkat as Project Manager and Aradhna Mathur handling logistics, hope to gather 450 of India's brightest stars aged between 18-25 – the next generation of Indian leaders.

The aim of the journey will be to introduce the youngsters to heroes who through innovation and perseverance have undertaken a difficult challenge and have had a significant impact. The aim of the Yatra (Journey) is to instil in the youth through example, teaching and dialogue, the feeling they can 'be the change' that India needs.

"India’s future lies in the hands of its youth and it will be shaped through their dreams, ambitions and dare. Indian youth, however, finds it difficult to find right role models and increasingly sees them in the Page 3 celebrities. It is vital for India’s success to expose our youth to the right role models. Heroes who silently, unknown and unrecognised, are firing the sparks fuelling the Indian dream – India's real heroes" explained Jagriti NGO Chairman, Shashank Mani.

Mani has written about the 1997 Yatra in his forthcoming book 'India: Journey through a healing civilisation' which will be launched in the UK on 1 December 2007. The original architect of the 1997 Yatra, Shashank works for an IT Services company and is recognised as an industry expert in Finance and Accounting outsourcing. He has a B. Tech from IIT - Delhi and an MBA (Hons) from IMD, Lausanne.

Fellow Board Members include: Shipra Sharma, who works with CII, as Treasurer, Surendra Sharma, the former Chairman of the Indian Heavy Water Board, Sashi Tripathi as the NGO's Secretary, Vinay Mishra, Sushil Tripathi - the former secretary at the ministry of petroleum and also former secretary at the ministry of education, Dr. Vijay Shukla, a key member of the national Himalayan trekking programme; Raj Krishnamurthy and Rewati Prabhu, Director of Frischmann Prabhu India, a 400 strong multidisciplinary design consultancy headquartered in Mumbai.

ABOUT JAGRITI

Jagriti is a registered NGO promoting entrepreneurship since 2000. Its aim is to provide vocational training to rural and small towns focusing on women and under privileged sections of society. The Jagriti NGO trained over two thousand people in 2006 in vocational courses ranging from small industries like pickle making to training courses in air condition unit repair and I.T. training courses.

Click here to find out more about the Jagriti Yatra 2007.
Click here to view a video about the Azad Bharat Yatra 1997 (14mins)