Meet the ‘Young Gandhi’ | Fusion - WeRIndia

Senthil Nathan hails from Thennur in Tamil Nadu. He had a life that people hailing from a small village can only dream of. Yet, he is being called the ‘Young Gandhi’. Like Gandhi, he returned from a foreign country to fight for saving the environment and work with the young and needy. He has been doing his work since ten years and so far it has had made a great impact.

He was living a comfortable life in US earning Rs.2 lakhs every month. However, comfortable life and money isn’t what interested Senthil. He wanted to come back to his village and help the people there.

He went abroad with the same goals as many others: to earn a lot of money. However, he didn’t want to earn the money for himself. He wanted to use that money for improving the lives of people from his village.

The first initiative he took was take care of the health in villages which come under the Thennur Panchayat. He started a network of health workers with local people. He collaborated with state government schools for a supplementary nutrition program from adolescent girls in government schools.

He then focused on education. He started a nursery and primary school for kids who dropped out of mainstream schools. It has 50 students and it uses unique techniques to educate children and help them learn difficult concepts.

His thinking and simple living has earned him the title of ‘Young Gandhi’ in his village. His ideologies are similar to those of Gandhi and he even believes that change starts from the grassroots level.

He spent most of his savings on his work. He started with 10 panchayats and now has extended to 39 panchayats. He likes to have small donations from many people rather than big corporate donations so that more people can take part of the cause.

Image Reference: TheBetterIndia