City youth take war on corruption offline
Initiative To Be Launched At Gateway On May 1
Initiative To Be Launched At Gateway On May 1
Mumbai: While Mumbai’s youth has long been criticized for armchair activism with Facebook and email forwards, a group of 20-somethings are taking the battle offline, with the launch of Youth Against Corruption (YAC).
What started off as a Facebook campaign inspired by Anna Hazare’s fast-untodeath for the Jan Lokpal Bill, is turning into a mass movement amongst the city’s youth. A few weeks ago, 23-year-old Darsh Doshi and his college friend Harsh Lapsia started a Facebook page inviting youngsters to join a candle-light vigil in support of Hazare. He was taken by surprise when he found that the page had over 1,000 hits in a span of 12 hours. “If so many young people could come forward to support an anti-corruption campaign at such short notice, we felt the need to channelize this energy and create a youth movement,” said Darsh, who is at the forefront of YAC, along with Shrenik Gandhi (23), an MBA student and 22-year-old entrepreneur Arpan Shah.
A respected IPS officer, a popular stand-up comedian, a group of hip-hop dancers and amusic band are set to be part of the launch of YAC at the Gateway of India on May 1. The date for the launch has been chosen keeping in mind the meeting of the Jan Lokpal panel the following day. “We want to keep up the pressure on our politicians and let them know that the youth of India is watching them,” said Shrenik.
“A lot of people thought that the movement against corruption would fizzle out once Anna broke his fast. But we want to show the government that the public still cares for the Bill,” said Kushal Mehra, a 30-year-old businessman who is part of India Against Corruption, and has been a guiding force for YAC.
“At a time when there is a smear campaign against the panelists set to draft the Jan Lokpak Bill, we want to show our faith in them. We want the mud-slinging to stop, so that there is no delay in drafting the bill,” said Mehra.
YAC is creating a database of youth who can be summoned at short notice. Besides supporting the Jan Lokpal Bill, YAC aims at fighting corruption at the local level.
* MAKING A DIFFERENCE: (From left) Arpan Shah, Darsh Doshi, Kushal Mehra, Vyomesh Panchmatia, Shrenik Gandhi and Harsh Lapsia are the faces behind Youth Against Corruption