Gramiksha's story is the product of some friends thinking about achieving simple goals like teaching disadvantaged children, environment conservation, etc. This was the first step in the formation of Gramiksha, a NGO operating in seven cities in India. Starting from a group of friends in Gwalior, Gramiksha today spans the cities of Delhi, Jaipur, Indore, Bhopal, Pune and Laxmangarh, as well.

His original goal was to have a collaborative approach rather than a competitive one

Gramiksha's co-founder, Shubham Singh, tells us he was sensitised about teaching and inspiring children from an early age, and used to joke about starting an NGO someday. He admits he never thought this dream would come true, especially as "nationally" as it has. In fact, when asked what Shubham wanted from Gramiksha's story that would be different from other NGOs, his answer was that his goal was to have a collaborative, not a competitive approach. His childhood encounters inspired Shubham to start Gramiksha. As a young boy, he used to teach his domestic help's son. This experience made him want to make a change himself.

SYMBIOTIC

The core value upon which Gramiksha is based is HELPING. Our volunteers selflessly devote themselves to social service, be it organising a health camp or teaching children. In return, not only do they get unquantifiable satisfaction, but also the support of the entire team of Gramiksha, which includes people from across the country. We strongly believe in a sense of community, and create a channel; we help our volunteers, our volunteers help society. As Shubham rightly said, there is a sort of Barter system that exists in the organisation. As a token of gratitude for their hard work, we give our volunteers a platform to nurture their management and organisational skills, so the medium of exchange is not money, but skills. Therefore, our mission is to make a sizeable difference. Be it, education or health, we have not lost the essence of our founders' aims. At Gramiksha, we work day in and day out to make as big an impact as possible.

WORKING

Gramiksha follows a corporate structure in its working. Most of our members are either college students or young professionals. Our greatest strength is unity in diversity; students from varied cultures and fields come together to work for a common cause, and learn so much just from their interactions with each other. This also makes Gramiksha's story stand out from many NGOs in India. Any organisation is only as good as the people in it. Especially the fact that our workforce comprises people in their late teens and early twenties means we have a highly driven and energetic group, which genuinely wants to make a difference to the country, and takes their volunteering work very personally. There have been many instances across all our cities, where our volunteers have gone beyond the call of duty to give their utmost to their work. From fundraising through the day to staying overnight to finish painting a school, our team has done it all. To conclude our conversation with Shubham, he echoed what each of us at Gramiksha feels: we don't use #bethechange lightly. Being a change is far more difficult than a hashtag, but we, at Gramiksha strive for it everyday. For more information about our projects, click here. To know about upcoming events, click here.