Introduction with the Mentors: Mr. Anshu Gupta

Mr. Anshu Gupta

                                                        

Popularly known as the Clothing Man, Anshu Bhaiya did his Mass communications starting as a freelance journalist, Anshu Bhaiya left a corporate job and founded GOONJ with a mission to make clothing a matter of concern because he believed people died because of lack of clothing during extreme winters in India and it was equivalent to a disaster unrecognised. His work with GOONJ goes to a core challenge of our times; the growing gap between the urban prosperity & rural poverty. His work has taken the menacing growth of urban waste and used it effectively and efficiently as a tool to trigger large-scale development work on diverse issues; roads, water, environment, education, health etc. in some of the most backward and remote pockets of India. Not only is the so-called urban waste addressing ignored basic needs it’s turning out to be a valuable asset for income generation. Bridging the massive gap of social and economic inequities between urban and rural India in an innovative way, Anshu has created a new dynamic focused on the receiver’s dignity rather than the donor’s pride.

I have been lucky to go and witness the unique distinction with which Processing centre of Goonj operates where they use anything and everything discarded; from a stapler pin to industrial generators and anything in between and come up with creative ideas to use them. The projects they work on varies from clothing issue, disaster management, menstruation, dignifying the act of giving, channelising urban waste, reviving age-old traditions by creating responsible stakeholders at each and every step. 

To know more about him. You can go through some of his Interviews

Talk at NASA

Acceptance Speech at Ramon Magsaysay Award Ceremony

Goonj