Anurag Chauhan

Anurag Chauhan (born 1994) is an Indian social worker and founder of Humans For Humanity, a non-governmental organization (NGO) headquartered in Dehradun, India.[2][3] He is the founder and festival director of Dehradun Literature Festival. He is widely known for social work, particularly with regards to menstrual hygiene.[1][4][5] The WASH project started by him has reached over 1.5 million women in over 6 states in last 5 years. [6]

Anurag Chauhan
Chauhan at DLF 2017
Born (1994-07-15) July 15, 1994
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
NationalityIndian
Other namesPadMan, PadWarrior[1]
EducationMaster of social work
OccupationSocial worker, entrepreneur
Years active2010–present
OrganizationHumans For Humanity, Dehradun Literature Festival
Known forSocial Activism, Social Entrepreneurship
MovementThe WASH Project
Parent(s)Vijaylaxmi Chauhan
Bharat Singh Chauhan
AwardsKaramveer Chakra by United Nations

Works

In 2015, Chauhan started a project called WASH (Women, Sanitation, Hygiene) that works to educate women about menstrual hygiene, providing them sanitary napkins and training them to make bio-degradable sanitary napkins. The workshop is led by doctors to tell the women about biological reasons behind menstruation, hormonal changes, about various stages right from teenage to menopause. Counselling is given to women particularly who are dealing with menopause. Nutritionists tell women and girls about importance of food & nutrition intake. Affordability and sustainability are big issues, which is why they train the women to make their own sanitary napkins at home. The workshop also covers the harmful effects of poor menstrual hygiene and teach about the disposal of napkins. In 2018, WASH started Breaking The Bloody Taboo campaign where, as the name suggests, Anurag and his team strive to strip women of the age-old taboos. During one such campaign in Rajasthan, the volunteers conducted a session inside a temple with women of menstruating age. In another session, Anurag handed over tulsi saplings to women and asked them to nurture the sapling for a month and then see the results.[7]

Chauhan started this project after reading an article written about deaths caused due to lack of menstruation hygiene.[8] His cause received support from actress Twinkle Khanna.[9]

Chauhan runs awareness programs in many villages, slums, schools and colleges of Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.[2][10][11] [12]

During the nationwide lockdown the efforts of Humans for Humanity has come as a great help to the women who have been taught how to make sanitary napkins at home as they don’t have to go out and buy them but they can make hygienic sanitary pads themselves at home. They have reached a new level of empowerment as they are not dependent on the outside world to maintain a healthy menstrual cycle. Anurag is an example how youth of India are breaking the stereotype associated with menstrual hygiene by touching lives of those who need awareness and education by honesty, dedication and a will do bring a positive change. Anurag is indeed the real life Padman.[13] Stigmas, combined with financial restraints, further add to the neglected state of menstrual health. The WASH project by Humans For Humanity is actively working in six states and has employed women from the villages, making them financially self-sufficient. The eco friendly, reusable cloth pads last up to 2-2.5 years and come as part of a kit that also has liners, undergarments, soap bars & a guide.[14] Hundreds of community workers, women, self help groups & ngos have been given online workshop to make sanitary napkins by Humans For Humanity during the lockdown.[15][16] Anurag’s efforts being a man have been immense in making these women become self-reliant.[17] [18]

During the lockdown he fed over 1200 families for 6 months in various slums of Delhi, particularly the artists community of Kathputli Colony living in Anand Parvat, which is a transit camp. Amid the Covid19 pandemic that has forced schools to adopt online teaching, Humans For Humanity is trying to leverage the new normal by introducing traditional puppetry in the teaching process to present the children with an innovative way of learning and revive the centuries old traditional art form. As the lockdown lifted in New Delhi, Anurag started an employment generation project for the street artists connecting them with schools and generating income through online classes/performances. The project is helping save the dying Street art and provide livelihood to many street artists.[19]

Other

Chauhan acted in a film as a lead actor, shot in Rajasthan. The film is based on Clean India Campaign, an initiative by PM Narendra Modi.[20]

In 2016, he launched the Dehradun Literature Festival, an annual literary fest in Dehradun. Ruskin Bond and Shobhaa De are the ambassadors of the festival.[21]

In September, 2017, Chauhan started an online social media campaign, #TheDoorChallenge, to promote rich Indian cultural heritage and traditional Indian attire among youngsters. The challenge went viral and was well received by an international audience and garnered support from many countries such as Australia, Canada and Bangladesh.[22]

In April, 2020, Chauhan started India's 1st online Virtual Literature Festival, during the nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus, to promote rich Indian cultural heritage, literature and arts among the people stuck at home. The festival was very well received by a huge audience and garnered people's support from all walks of life. His efforts were applauded by the audiences for taking an initiative to bring out content that helped many during the time they felt low & lonely. [23] Actress Lisa Ray, Laxmi Agarwal, Bollywood choreographer Sandip Soparrkar, Shobhaa De, Sonal Mansingh, Divya Dutta were amongst many others who participated in the fest. [24] In June, 2020 the Virtual Literature Festival was launched as a Poscast series by Chauhan with RedFM on multiple platforms such RedFM app, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify & JioSaavn. [25]

In June, 2020 Chauhan launched a virtual series called Women of India in collaboration with UN Women to talk about various topics concerning women.[26] The inaugural session was attended by Kiran Bedi. [27]

In the month of October & November Chauhan appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati multiple times, airing on Sony TV as an Expert.[28]

During the show, Anurag was introduced by host Amitabh Bachchan. Amitabh gave an insight into Anurag’s NGO, ‘Human’s for Humanity’, and spoke about how the latter has been working on educating the masses and spreading awareness on menstrual hygiene. During the ‘Expert Advice’ lifeline in the show, Anurag was called upon by Bachchan to assist the contestants on the hot seat. [29]

Humans For Humanity started Red Cloth Campaign during the pandemic, to spread awareness about menstruation & bust the taboos. Actor Lisa Ray and singer-actor Shibani Dandekar, Kirti Kulhari, Kubra Sait, Divya Seth supported the campaign along with thousands of social media users.[30]

Awards and recognition

References
  1. Ahuja, Aastha (June 1, 2018). ""If Today We Don't Think And Act About Poor Menstrual Hygiene, It Will Become As Big As Polio And Then It Will Be Too Late", Says Delhi's Pad-Warrior". NDTV.
  2. Negi, Deepika (29 May 2018). "यह हैं रियल लाइफ के पैडमैन, सेनेटरी पैड लेकर कर रहे हैं जागरूक" (in Hindi). Dainik Jagaran.
  3. Shobhaa De (February 26, 2017). "Voice of sanity". The Week.
  4. "Delhi youth reaches out to the needy". Asian News International. March 28, 2016.
  5. "Breaking The Bloody Taboo For Girls In India". Femalista. May 15, 2018. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  6. "Breaking the BLOODY taboos". Humans of Bombay. October 6, 2020.
  7. Bhattacharya, Sromona (11 Jan 2018). "Humans For Humanity: This 24-Yr-Old Man Is Teaching Rural Women To "Break The Bloody Taboo"". The Logical Indian.
  8. Chopra, Avantika (May 28, 2018). "World Menstrual Hygiene Day 2018: Two men's efforts to spread awareness about women's personal hygiene". Indian Express.
  9. Budhwar, Yeshika (December 2, 2017). "Twinkle Khanna supports NGO's women hygiene cause". The Times of India.
  10. "Chauhan calls on Governor". HTNS. January 28, 2017.
  11. "World Menstrual Hygiene Day 2018". Indo American News. May 2, 2018.
  12. "Meet the real life Padman, Anurag Chauhan". Middle East Headlines. September 26, 2020.
  13. "Meet the real life Padman – Anurag Chauhan". Sankalp News. May 28, 2020.
  14. Bali, Etti (July 25, 2020). "Bleed with dignity: Sustainable solutions for a healthy period". Hindustan Times.
  15. S Sen, Debarati (July 14, 2020). "Over 100 self-help groups benefit from online cloth pad making workshop". The Times of India.
  16. Ahuja, Aastha (May 29, 2020). "Menstrual Hygiene Day 2020: This NGO Is Teaching People To Produce Reusable Sanitary Kits, Breaking Taboo Around Menstruation". NDTV.
  17. Gauba, Prerna (June 26, 2020). "Maintaining menstrual hygiene in times of Covid-19". Hindustan Times.
  18. "लॉकडाउन में 'आधी आबादी' के मददगार बने अनुराग चौहान, ऐसे युवाओं पर गर्व है". Rajya Sameeksha. August 18, 2020.
  19. "NGO ties up with school in Dehradun to revive traditional puppetry with innovative teaching". Hindustan Times. November 8, 2020.
  20. Chopra, Jaskiran (September 21, 2015). "Doon lad shooting for movie on Swachchh Bharat". Daily Pioneer.
  21. "Doon lit fest begins today". Tribune India. February 17, 2017.
  22. Vohra, Akshita (September 23, 2017). "Dehradun's #TheDoorChallenge goes global". The Times of India.
  23. "Virtual Literary Festival held amidst nationwide lockdown". The Times of India. April 26, 2020.
  24. "Virtual Lit-Fest to be hosted amidst nationwide lockdown". Garhwal Post. April 25, 2020.
  25. "Anurag Chauhan's Virtual Lit Fest launched as a Podcast". Sankalp News. June 25, 2020.
  26. "First of many sessions with Anurag Chauhan, Today with Lt. Governor, Pondicherry Dr. Kiran Bedi". UN Women. June 8, 2020.
  27. "Being a part of #WomenofIndia, a virtual series on various topics concerning women, curated by Anurag Chauhan in collaboration with UN Women India". Kiran Bedi. June 8, 2020.
  28. "Chauhan appears on KBC". Garhwal Post. October 14, 2020.
  29. "देहरादून के अनुराग को बधाई, केबीसी में बने एक्सपर्ट एडवाइजर, अमिताभ ने की तारीफ". Rajya Sameeksha. October 16, 2020.
  30. Garg, Ruchika (August 30, 2020). "Break the taboo: Celebs support menstrual health via social media". Hindustan Times.
  31. "उत्तराखंड का 'रियल लाइफ पैडमैन' जिसे 'यूनाइटेड नेशन' ने सम्मानित किया..." (in Hindi). Rajya Sameeksha. 28 May 2018.
  32. "Anurag Chauhan awarded Bharat Nirman Award 2016". Newsdogapp. July 24, 2016.
  33. "Social worker honoured". Tribune India. July 24, 2016.
  34. "Inbrief". Daily Pioneer. December 2, 2015.
  35. "Award Ceremony". Times Of India. February 14, 2019.
  36. "Dehradun's Anurag Chauhan awarded with Karamveer Chakra". Conceptree News Blog. November 29, 2019.
  37. "EXCLUSIVE: ANURAG CHAUHAN HONOURED BY UNITED NATIONS". Sankalp News. November 28, 2019.
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