Nihar Agarwal News Highlights :
- Nihar Agarwal, a citizen of Vadodara, Gujarat completed her master’s from London.
- She began working on the Waste Hub model in the year 2018.
- The idea of making a Waste Hub model came,When the children who came out of our training center were successful.
Who is Nihar Agarwal?
Nihar Agarwal, a citizen of Vadodara, Gujarat, travelled to India after earning her master’s degree in London and discovered that most Indians are unaware of the harmful effects of plastic garbage. People toss trash all over the place. This not only harms the environment, but it also puts animals’ lives at jeopardy. Then it occurred to her that some sort of action should be conducted to raise public awareness and support for the plastic waste-free movement.
Why is she in News?
She began working on the Waste Hub model in the year 2018.The people of the village gather the rubbish themselves, and in exchange, Nihar supplies them with recycled products such as furniture, tableware, bags, and purses made from the waste. Not only that, but she has also helped 5 thousand others find work as a result of her efforts.
Know more about Nihar
28-year-old Nihar hails from the state of Rajasthan. Her father used to serve in Gujarat and spent the majority of his time there. She graduated from the University of Dubai in 2014.After that, she worked for a year. She then travelled to London to pursue her Master’s degree before returning to India in 2016.
Nihar says that from the very beginning I had the intention to do something better for the society. That’s why I didn’t get the job even after getting good offers. I got married a few months after coming to India. Her husband used to run an NGO named Anvesha Foundation. In which he used to work for the education sector. Since I did my masters from education, I was more interested in the field of education. I also joined them and started helping in providing education to the children.
Interested in education from the beginning
She says that school education alone is not enough for the students. They also need training at the vocational level. There are many students who drop out, while there are many children who have to leave studies due to some reason. In such a situation, those students need skill based education, so that they can generate income for themselves after completing their studies. With this thought in mind, we started the program of vocational training. In this, we started giving training to the students in the work related to electrical, mechanical and fabrication.
The idea of making a Waste Hub model came, When the children who came out of our training center were successful
Nihar says that there were many students in our training center who were very poor. There were many students who were drop out. When these people came out after completing their training, they started doing their own work. Some started working related to fabrication and some started working in electrical and mechanical fields. It was a very positive response for me. This gave me strength, and the idea began to form in my head that now is the time to develop something like this so that jobs can be generated on a big scale, and people can assist in the management of their livelihood.
She says that at the same time I came to notice the issue of plastic waste. This issue was common in cities and among educated people. Many people are also working to recycle plastic waste, but most of the people in the villages are unaware of it. Not only this, it is also a difficult task to make them aware. I felt that there is a need to not only make these people aware, but also need to be connected with employment by giving training. People will not participate in this campaign until it is linked to the people.
Went from village to village, joined people with her
Nihar describes her work as follows: “We started a campaign from village to village to get rid of plastic garbage.”I started educating people about it. We told people that instead of throwing garbage here and there, collect it at one place. Motivate other people to do the same. Whatever products will be made from this waste will be used for the development of your village. Like if someone is poor in the village, we will provide him with the things he needs. Tables and chairs will be provided for children in schools. This will benefit the whole village.
She claims that the villagers liked the idea and agreed to collaborate with us. People gradually began to gather garbage from every home and deposit it in a central location.
How do you work? What is West Hub Model?
Nihar says that at present we are working in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Halol and Anand. Here people collect the waste from their respective homes and collect it at one place. After that the work of its segregation takes place. That is, different types of waste are separated. Then we send people who recycle the waste there. They gather the waste and transport it to their production unit, where they manufacture various types of products. After this our team collects those products back and provides them to the people by going to the village. That is, those who provide us waste, we give back to them the products made from it.
She says that in many schools, we have provided things like tables and chairs. Similarly, we have provided furniture to the people of the village who are poor. Slowly we are expanding our range. We have also adopted three villages. Our team provides what those villages need. Along with this, we provide salary to those who do the work of recycling and making products. Due to this good initiative they are getting good income. Most of them are people who have been trained by us.
People got employment on a large scale
According to Nihar, we have trained 7500 pupils so far. All these people are working somewhere or doing some work of their own. Apart from this, there are 4 thousand such people with us who are associated with the work of waste recycling. They also get a good income. She claims that we don’t make any products and don’t have any production facilities. We just want to create an ecosystem. So that people can also be aware and they can also get employment.
