Of success and issues

The third edition of TEDx Hyderabad was organised at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Daggubati Rana, Gauri Sawant, Anshu Gupta, Sunitha Krishnan, Kalpana Saroj, Mark Dharmai, Mukesh Aghi, AP Hota, Pradeep Lokhande, Elca Grobler, GMB Akash, Lt Gen Zameeruddin Shah and Anu Acharya shared their inspiring stories with the attendees.

This year, TEDx Hyderabad was organised by Society for Advancement of Human Endeavour (SAHE), a non-profit organisation. The theme of this edition of TEDx was ‘Do’. Anshu Gupta, founder of Goonj, a Delhi-based NGO, and former journalist was the first person to speak at the event. His organisation helps to make the under-utilised urban material as a development resource for the rural parts of India.

“In this country, more people are dying due to lack of clothes than any other problems. We are the fastest growing economy in the world but at the same time, we are the country where lakhs of people still die of cold due to lack of clothing every winter. This is very sad,” Anshu said.

Anshu informed that clothing was the first visible sign of poverty. “We don’t talk with people who wear dirty clothes and we do not think a minute about them why they became like that. There is no dearth of resources in this world but still many people do not have proper clothes. We started many initiatives, through which we distribute clothes for work,” Anshu added.

Anshu’s organisation ships over 70,000 kg’s of material in a month and have also converted 1,000 tonnes of used clothes and other urban discards into usable resources for the poor Sunitha Krishnan, social activist and co-founder of Prajwala, a non-governmental organisation that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sex-trafficked victims into society.

In her talk, she said, “In most of the rape and abuse cases, 90 per cent of women do not come forward to register a complaint due to various threats. People are also not reacting well to the issues that are related to women. We have to create a society which will save our children.”

Actor Rana Daggubati in his session said, “Indian cinema begun with Dadasaheb Phalke’s movie ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913. Since then it has spread to all languages and resulted in many film industries. My grandfather D Rama Naidu made many beautiful films. My recent film ‘Baahubali’ has broken all the boundaries of Telugu cinema and became an international film. Cinema is a great medium of communication.”

Rana said that the digital media is ruling the world now. “Today we have many platforms like mainstream cinema, social media, TV and more. We can tell a story in various perspectives through these mediums. The technology is much more advanced now. Anyone can become a storyteller by using the web. All we need is let the stories be told,” Rana added.

GMB Akash, a Bangladeshi documentary photographer, has received more than 80 international awards for his work in photography. “Through my lens, I always wanted to show the things that need to change the society. There are many children working in factories in Bangladesh. When I was capturing the photos of these children, I decided to something for them. Later, I met their parents and helped them to start their own business to improve their living standards,” GMB Akash shared.

Till now Akash has helped more than 50 families in Bangladesh. Gauri Sawant, the 37-year-old transgender social activist, who started an NGO ‘Sakhi Char Chowghi’ with an aim to provide a space of freedom to all transgenders, said, “In school, I was always mocked by my classmates, who used derogatory terms to call me. At the age of nice, I felt that I was in a wrong body.

Then I decided to change my gender but society not accepted. After many struggles, I managed to transform as female,” Gauri said. She said that the transgenders are still fighting for their basic rights. “We need equality and identity. We must give equal opportunities all the people in every field. We will strive until we get equal rights like a common man.” she concluded.

By V Sateesh Reddy