Meet the teens who’re not waiting for change, they’re making it happen

A 16-year-old just got nominated for a Nobel, and inspired thousands of youth to take part in a global climate strike. Back home too, many youngsters have embraced causes ranging from conservation to child rights. TOI profiles five changemakers.Convinced restaurants to serve half-full glasses of waterGarvita Gulhati, Bengaluru, 19In 2015 when I was 15, there was a severe water crisis in Bengaluru. Around the same time, I learnt that 14 million litres of water are wasted every year globally because of the half-drunk glasses of water we leave in restaurants. I decided to start an organisation called Why Waste. One of our first initiatives called Glass Half Full is going national this year. We started by approaching restaurants in Bengaluru to convince them to only fill glasses half-full at a time. We provided them with a model that optimises conservation in restaurants. That was a hard process, because we were a group of kids and no one was interested in talking to us. Now, after years of effort, we have partnered with the National Restaurant Association of India which represents one lakh establishments and will send a notice out about our mission. medium68439479I got into a bunch of colleges abroad but chose not to go because this is what I want to focus on. You don’t need to be 30 or 40 for someone to tell you that you’re allowed to go out there and make a difference. We need to understand the capacity of our voice as young people. Why Waste is an organisation of young people; most of us are under 20. We actually only have one adult who must be in his 50s -- he works on social media.Got 500 child labourers admitted in schoolsAnju Verma, Haryana, 16When I was growing up in a small village called Daulatput in Haryana, I noticed that some of my friends would never do their homework and always get punished. I asked them why they didn’t just do their work, and they gave it off to me, telling me how much housework they are expected to do, including taking care of the cattle. I was 11 and having sleepless nights thinking about how their education was being compromised, so I went to go talk to their parents. I eventually convinced them to go to the parent-teacher meeting where the teacher talked about how badly their girls were doing in school. That hurt their pride and they told their girls to stop doing household labour and start focusing on their studies.This made me realise that if I could help two girls, why stop at that? I started lying to my parents about where I was and began surveying my village of 1,500, to understand how many kids were involved in child labour. Today, with the help of my NGO Bulland Udaan, my village is completely child labour-free. After I started getting recognition and was invited to other cities, my parents also understood that I was helping others and doing our family proud. medium68439526We have now got 500 kids admitted in schools, and our volunteers go and teach children who can’t go to school. People in my village would warn their daughters about hanging out with me because I was a bad influence, now those very people are celebrating the birth of daughters. I’ve got death threats, I’ve been insulted, but I see the results. I dream of a child labour-free Haryana.Opened a dog shelter with his pocket money at 16Zabi Khan, Hyderabad, 21I’ve always adored animals and started volunteering at various animal rights NGOs in Hyderabad from the age of 13. When I was 16, I decided to open my own shelter for abandoned and abused animals, because I noticed there was no one catering to them. I rented land using my pocket money. We registered the organisation, A Place to Bark, on my 18th birthday. When I got into an engineering college in Hyderabad, it was tough to get up at 4am to check in on the dogs, go to college, do my work and check in on them again, so I convinced my college administration to let me move the shelter there. I showed them presentations and videos, and they understood how serious I was about it, so they agreed. I’m actually in the process of starting an animal sanctuary in Hyderabad. It will also act as a space for education where we collaborate with schools and colleges to talk about conservation. medium68439560When you’re young, it’s hard to be taken seriously. I would try to lodge FIRs against cruelty and the police would look at me like I was a child, my friends would laugh at me and say ‘there’s a dog, go run, rescue him’. But if you know why you’re here in this world and what you want to do, no one can stop you. That’s what made me want to wake up at 4am—knowing in my heart that there’s an animal who needs me.A child labourer who now works for their rightsChampa Kumari, Jharkhand, 14When I was a child, I worked in a mica mine. Everyone in my family did, except my brothers. We live in an area of Jharkhand where this is very common. I got involved with the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) when I was 12, and they helped me get an education. My father was very against it to begin with, but my brothers helped convince him to let me study. BBA has bal panchayats all over the country and I became the leader of the bal panchayat in my village, Jamdar. Soon, they chose me to be the mukhiya for the state-level bal panchayat. Last year, I contested elections and became a leader of the national bal panchayat. medium68439602I work with local authorities to eradicate child labour, as well as prevent child marriages. People in my village would tell my father that his daughter has gotten out of hand, but when they started seeing me in the newspaper, I began to be seen as a role model for young girls who weren’t being allowed to study. I could tell their parents that I got an education and now I’m being recognised, this could happen to your girls too.Started a toy bank for those who can’t buy themAryamaan Lakhotia, co-founder of a toy bank in Kolkata, 17I came up with the idea of a toy bank with my cousin when I was 14 and she was 16. We wanted to provide a platform for people who want to donate toys, but don’t know how to. It started as a Facebook page where people could let us know what they have, and we had a central drop-off point there they could leave the toys for us to donate. We are now active in seven cities across India, and are planning to start two more centres. We’ve teamed up with local NGOs and orphanages where we donate the toys. There are toys for everyone—from infants to teens. Almost 15,000 toys have been donated in the last two years. medium68439625It was hard to be taken seriously, but our age also worked to our advantage. Because we were teenagers, people trusted us to do the right thing and have no ulterior motives. You’re never too young to start making an impact.boxcontent 68439811Teen nominated for Nobel PrizeSwedish teen activist Greta Thunberg, a prominent voice in campaigns against climate change, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, for "the massive movement she has set in motion is a very important peace contribution." The 16-year-old has encouraged students to skip school to join protests demanding faster action on climate change, a movement that has spread beyond Sweden to across the globe.On Friday, from the South Pacific to the edge of the Arctic Circle, angry students in more than 100 countries walked out of classes to protest what they see as the failures by their governments. In India too, schoolchildren protested inaction on climate change and demanded that authorities tackle rising air pollution levels, which often far exceed WHO limits.