Building India through enterprise - Jagriti Yatra 2013

As I boarded the train in Mumbai, on the eve of Christmas last year, I had no idea how my life was going to change over the next few days. Getting selected for Jagriti Yatra is not a small thing as they receive over 18,000 applications. The train covers 12 destinations around the country where yatris meet different role models and change makers. The yatris get to interact with them on a personal level and get to know about their journey and the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

Jagriti Yatra is a nationwide annual train journey to promote the vision “Building India through enterprise”. It takes 450 highly motivated and carefully selected (national and international) candidates on a fifteen-day national odyssey, introducing them to the unsung heroes of India. The aim is to awaken the entrepreneurial spirit – both social and economic - by exposing the youth to individuals and institutions that are developing unique solutions to India’s developmental challenges. Click here to know more about the yatra.

The role models have championed the cause of social change in multiple fields and have showcased sustained success with high impact. They include Anshu Gupta (Founder- Goonj, New Delhi), Harsh Hande (Founder- SELCO, Hubli), Bunkar Roy (Barefoot College - Tiloniya, Rajasthan), Joe Madiath (Gram Vikas, Orissa), R. Elango (Kuthambakkam Model Village, Chennai), among others.

Most of the participants are between 20-25 years of age. People above 25 years can join as facilitators. Last date to register for the yatra is 31 Oct 2013, over 200 yatris have already been selected to be a part of yatra. If you have not applied so far, you can apply soon to be a part of yatra. Jagriti Seva Sansthan (NGO behind the Yatra) also provides sponsorships for yatris, based on economic background. Special sponsorships for women are also provided for the yatra from this year.

The participants are chosen by a set of questions that they need to answer. It is a subjective evaluation of the raw entrepreneurial potential within a candidate by a selection panel of 20 experts. Facilitators are also judged based on their professional experience and ability to coordinate and manage youth-related activities.

You can register for the yatra by clicking here. Here is what the last year yatris have to say about their experience.