To all the people out there who think you are alone in doing something to the needy and cannot make the change, here is the journey of one such person who believed:
“I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
People who are crazy enough to change the world are the ones who do. There could be no one better than Mr Bala Prasad Devaragattu an Ambedkarite, a social activist and an IT professional to explain the formerly stated quote.
Mr Bala is a positive ray of hope for many, his compassionate and generous efforts to help the poor and those in need are worth appreciation. Mr Bala started his journey with the motto “If not you who, if not now, when”; and touched many lives by empowering them. Every parent’s dream is to make their kids’ childhood a good memory that will shape them into whom they want to be.
Mr Bala when he was a kid would drink a glass of water that isn’t clear and had worms at times. Running miles for drinking water, no proper education facilities and no proper resources helped him realise his purpose of living and started rendering his services to make someone else’s childhood a good one.
Hailing from Domakonda village in the Kamareddy district, Mr Bala proved that villages are the backbone of our country apart from facing all the challenges and completing studies in government institutes, he could get his dream job as an IT professional for the past 12 years with a steady income. That paved the way for his first initiative student empowerment where five government schools in the Kamareddy district were adopted and carried activities like distributing books to the children, facilitating scholarships and conducting motivational sessions/activities by driving them to dream big.
It just did not stop with that, he believed empowering women can empower a family followed by the country. For this milestone, Mr Bala took help from organisations that train women on self-employment by teaching the making of detergents, candles, woollen clothes and jute bags. The next mile is to impart selling skills, bringing orders till setting up a store was accomplished.
Women who were sitting at home with mental pressures and women with hidden talents were identified and allowed to make their living, especially the young ones were included in social welfare activities that buildt confidence and hope in achieving their IT jobs in MNC’s, 210 such women stood as an inspiration to many.
Mr Bala got in touch with some young girls who did not complete their academics, and then he collaborated with corporate hospitals that were ready to provide skill-based training. Close to 30 women have found jobs as lab technicians in nearby cities where the pay is almost triple the meagre amount that they were given for making beedis.
With a future perspective, Mr Bala decided to empower youth by gathering them from his nearby villages to train them with employment skills with the help of his friends and few other vocational training centres. Initially, it was a challenging task for Mr Bala to gather youth who were wearing tattered clothes, hanging up in drinking, and engaging in street fights. Who now have transformed into well dressed in formals and well settled with good salary package.
Making availability of healthy food leads to positive deeds and strength, this belief made Mr Bala encourage farmers’ empowerment in adopting organic farming techniques and he also provided cows to farmers with his savings. For this mission, Mr Bala picked farmers from suicidal families and farmers who were poor/eager to follow organic practices. They were trained to make organic manure and natural fertilizers. One of the farmers ended up becoming a natural farmer trader, who can now guide organic farming techniques for the whole country.
From Bangalore, with the support of his friends, Mr Bala gathered seed balls in larger amounts and dispersed them to nearby villages of Domakonda that fertilizes the soil leading to the growth of the plants followed by changing climate that can bring rains into villages, thereby empowering the village in 360 degrees to make it self-sustaining. In the future, villages are going to be role models to cities in our country in practising organic activities till empowering youth.
Yes, he was alone when started working for the welfare of families that made him render several services. Mr Bala Prasad, a national awardee and a finalist for iVolunteer award 2019 in the “hero” award category at a national level, stood as an inspiration for every individual and showed the path to reach out needy if one has strong willpower to bring change by empowering every village thereby decreasing dependency on governments and NGOs. Dr RS Praveen Kumar IPS (Adl DGP Vrs Rtd) stood as the pillar in encouraging empowering initiatives that added a benefit to Mr Bala’s social welfare goals.
Reaching destinations with a ray of hope and making them capable enough in designing their own lives is what the journey of life is all about. Many voices were heard against Mr Bala Prasad trying to pull down, demotivate but the struggle he faced during his childhood was much more strongly impacting him than no one else should face and has brought things into practicality.
“Living by the adage, ‘I Rise by Lifting Others.” — Bala Prasad Devaragattu