A Young Man With Entrepreneurial Mission And Social Vision Is Changing Lives Of Hundreds Of Tribal Women In Odisha
Vat Vrikshya is a social enterprise that works with marginalized women and communities who have been traditionally neglected and under resourced.The VV Team works with tribal communities across eastern India , often travelling at some risk to rural areas where outsiders may not be welcome for political and religious reasons.The founder,Vikash Das, was born and raised in Odisha - the tribal predominant state and this is precisely the reason that got him started. Life is even tougher for tribal women who often face discrimination because of their gender and tribal status. Since most men are prone to indulging in various forms of addiction, women are at the helm of family affairs , compelling them to seek formidable choices to make their ends meet. In such undesirable situations , so as to provide some solace for their social, economic and civic empowerment in tribal dominated region of Odisha, Vat Vrikshya was formed. Vikash's philosophy has always been to encourage women to be in charge of their own change process.In a small town of Odisha, generations are brought up ingrained with the belief ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ which translates to ‘The world is one family’. Yet, social discriminations exist in the same vicinity. In order to overcome such social discriminations and help the underprivileged,Vikash decided to quit his corporate job and work with underprivileged and marginalized tribal people. "The root causes of persistent poverty in India lie at the complex intersection of structural factors and paterns of socio-economic exclusion."The goal of our work is to address persistent poverty by empowering socially marginalized groups by strengthening networks across the tribal communities in the company.These tribal belts are the country's clusters of poverty"- says Vikash.
