Renowned for his exceptional work in distributing lacks of sanitary pads to needy women, Akhilesh is known as the ‘Padman of Rajasthan’. He has also united hundreds of missing children with their parents.

Akhilesh Maheshwari is the founder of his NGO, Naya Savera, which he founded 12 years ago when he was in college.

Akhilesh was born in a small village near Ajmer. He had his schooling in Makrana and Kuchaman City and came to Jaipur for his higher studies, where he did his graduation from Manipal University. He has also done an MSW and is currently pursuing a Master of Sociology.

Akhilesh says his biggest struggle was to build trust among the people in his NGO. He regrets that, due to some bad NGOs, people have the perception that most of them are fake. He went to colleges far and wide to motivate students to work as volunteers. He is happy that now his NGO has a good name and he has completed 12 years of social work without any government or foreign funding.

Akhilesh says that his NGO runs ten sanitary pad banks around Jaipur, where he has so far distributed more than eight lakh sanitary pads to needy women and girls. Due to his exemplary work, he is known as the ‘Padman of Rajasthan’. His NGO also runs a shelter home for lost and missing children and for those who have been rescued from child labor. So far, he has united more than 200 such children with their parents.

When asked about his achievements, Akhilesh says that he and his NGO have received many awards. Several news articles have been published about him, many documentaries have been made about his work, and he has appeared in many radio interviews. However, he considers the love and respect that he has received from the children he has helped as his biggest achievement, and he also feels satisfied when his parents and his family feel proud of him.

Akhilesh considers his father his role model. His father taught him how to face struggles and difficulties in life. He is also grateful to his wife, who was also his college friend and ignited the spark of social service in him. He is also inspired a lot by the famous movie ‘Rang De Basanti.

Talking about COVID times, Akhilesh says he felt proud when the Chief Minister of Rajasthan included his NGO in the organizations that were called for a meeting by the CM to plan how to provide help during the lockdown. On the CM’s appeal, his NGO worked hard to provide relief to the needy during the pandemic. He distributed dry rations to 1100 families, more than 10,000 food packets, and about 1.5 lakh sanitary pads. He also provided water bottles, medicine, and other help to elderly people.

Akhilesh laments that it is the misfortune of the NGO sector that, due to some bad NGOs, the sector has a bad name. He feels that if you are devoted full-time to social work, you may run your household through the NGO’s income, but you should never make it a business to earn money. He, however, feels that with India having a large population of deprived people, CSR activity is very necessary for our country.

Akhilesh says he never gets any free time as he is always busy with his social work. Still, in the little time he gets, he likes to go to temples. He also likes to surf social media and watch news on it.

Akhilesh fondly remembers his childhood and says he was a pampered child. His parents never let him feel anything, even during tough times.

For newcomers who want to join the social work field, Akhilesh says you must be passionate about it. Your education or experience is not that important for doing social work, but it is very necessary to be passionate about it and have a serving nature.

Akhilesh urges the youth of the country to at least spare two hours a week for social work in any field of their liking. He feels we must have the attitude of giving back to society.