Progressing in the social sector requires experience, knowledge, and education.
Progressing in the social sector requires experience, knowledge, and education.
Pappu Kumar Sharma is a social worker and the secretary of Nehru Yuva Mandal, Anantpura. They organize various activities in the fields of education, health, medical care, women empowerment, youth development, and farmer welfare through the Yuva Mandal in villages. He says his main focus has been on the tree plantations that he does together with different foundations and organizations that conduct CSR activities.
In 2010, Pappu initiated the 'Yuva Mandal' with a vision to advocate for and address the fundamental issues within their gram panchayat. He emphasizes that the club was established to address the diverse challenges faced by the villagers, particularly those in the last-mile community.
Pappu belongs to Anantpura village in Chomu Tehsil of Jaipur district. He says that he was born into a farmer family, and his family has been a pioneer in social activities from the very beginning. Looking at the elders of his family, his interest in social activities progressed. He completed his secondary schooling from the local government school in Anantpura and his higher secondary schooling from Chomu. There, he took NSS along with his studies, so he became more interested in the social service field. Then he did nursing in Ayurveda from Shri Ram Ayurveda Nursing College and a Diploma in Health and Sanitary Inspector. Currently, he is a final-year student of the Bachelor of Social Work.
Pappu says that during the Corona pandemic, the Yuva Mandal worked vigorously at the local level, where they manufactured masks with the help of women and girls from the village. Also, with the help of the local MLA, they distributed food items to various gram panchayats. Apart from this, they observed that stray animals were also facing a food crisis, so with the cooperation of farmers, who were not given the right price for their crops, they fed those stray animals. At the same time, they also arranged for food and water for the birds.
Pappu thinks that to run any institution or organization, education is as important as experience. He says that both should move parallelly; only then can we make that organization go in the right direction.
Pappu offers guidance to today's aspiring professionals in the field of community development, suggesting that they begin by completing relevant education and gaining a deep understanding of the domain before actively participating. He emphasizes that, in the present era, there is substantial employment potential within NGOs, but progressing in this sector requires applying experience, knowledge, and education effectively.
In his free time, Pappu reads books related to great men, watches videos on YouTube, and tries to understand their biographies.
Pappu has two role models in his life; seeing and listening to them, he moved ahead and decided to enter this sector. First is Deepak Kumar Yogi, who is a professor and has worked for the emancipation of women. His other role model is his uncle, who was very ahead in social welfare activities, and Pappu got inspired seeing him.