Anshu Gupta

Anshu Gupta is an Indian entrepreneur. He founded the non-governmental organization Goonj.[1] Goonj works on bridging urban and rural inequality. It does this by channelizing the urban surplus to initiate rural uplift, disaster relief, and rehabilitation. Through Goonj, Anshu is building a parallel trash-based economy by creating barter between rural communities and urban surplus material.[2]  

Anshu Gupta
Born
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
NationalityIndian
EducationIndian Institute of Mass Communication
Alma materIndian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi
Occupation(s)Founder Director, Goonj
Known forFounder and director of Goonj and Gram Swabhimaan
SpouseMeenakshi
ChildrenUrvi
AwardsRamon Magsaysay Award 2015
Ashoka Fellowship 2004
Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2012

Early life

Anshu Gupta was born in Meerut. He spent his early years in Chakrata, Banbasa while his father was posted there in the Indian Army's Military Engineer Services (MES).

Career

He worked as a freelance journalist after completing his schooling. He wrote about history, monuments and humanitarian issues. From 1992 to 1998, he worked with many organizations. He worked as a copywriter with Chaitra followed by Power Grid Corporation, and finally Escorts Communication.[3]

Goonj

He realized that people need clothing, which poor people may find out of reach. In 1999, he started Goonj with his wife Meenakshi and friends to work on that basic need. He started with 67 pieces of cloth collected with his wife and friends, at their home in Sarita Vihar. The firm spread across 28 states and over 4000 villages, employing over 1000 workers.[3] Using cloth as a metaphor for other crucial but ignored needs, his ideology stated that roti, kapda, makaan are the three most essential individual needs. The first two are always in focus, but clothing never received the attention it deserved but is essential in maintaining individual dignity.[2]

"Clothing is the first visible sign of poverty".[4] It is essential to satisfy basic clothing needs. Under Anshu's leadership, Goonj has taken ever-growing urban waste and used it as a tool to trigger development work on diverse issues in remote areas of India.

Cloth for Work

Under Goonj's initiative 'Cloth for Work', village communities across India work on their issues and get urban material for their efforts. The focus is on dignity and how cloth can help defend that dignity. Cloth for Work and other Goonj initiatives have received various national and international recognition.[5] Goonj helps victims during natural calamities such as floods and earthquakes.[6]

He is popularly known as the clothing man of India for his achievement bringing clothing into the map of development work.[7]

In "Cloth for Work", villagers dig wells, clean ponds, repair roads, and build schools using local resources. They are compensated with material resources including clothing, utensils, furniture, and grain.[8][9] The initiative became referred to as 'Dignity for Work'.[10]

Not Just a Piece of Cloth

Anshu initiated the "Not Just a Piece of Cloth" campaign after the 2004 tsunami. According to him, "we dealt with more than 100 tracks of post-disaster cloth wastage on the roads of Tamil Nadu. The unwearable cloth from this lot was turned into cloth menstrual pads ...".[8]

Rahat

An earthquake in Uttarkashi triggered Gupta's involvement with disaster relief and rehabilitation. For nearly two decades, he has been working on disasters from earthquakes to tsunamis, cyclones, and floods. Goonj's initiative "Rahat" evolved into an active network of stakeholders in rural and urban India, ensuring timely response for generating need-based disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts.[11]

Recognition

References
  1. Rout, Srinibas (29 July 2015). "10 things to know about Magsaysay award winner Anshu Gupta of Goonj". Business Standard India. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  2. "Meet The Man Who Has Changed The Way We Look at Giving". www.readersdigest.in. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  3. SINHA, PRASHANT (16 August 2014). ""The Clothing Man", Interview with Anshu Gupta, Founder – Goonj". InsideIIM. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  4. Gupta, Anshu (September 2017), Giving it Forward, retrieved 27 January 2022
  5. "Anshu Gupta: Changed the culture of giving in India". The Indian Express. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  6. Rout, Srinibas (29 July 2015). "10 things to know about Magsaysay award winner Anshu Gupta of Goonj". Business Standard India. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  7. Goldapple, Lisa (1 March 2021). "India's 'Clothing Man' goes beyond cloth". Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  8. "Anshu Gupta – Goonj Founder Who Taught India The Joy Of Giving". 3 October 2016.
  9. "Donation is About the Receiver's Dignity: Magsaysay Award-Winner Anshu Gupta". NDTV. 29 July 2015.
  10. "'What matters most is the will and intent to do good'". Tata Trusts. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  11. S, Kishan Rao A. (30 June 2020). "Dignity, Not Charity: How Goonj's Three-Point Plan Is Transforming Relief Measures In Crisis-Hit Areas". thelogicalindian.com. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  12. Jatin Anand and Kritika Sharma Sebastian (29 July 2015). "Sanjeev Chaturvedi, Anshu Gupta win Ramon Magsaysay Award". The Hindu.
  13. Foundation, Ramon Magsaysay Award. "2015 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees Announced". RMAF. Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  14. "Real Heroes Awards Given to Ashoka Fellows | Ashoka | Everyone a Changemaker". www.ashoka.org. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  15. Aditi (13 November 2012). "Goonj wins 'social entrepreneur' award". The HIndu.
  16. "Anshu Gupta". IdeaFestival - Stay Curious. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  17. "AIMA Public Service Excellence Award". www.aima.in. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  18. Foundation, Marico Innovation. "New-age Innovators and Change-makers of India Recognised at the 7th Edition of Marico Innovation Foundation Awards". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
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