Walk to Make India Child Begging Free
A 29-year-old Ashish Sharma quit his job in August 2017, to start a 17,000 km walk with an aim to rescue all the child beggars and make India child begging free. His determination towards the cause kept him going despite being abducted once, affected by jaundice and getting mugged as he traversed the different states of India.
Holding an Indian flag in one hand and a heavy backpack on his shoulder, Ashish Sharma keeps his spirits high by shouting “Jai Hind!” after every few kilometres. On his way, he stopped at schools, colleges, tea stalls, and metro coaches to educate people about child beggars. He managed to meet the actor Rajnikanth and his wife Latha and garnered support for his ‘Duayen Foundation’ by tying up with Latha Rajinikanth’s NGO – ‘Shree Dayaa Foundation’ which aims at protecting children from domestic and emotional abuse, trafficking and exploitation.
Taking off on a journey to fulfil late APJ Abdul Kalam’s dream of every child of India going to school by 2020, Ashish has vowed to bring the attention of state governments and citizens on the issue. Ashish’s ‘Duayen Foundation’ has also made a mobile application which helps people get in touch with responsible authorities when they see a child beggar on the street.
The app will be connected to various institutes like NGOs, hospitals, schools and government departments. Currently, the app is being used by four to five of Ashish’s friends as a part of a pilot survey. It will be unofficially launched in the country in the first week of April or May with a hope to get it officially launched by the Prime Minister of the country.
Ashish’s next big project is to open a school in every railway station across the country – where the most number of child-beggars or trafficked children can be spotted. He aims to involve the railway minister, the women & child development minister and the home minister in this project.
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