COVID Battle: Young India Leads the Way

The pandemic has been a challenging time for everyone around the world. With cases rising every day and hospitals getting overcrowded with patients, there was a lot of assistance required. In this time, Dhruv Jatti, along with the Bangalore Student Community, came into action.

Dhruv Jatti is a final year student of B.A. (Hons.) Global Affairs at JGU. Along with the Bangalore Student Community, he started his work on 12th May and was able to touch the lives of many people. The Bangalore Student Community is a group of students from various colleges who have come together to help daily wage migrants who have been stranded in Bangalore for months. By raising to 3 lakhs and donating 536 beds to COVID centres, the community did numerous things and revealed the deep impact COVID-19 has had on our country.

Indian migrant workers have had to face a shedload of adversities due to the lockdown imposed on the country. With factories and workplaces being shut down, millions of them lost their source of income and have had to deal with food paucity. When asked about the most daunting part of having worked with migrant workers, Dhruv spoke widely regarding the uncertainties they had to face about their future. They are on the horns of a dilemma. There were times when migrants would show up to their departure venue earlier than expected. Many of them had to wait for days to catch a train, despite having run out of shelters to stay in. There was a migrant shelter where people were packed inside a room, not being able to exit due to security reasons. The unhygienic surroundings were appalling and saddening.

Dhruv received a mixed reaction from family and friends over putting his health at stake on the daily. People advised him and educated him about how dangerous it is outside and some were even against it, but the satisfaction of completing tasks made it all worth it. This selfless act of risking his life during these trying times paid off.

He had a very humble take on the situation. He believes that nothing can be achieved personally in this line of work other than a sense of satisfaction post performing such public-spirited acts. The reinforcement from his fellow peers and donors was the key factor in their performance. “There were days where I would wake up to thousands of water bottles outside my house from anonymous donors”, says Dhruv.

Dhruv believes that there is no concrete success in this field of work. It all lies on us contributing to our fullest when others are in need and remaining content with it. Student-run initiatives have been vital for the community during the pandemic. The energy, passion, and vigour that the youth of India present while working passionately towards the betterment of the society sets a seal on India’s future.

We salute fighters like Dhruv, working day and night beyond their dimensions to help the society.

“If your thoughts are pure, you can do anything you want to. That’s what I’ve come to believe.”