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lessons

to lAst A

lifetiMe

Upasana Negi had to resort to
innovative measures to convince
residents of Dhalai district in
Tripura to build and use toilets,
and in the process learnt lessons
that have proved to be life-
changing

educational psychology at the University
of Calcutta.
Soon after completing her master’s degree
in comparative literature at the University
of Jadavpur, she was selected for the Gandhi
Fellowship. The two-year stint entailed honing
leadership skills of teachers and bridging the
Working through gap between the community and educational
difficult work situations has institutions at Nagar Prathmik Shikshan Samiti
been a learning, which will schools in Surat, Gujarat.
Towards the end of the fellowship, the
benefit me in all stages and 29-year-old from Siliguri applied for the Zila
situations in life.” Swachh Bharat Prerak (ZSBP) programme.
“I acted as a liaison with the government and
Upasana Negi,
prerak, Dhalai, Tripura other stakeholders as a Gandhi fellow. ZSBP
gave me a similar platform and an opportunity
to interact with the community,” says Upasana.

GROUND REALITIES
Upasana soon realised that working in the
u pasana Negi realised compact urbanised city environs of Surat was
a cakewalk as compared to working in Dhalai,
her calling in life quite
early. She wanted to work in the largest district in Tripura. It was only the
the social development sector, which led to start of a journey of revelations.
her volunteering to teach slum children with The first challenge that confronted
Responsible Charity in Kolkata in 2010, even Upasana on reaching Dhalai was getting
as she managed undergraduate studies in used to travel across hilly, forested terrain to

10 TATA WATER MISSION - A Tata Trusts Initiative