Kranti Leading It’S Young People Into An Era Of Change And Victory.

Kranti is an organisation founded by ex Lieutenant Robin Chaurasiya and a few other remarkable people. Robin Chaurasiya is an Indian who was based in the Unites States Of America, she was given a scholarship by the airforce which would require her to serve them for four years on completion of her undergraduate degree. She says that she wanted to be a fighter pilot since she was 16 years of age. However, Robin was asked to leave the force upon them receiving knowledge of her being a lesbian. There was also a strange policy- “ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Which was okay with queer personnel serving but not carrying out explicit activities or be open and public about it. So when Robin was vocal, questioning and standing up for herself she lost her place in the airforce. Robin began teaching after being forced to leave the US Air Force because of her sexuality. She says that when she entered college she learnt more about herself, a democratic lesbian and found her losing her appeal towards the military. People were very cold and said harsh things such as “ good riddance “ and “ go back to your country “, etc. The discrimination towards a woman of colour who was also a member of the lgbtq community did not do her any favours so her life in the Air Force became history.

Robin Chaurasiya, always found comfort in serving people so she worked for a lot of NGOs around the world. During one of her NGO services she was brought to Mumbai, India precisely to the red light area or Kamathipura, one of Asia’s largest community of sex workers and human trafficking. She found herself longing to help the young ones of that place, the children of the sex workers, children who were just born and raised there or children who were trafficked.

She founded Kranti which essentially means revolution in Hindi, was an organisation targeted for the upliftment of the children that they rescued. She faced many difficulties trying to find lodging or a home for them and she says that her sexuality wasn’t helping either, because Indians are not open to the possibility of such things falling in the light, these things are expected to be hidden and kept a secret and we are expected to pretend like they do not exist.

Indians tolerated the community but were most definitely not open to it, they did not welcome it. They crossed over many hardships just to find housing. School was also another tough task as no one was willing to admit a child with no father or a child who didn’t own a birth certificate for age proof. Moreover the girls had to be assessed on their knowledge level to give them education from where they stopped or start from where it is needed. The children too found it difficult to break the social norms and keep a positive attitude, the children were bullied, called names and looked at with the stereotype of them not being able to achieve anything in life

Here is where Kranti comes into play and does what it was started out to do, to empower young children and adults to face anything the society throws at them. It teaches them to stand up in a place where they are not expected to, they are taught basic things and intricate things towards which their interests lie. They are encouraged to follow their dreams which they weren’t allowed to have to start off with because of their history. Although those students were filled with potential and were meant to fly. Kranti students have led workshops for more than 100,000 participants and delivered 11 TEDx talks around the world.

Robin says “ Where the world sees a lost cause, I see revolutionary leaders.”
Robin Chaurasiya was nominated for the global teachers award for the thoughtful and risky organisation that she took up and fought to build. On the 17th of February, Stephen Hawking announced the Top 10 Global Teacher Prize finalists. The ten finalists are truly incredible and inspiring. Among the finalists was India’s proud representative, Robin Chaurasiya.

Robin signs off saying, “Given the right opportunities Sex workers are an asset to the country instead of a burden. They are really very powerful survivors of everything”.