National Youth Day: These Youngsters Quit Their Jobs for a Cause

The Quint brings you a list of young Indians who left their well paid jobs for a social cause.

A job is a job. It may give you a sense of certainty in life, but it does not come without its own set of rules.

However, there are some people who say ‘enough is enough’, and go ahead to follow their passion. Whether it is giving it back to the society, or working for a social cause, here are some people who left their high-paying jobs to take the road less traveled.

So, on National Youth Day The Quint brings you the stories of some of the most inspiring Indian youngsters.

An engineering graduate from Gogte Institute of Technology, Sourabh Potdar joined the SBI Youth for India programme with an aim to make rural India clean, healthy and prosperous.

Potdar worked extensively in rural areas for the welfare of hearing and speech-impaired artists who did not have basic amenities, to help their artworks attain recognition.

24-year-old Roman Saini, who cracked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) entrance test at the age of 16, and the coveted civil services exam at 22, quit his job from the IAS.

He started an online initiative called “Unacademy” with his friend Gaurav Munjal which offers free tutorials to civil services aspirants.

After working with multi-national companies like Infosys and Oracle, Bangalore girl Sunayana Chatrapathy wanted to do something that would make this world a better place.

Like most others in this story, she decided to pursue a cause. Today, she works in a tribal school teaching children English, apart from helping them with e-learning.

Thousands of people yearn to get into the prestigious Indian Institute of Management. But not everyone is like Shuvajit Payne.

This IIM graduate left his well-paying job in London. Why? He wanted to teach English to children in villages. Shuvajit’s main aim was to educate children, so that they are able to earn a living from an alternate income source, other than farming.

After graduating with a specialisation in Journalism from Mumbai, Upasana Makati had a scholarship that took her to Canada. Instead of continuing with a well-paying job at a PR agency on returning, Upasana had plans to change the world.

Her dream of being able to make the visually-impaired read, made her quit the job and start WhitePrint, India’s first English magazine in Braille.

Shriya Rangarajan left the comforts of the western world to showcase the talent of rural women, helping them make ends meet.

A graduate from the University of Illinois, USA, Shriya now trains tribal women create paper-based quilling jewellery and helps connect them with retailers.

From a biotech researcher to a social worker, Delhi-based Vandana Maurya left her job at a multinational law firm to improve the unhealthy living standards of the people of Jawahar, a rural hamlet in Thane.

Having worked with the United States Air Force, Robin Chaurasiya overcame challenges after she devoted herself to work for the empowerment of the marginalised girls of Mumbai’s red-light areas.

Robin is a queer-identified individual, and has volunteered to work with the NGO Kranti.

We all love to travel. But how many of us would travel through rural areas and document the social issues of this country?

Piyush Goswami and Akshatha Shetty left their lucrative jobs for a cause. They have documented stories from all across India, faced numerous difficulties and traversed most states.