Naga Sravan Kilaru recently won the highest award in the
country given to youth for ‘active citizenship’.
Twenty-four-year-old Naga Sravan Kilaru from Vijayawada
firmly believes that ‘a democracy which is not participatory is not a democracy
at all.’
Sravan was like anyone else around him during his teenage
years. But his journey into politics and active participation in the democratic
process started after a brief meeting with Anna Hazare. And today, Sravan finds
himself working arduously towards youth involvement in government policies and
holding lawmakers responsible.
Kilaru Naga Sravan, has been striving hard for youth to get
involved in politics since 2014 through various campaigns and workshops. He has
been selected for the prestigious ‘National Youth Award’ recently. Ministry of
Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India distributes this award every year
for people who work hard for the upliftment of youth in a country’s
development.
He regularly conducts ‘Mock Parliaments’ to explain youth
about how it runs. He is also working on ‘Young Parliamentarian’ initiative to
engage more people to take up politics. He said that there is only 2 percent of
people aged below 30 were representing parliament
This year, the award distributed on National Youth
Day (January 12, 2018) at National Youth Festival at Jaipur, Rajasthan. Sravan
also participated in the United Nations Youth Assembly recently and discussed
the importance of youth in politics. He represented India in many youth
activities all over the world.
He filed many RTI requests to save people’s money. “I
completed my Engineering in Bengaluru. There was a 20-acre lake beside my
college and it was forgotten. I went to that lake and found that the officials
used the funds of the lake to build a shopping complex. Then I filed an RTI
application to know whereabouts of the funds. Later, the officials started
cleaning the lake,” he shared.
He regularly conducts ‘Mock Parliaments’ to explain youth
about how it runs. He is also working on ‘Young Parliamentarian’ initiative to
engage more people to take up politics. He said that there is only 2 percent of
people aged below 30 were representing parliament.
He concluded, “The State and Central Governments must set up
the‘State and National Youth Counsels’ to indulge youth in politics. Youth
involvement in government policies helps the countries development,”
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