Interview with Aditya Challa, Volunteer from One Billion Votes campaign

1) How did you get to know of Janaagraha?

I, first heard out about Janaagraha from a friend (Aditi Tandon) who interned here. I decided to take a break from the corporate world to get a better understanding of the development sector in India. At this time, Jasmine (OBV Coordinator), who is a friend from college, contacted me and told me about the work Janaagraha does and in particular about the OBV campaign.

2) What kind of work do you do here?

I work with Jasmine, on the OneBillionVotes campaign. My work involves getting Media coverage for the campaign – TV, Radio, Print and Internet. For this, I have been talking to various media houses like Network18, India Today, Hindustan Times, Hindu, Star Group, etc. This has been particularly fruitful experience. As part of this campaign, we are conducting a national youth survey to get a credible social research on the political, electoral and civic behaviour of urban youth. The volunteer incharge of this has finished her stint with Janaagraha, and since then I have been monitoring the progress of the survey.

3) Are you enjoying it? Is it educational?

I have tried to understand what the various groups in Janaagraha work on, and where possible do a bit of reading. This has allowed me to get a better idea of the development sector. The library in Janaagraha has been useful for this purpose.