HYDERABAD: Juggling things comes easy to Venkatesh Geriti. He divides his time between Cologne, Germany, his current workplace and India. He’s an IT professional, but is better known for being an inspiring youth leader who has spearheaded many anti-corruption crusades.
This year, he has been awarded Karmaveer Chakra Award and Global Fellowship by the International Confederation of NGOs (IANGO) and the United Nations (UN). He will be conferred upon the same at Rex National Conclave conference in New Delhi being held from November 25 to 27. When asked about how he juggles between Europe and Asia, he replies, “European work culture gives great flexibility of time. Hence, I can contribute to the tasks demanded for running our organisation in India. It gives me enough scope to coordinate with the team whose members are from development sector, advocacy groups and activists.”
The 28-year-old has conducted various awareness sessions and training programmes on the political system, policies, liberal democracy, transparency and accountability, civil liberties, entrepreneurship education, and public policy.
He was one of the co-founders of ‘Youth for Better India’, an anti corruption youth foundation supporting veteran-activist Anna Hazare’s movement. He says, “My father who was involved in village-level nation building has inspired me to take up activism.
The life and times of APJ Abdul Kalam are also my perennial inspiration. A youth seminar on ‘politics and the role of youth’ by Jayaparakash Narayan in Nellore completely changed my perspective.” On future plans, he shares, “We are going to focus on digital activism and advocacy with values based on liberty, liberal democracy and market-based economy.” He also plans to launch a campaign for the rights of street vendors, low taxes and agricultural reforms.