>PearBOT II at 10:23, 6 April 2021

2021-04-06T10:23:57Z

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{{short description|Indian social entrepreneur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anshu Gupta
| image = Anshu Gupta (8).jpg
| alt =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| occupation = Founder Director, Goonj
| education = Indian Institute of Mass Communication
| alma_mater = Indian Institute of Mass Communications, New Delhi
| known_for = Founder and director of [[Goonj (NGO)|Goonj]]
| spouse = Meenakshi Gupta
| awards = [[Ramon Magsaysay Award]] <br/>Ashoka Fellowship <br/> ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year' Award by [[Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship]]
}}

'''Anshu Gupta''' is an [[India|Indian]] [[Social entrepreneurship|social entrepreneur]] who founded [[Goonj (NGO)|Goonj]],<ref name="Anju gupta reference1">{{cite news |last1=Rout |first1=Srinibas |title=10 things to know about Magsaysay award winner Anshu Gupta of Goonj |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/10-things-to-know-about-magsaysay-award-winner-anshu-gupta-of-goonj-115072900365_1.html |access-date=30 March 2021 |publisher=Business Standard India |date=29 July 2015}}</ref> a [[non-governmental organisation]] (NGO) headquartered in [[Delhi]].

Gupta is an [[Ashoka Fellow|Ashoka fellow]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Anshu Gupta, Ashoka Fellow |url = http://india.ashoka.org/fellow/anshu-gupta | website = Ashoka | accessdate = 2015-08-12| first = Ashoka | last =Fellow}}</ref> and was conferred with "Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award" by [[Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship]] in 2012.<ref name="SocialAward">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/goonj-wins-social-entrepreneur-award/article4093487.ece |title=Goonj wins 'social entrepreneur' award |author= Aditi |date=2012-11-13 |newspaper= The HIndu }}</ref> He won the [[Ramon Magsaysay Award]] in 2015.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sanjiv-chaturvedi-anshu-gupta-win-ramon-magsaysay-award/article7476975.ece|title=Sanjeev Chaturvedi, Anshu Gupta win Ramon Magsaysay Award|author=Jatin Anand and Kritika Sharma Sebastian|date=2015-07-29|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://www.rmaf.org.ph/newrmaf/main/community/announcement/page/1/view/59|title=2015 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees Announced|last=Foundation|first=Ramon Magsaysay Award|website=RMAF|accessdate=2015-07-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731202145/http://www.rmaf.org.ph/newrmaf/main/community/announcement/page/1/view/59|archive-date=31 July 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Early life ==

Born in [[Meerut]], Gupta spent his initial years in [[Chakrata]], [[Banbasa]] smaller towns of [[Uttarakhand]] and [[Bareilly]], [[Uttar Pradesh]] as his father got postings in his job with Indian Army's [[Military Engineer Services]] (MES).

Anshu is the eldest of four siblings in a middle-class family from [[Dehradun]].<ref name="Anju gupta reference1" /> A road accident at the end of Class 12 rendered him bed-ridden – botched healthcare because his father refused to pay a bribe has left him with a lifelong pain when he stands for too long – but the yearlong confinement in bed served as a period for reading and introspection.<ref name="Anju gupta reference1" /> Even then, he started contributing to household expenses by writing articles for [[Hindi]] newspapers.<ref name="Anju gupta reference1" /> He holds a Masters's in economics and a double major in journalism and mass communications. As a graduate student, he traveled to Uttarkashi in North India in 1991 to help with relief efforts after a devastating earthquake in the region. This was his first real exposure to the scale of problems of India's rural masses.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/10-things-to-know-about-magsaysay-award-winner-anshu-gupta-of-goonj-115072900365_1.html |title=10 things to know about Magsaysay award winner Anshu Gupta of Goonj |date=2015-07-25 |newspaper= Business Standard }}</ref>

== Projects ==

After working in the corporate sector for some time, he started [[Goonj (NGO)|Goonj]] in 1999, with his wife Meenakshi Gupta<ref name="Anshu Reference1" /> and a few friends, to work on the basic need of clothing, an issue that does not have a place in the development agenda. Using cloth as a metaphor for other crucial but ignored needs like sanitary pads for menses or school material for education, for the last 18 years, under Gupta's leadership [[Goonj (NGO)|Goonj]] has taken the growing urban waste and used it as a tool to trigger development work on diverse issues; roads, water, environment, education, health, etc. in backward and remote pockets of [[India]]. Under [[Goonj (NGO)|Goonj's]] flagship initiative ‘Cloth for Work’ village communities across India work on their own issues and get the urban material as a reward for their efforts. Cloth for work and all other initiatives of Goonj have received various, national and international, awards and accolades.<ref name="IE_changed_2015">{{cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/magsaysay-award-winner-anshu-gupta-changed-the-culture-of-giving-in-india/ |title=Anshu Gupta: Changed the culture of giving in India |date=2015-07-30 |newspaper=Indian Express }}</ref>

It was a visit to Khooni Darwaza in [[Delhi]],with a person who collects dead bodies of homeless or unidentified persons called "body collector" that he got idea of ‘Work for Cloth’.<ref name="Anju gupta reference1" /> As he followed with the man to collect an unidentified body at [[Khooni Darwaza]],he observed that the man was wearing nothing but a thin cotton shirt and was severely suffering with cold. This incident prompted Gupta to realise that one of the needs of humanity being clothing,for poor is often overlooked and in the year 1999 he quit his corporate job to start [[Goonj (NGO)|Goonj]],with 67 pieces of clothing that he and his wife collected.<ref name="Anju gupta reference1" /> However,as he felt charity deprives the people of self respect hence he did not want to give the clothes as an act of charity and the concept of "cloth for work" introduced. Goonj also helps to bridge the gap between victims during natural calamities like flood,earthquake with donors by participating in disaster relief,humanitarian aid and community development.<ref name="Anju gupta reference1" />

He is popularly known as "clothing man of India",for his mission of bringing ignored basics like clothing into the mapping of development work.<ref name="Anshu Reference1">{{cite news |last1=Goldapple |first1=Lisa |title=India's 'Clothing Man' goes beyond cloth |url=https://atlasofthefuture.org/project/goonj/ |access-date=30 March 2021 |date=1 March 2021 |ref=Atlas of the Future}}</ref>

=== Cloth for Work===
"Cloth for Work" (CFW) has evolved two new currencies of development – material, and labor. Under this initiative, [[Goonj (NGO)|Goonj]] works with partners and communities to identify infrastructural improvements that need to be undertaken in the villages. Villagers then work to dig wells, clean ponds, repair roads, and build schools in the community using local resources and their own wisdom, for which they are compensated with material resources like clothing, utensils, furniture, and food grains.<ref name="KnowYourStar">{{cite news |url=http://www.knowyourstar.com/anshu-gupta-goonj/ |title=Anshu Gupta – Goonj Founder Who Taught India The Joy Of Giving |date=2016-10-03 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/donation-is-about-the-receivers-dignity-magsaysay-award-winner-anshu-gupta-1201751|title=Donation is About the Receiver's Dignity: Magsaysay Award-Winner Anshu Gupta| date=2015-07-29 |newspaper= NDTV}}</ref>

=== Not Just a Piece of Cloth===

Gupta initiated the "Not Just a Piece of Cloth" (NJPC) campaign after the 2004 tsunami. According to Gupta, "... we dealt with more than 100 tracks of post-disaster cloth wastage on the roads of Tamil Nadu. The unwearable cloth from this lot was turned into [[cloth menstrual pad]]s ...".<ref name="KnowYourStar" />

== Awards and recognition ==

*2004: Ashoka and Schwab Fellowship<ref name="Anshu Reference1" />.<ref name="KnowYourStar" />
*2012: Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award by [[Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship]].<ref name="SocialAward" />
*2012:Forbes magazine listed Gupta as one of India's most powerful rural entrepreneurs.<ref name="Anju gupta reference1" />
*2015: [[Ramon Magsaysay Award]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{RMA winners of India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Anshu}}
[[Category:Indian male social workers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Delhi]]
[[Category:Indian social entrepreneurs]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesspeople]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Ashoka India Fellows]]

Anshu Gupta - Revision history

>PearBOT II at 10:23, 6 April 2021