“By knowing my Why (Purpose) in life, I began my journey to pursue it while pursuing my Engineering. I understood certain gaps in the education system was a fundamental problem for all the issues in India.
I considered changing the education methodologies with a pedagogical model by establishing a Startup. That’s how I ventured into a Master’s in Cognitive Science program (University of Hyderabad) to learn the psychology of students. But, later, I realized we needed a change at the Policymaking level to see the real impact on the education system.

Life is filled with uncertainties; due to the changing circumstances, I have taken up a job as an Organizational Psychologist. But my passion for bringing change in India did not leave me. As I was trying to understand the crux of India’s journey, I learned that we are going through multiple serious problems apart from education, such as Unemployment, the Health care system, Poverty, environmental damage, inequality of Income, etc.

To build the next 75 years and solve the system’s deeply rooted problems, we, the Millennials and GenZ, must get into politics and work for change in the locality where we live. As with this responsibility, I took a break from my professional role and entered into politics to contest as an independent candidate.
We aspire to bring grass root level change through two pathways in democracy – Community service and Politics. But unlike the first one, the second pathway is our less traveled route. Now, it’s high time to bridge the gap between two pathways.

We, the citizens, have the right to vote, so we can also make policies for problems that concern us. To experience “Of the people, By the people, and For the people,” we need true participatory democracy in the constituency to safeguard our rights and progressive society.
I am hopeful to learn from this Political plunge and contribute positively to society for a progressive India. I believe taking a plunge is not always a foolish thing, but it may be a cautiously chosen step sometimes.”

• Featuring Akarsh Sriramoju, organizational psychologist and aspiring politician