Jabir Karat
Jabir Karat is an Indian social entrepreneur who founded Green Worms, a waste-management enterprise based in the state of Kerala. Green Worms works towards providing sustainable and scientific waste management solutions in India.[1]. Since 2014, Jabir and his team have succeeded in minimizing waste generation, maximizing waste recovery and recycling, while upholding the dignity of rag-pickers and sanitation workers.
Early Life[edit]
Jabir was born to Muhammad, a daily wage laborer, and Ramla, a home-maker, on the 1st of May, 1990. He was born in the village of Puduppady, which lies in the Kozhikode district of Kerala[2]. He completed his schooling under trying circumstances in Puduppady itself, before enrolling in a local college. However, he obtained a scholarship to study at Delhi University, due to which he shifted to the National Capital. He completed his B.A. and M.A. in History from Zakir Hussain and Ramjas colleges respectively.
Exposure to Waste-Management[edit]
It was while he was in graduate school that Jabir was chosen for the Gandhi Fellowship, organised by the Kaivalya Foundation. The Gandhi Fellowship took him across slums in Mumbai, as part of a collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. It was during his time in Mumbai that Jabir was exposed to the gravity of the waste-management problem in India[3]. In 2014, Jabir interned at the famous Solid and Liquid Resource Management Centre in Coimbatore, under the guidance of Vellore Srinivasan. After his stint with Srinivasan, Jabir realised that social enterprise could potentially create long-lasting impact in the waste management sector.
Green Worms[edit]
Jabir took to social entrepreneurship full-time when he started Green Worms in November, 2014 in his home district of Kozhikode. Green Worms was formed with the objective of tackling solid waste-management problems through project implementation, innovation, sustainability and advocacy. Green Worms envisions a world with zero-waste, where resources are used efficiently and effectively[4]. Jabir, and the Green Worms team work on multiple projects to fulfill the Green Worms mission. This includes projects like dry-waste collection, waste-auditing, waste-literacy training, zero-waste events and sustainable product destruction[5]. Green Worms now operates in five districts of northern Kerala, and owns three plastic recycling units with a workforce of more than 150 people, manages 35 metric tonnes of waste in a day, serving 3.5 lakh households and more than 1000 commercial establishments. Jabir's novel initiative of ‘Zero Waste Events' has been widely recognized throughout the country, with more and more Indian event managers adopting it. Apart from this, he and his team have been instrumental in conducting several workshops and waste literacy programmes in educational institutions, disseminating their knowledge to students on the different types of waste, segregation, recycling and composting[6].
Awards and Recognition[edit]
Jabir has spoken at various prestigious forums and panels on waste management in India. He has given multiple TEDx talks, bringing to light the issue of poor waste-management in India. Jabir is an advisor to the Kozhikode District administration, and a resource person for many government programmes like the Haritha Kerala Mission and Suchithwa Mission. For his work, he was awarded the Kerala State Youth Award, by the Government of Kerala. Green Worms too has been recognized with multiple accolades. The company is a case study under the Swachh Bharat mission, and has also been selected for the AIM Smart City Accelerator Programme.
Jabir works actively to promote the cause of social entrepreneurship. Apart from Green Worms, Jabir mentors upcoming social enterprises in Kerala as well as alumni from Delhi University and the Gandhi Fellowship. Jabir was selected as a facilitator on the Jagriti Yatra in 2018, as part of which he undertook a 5000 mile train journey across India, which brought together more than 450 young social entrepreneurs[7]
References[edit]
- ↑ https://www.ndtv.com/jobs/i-am-a-ragpicker-i-collect-waste-inspiring-journey-of-a-delhi-university-post-graduate-1757373
- ↑ https://www.thebetterindia.com/48340/meet-jabir-karat-man-on-a-mission-to-manage-kerala-waste-green-worms/
- ↑ http://www.greenworms.org/
- ↑ http://www.greenworms.org/
- ↑ https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kozhikode/wasting-no-effort-to-manage-garbage/article8036119.ece
- ↑ https://www.sayingtruth.com/meet-this-man-on-a-mission-to-manage-keralas-waste-jabir-karat/
- ↑ http://www.jagritiyatra.com/
External links[edit]
- TEDx talk in 2018, "How to hold environmentally responsible weddings and parties", [1]
- TEDx talk in 2019, "Waste management- a new perspective", [2]
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