Pandemic crisis: 16-year-old twins work for employment, sustainable environment

Aarush and Rushil, students at Strawberry High School, will receive the Commendation Certificate on Independence Day. During the peak of COVID-19, the 16-year-old twins set up House of Udyog, a recycled clothing start-up to create a source of income for people to help them sustain their families and create an environmentally sustainable brand. The unique initiative focused on providing work opportunities here so that people would not be forced back to their villages. Recently the House of Udyog won the third prize at the international Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition, in 2021, in Germany, under the Best project 2021 in youth category.

Aarush and Rushil took the initiative to work towards preserving the environment and maintaining sustainability, through their project. Two years back, at the peak of Covid-19 pandemic, the twin brothers made up their minds to work for the betterment of society. They said, “During such tough times, people were losing their jobs, and our environment was also degrading day by day. So we thought we could work towards something that would address both”. They researched on how to open a small scale business which is entirely eco-friendly. According to the United Nations Sustainable Development, it has to sustain 17 goals. Of these17 goals, the brothers focused on goal 1: to curtail poverty, goal 8: decent work and economic growth and goal 12: responsible consumption and production.

“Another goal was to work for the Make in India initiative, so we started re-using the fabric and made hoodies and t-shirts out of it. There is no use of chemicals and it promotes sustainability of the object”.

The brothers researched, travelled from one city to another to find sustainable material, and artisans who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Thereafter, they started a fundraiser for the start-up in which they achieved well beyond the goal, with Rs 57,000 for their small-scale business.