KADIRI RAGHU VAMSI | FOUNDER
Kadiri Raghu Vamsi, popularly known as the Environment Man, is the Founder of the Marpu Foundation. One of India’s leading social entrepreneurs, Raghu, brings the ideology to create new solutions, because he says, "if existing solutions are already successful, then the problem must have been solved, and it's not, so we need more new ideas into reality". India's Noble, the prestigious chakra award 2019, conferred on him credited him for his creative vision towards empowering citizens to be socially responsible, his enterprising leadership in environmental protection, sustainable development research and social related issues made him a successful youth activist, environmentalist and a dynamic entrepreneur.
Founder's Story
His father retired from the armed forces after over two decades of service when he was fourteen. Living in the cantonment essentially meant growing up in terrains flanked by woods, hills, and rivers, which forged an emotional and spiritual connection with nature in the early years of his life. Post his retirement, when he moved out to Hyderabad, a modern growth-oriented city in India, it was quite a culture shock. This city was built with concrete, roads filled with traffic, and air replete with carbon emissions. Adapting proved even more difficult because, at home, he felt claustrophobic, limited within the boundaries of four walls and no trace of green. When he whined about this to his father, he said, “If you don’t like something, change it.”
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His nudge culminated in the formation of the Marpu Foundation (‘marpu’ translates to ‘change’ in his mother tongue, Telugu). Marpu has been a step in the right direction. Today the Marpu Foundation has more than a million volunteers working towards the vision. Marpu has also been awarded by many affiliations and recognized as the "Best NGO in India".