From Free Tuitions To A Social Campaign: How One Man Inspired A Team Of Underprivileged Kids To Clean Up Delhi's Garbage

Delhi: Once located along the outer reaches of Delhi, the industrial belt of Wazirpur — in what is today part of the capital's Northwest district — resembled every other industrial small-town in the Gangetic plains. Grey, monochromatic sky above; with brown, monochromatic, unplastered, semi-finished, open-brick constructions below, jostling with each other across narrow, dusty lanes that are often overflowing with garbage and sewerage, a far cry from even the nearby residential neighbourhoods of Shalimar Bagh and Model Town, which have prominent green cover, in a city that is one of India's greenest metros.

Until recently. Now, there's change on the ground. And this is all down to one man. In 2018, social activist Vinay Das began working with children from migrant working class families whose parents had come to Delhi for work and live in rented accommodations nearby. Today, his burgeoning team of 1,600 children have cleaned up around 250 neighbourhood parks and streets, street-corners, intersections, and roadsides, removing piles of garbage and planting saplings in these areas as replacement.

Every Sunday, this army of children hit the streets, wearing gloves and masks, carrying shovels and brooms and sacks, slowly and unobtrusively effecting change on the ground.

The Seed: Free Tuitions For Underprivileged Kids

It didn't begin with a cleanliness drive, though. Vinay began his journey by providing free tuitions to poor children in the neighbourhood, in 2013. Even today, he teaches and guides around 300 children, including some who are pursuing their Master's degrees.

“From the beginning, I noticed that the slums where most of the children live, as well as Wazirpur, where I live, were very dirty, with piles of garbage in the parks rising up to 12-15 ft. It was critical to educate the children and raise their awareness. Accordingly, we started a cleanliness campaign on September 1, 2018, with a team of 150 children. On the very first day, we collected debris from 150 rickshaws, scooters, and bikes in a park, in which children now play,” said the social worker.

Immediately after he had completed his education, Vinay had received an offer to join a semi-private university as a lecturer, which would have made him financially secure today. Instead, he started working among the underprivileged.

The Sapling: A Sanitation Drive In Delhi's Heartland

Today, of the 1,600 children who are part of his projects, 350 are actively involved, working in groups of 40-50 to clean up, while others are involved in other activities. After a week of school, they line up to clean garbage vats or the banks of the Yamuna River nearby, and plant trees where the garbage mound once stood.

His work hasn't gone unnoticed. Wazirpur MLA Poonam Sharma said Vinay's work is commendable, that the children have taught the adults something new. “In future, every Delhite will be impressed by their work. As an elected representative, it's my duty to provide all possible assistance to them,” said the BJP legislator.

Recently, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta shared Vinay's Instagram page on her social media handle. Encouraged, Vinay is now preparing to apply for the "Mann Ki Baat" programme, hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign), Vinay's team cleans up all kinds of waste and disposes of it properly. This includes green waste, debris, wet and dry waste, and also the idols of gods left by people on the roadside or under peepul trees. His team collects these idols and immerses them in artificial ponds or large tanks.

Vinay says that as a Hindu, it saddens him to see people discarding idols of gods this way. “It seems people treat peepul trees as old age home for their deities. That's why, we've started writing on peepul trees: "This is a peepul tree, not God's old age home." This message has begun resonating with many people.

The Tree: A Free Lending Library

Vinay's father worked as a peon at a police station in Delhi. He passed away a few years ago. Vinay himself lives in a rented 8x8 ft room in Wazirpur with his wife, two children, and mother.

Recalling his childhood, Vinay said he has two brothers and three sisters. They all lived in a similar small room. The memory of that hardship made him begin teaching the slums children. He has even opened a free library in a rented house nearby, which the slum children can use as a study, and also play educational games.

Already, the children he has taught are studying in universities, and carrying forward his work, teaching more young children.

The Forest: Recognition Through Social Media

Shruti, who has been associated with Vinay's sanitation campaign since 2019, says Vinay used to teach her when she was in Class XI. Today, she has completed her MA. “Initially, our work was limited to Wazirpur. But in the last few years, we started posting on social media, which gave us recognition. Now, people inform our team about such places. Our team then visits these to create awareness about cleanliness among the locals.”

When Shruti's parents found out that she was involved in this campaign, they said, "You don't do any work at home, and you're going out to clean!" But now they fully support her. Sometimes they even go with the team to help.

Rahul Mishra, another member of the campaign, says he has known Vinay since 2017, when he was in school. Today, he is pursuing LLM and contributing to cleaning Delhi. Initially, his parents didn't like the idea of their son doing this kind of work. But today, when people praise him, they feel proud too.

Chlorophyll: Funding A Passion

Because no new endeavor can be undertaken without financial support, Vinay decided to charge a small fee from the parents of children who came to him for tuitions. The maximum fee he charges, for students from Class I to Class XII, is Rs 600. This covers all the expenses for sanitation, the library and a stipend he gives to older students who are tutoring younger ones. Eventually, he formed a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Swasti Das Seva Samiti, in 2024.

Vinay's mother is very happy to see his work. She says that she raised and educated her children with great difficulty, when, even providing three square meals a day was a struggle. “He was in the third grade when he said he wanted to work. But we told him to focus on his studies first. From a young age, we taught our children to work hard without expecting immediate results. Today, when I see other children studying in the library created by my son, it fills me with joy.”

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