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Anurag Chauhan

Humans for Humanity, Breaking the bloody taboos

by admin August 29, 2020

Humans for Humanity has been working relentlessly towards the cause of menstruation and menstrual hygiene for the past five years. The NGO’s pilot project WASH (Women, Sanitation and Hygiene) that was started in 2015, works towards educating women about menstruation, menstrual hygiene, nutrition, providing then counselling, ftee sanitary napkins and also training them to make biodegradable sanitary napkins at home.The WASH project is actively working in six states and has employed women from many villages, making them financially self-sufficient.

Another venture by Humans For Humanity, “Break the Bloody Taboo” is directed towards burning down the various myths and taboos surrounding menstruation. During one such campaign in Rajasthan, the volunteers conducted a session inside a temple with women of menstruating age. In another session, women were handed over tulsi saplings and asked to nurture the sapling for a month and then see the results.

Project WASH is a success in all the 6 states, the NGO recently started a campaign The Red Cloth Campaign. As a part of the campaign, people were asked to tie a red cloth around their wrist and post a picture of it on their social media profiles with the following caption:

“It is high time we stop talking about periods in hush tones and eliminate the taboo shrouding it.

Periods are normal.

They are not inappropriate and there is no room for shame while talking about it.

Let’s talk! Period.

@humansforhumanityofficial

@anuragchauhanofficial

#laal #stainsofstrength “

They were further asked to nominate any five friends to take the campaign forward and not let the chain of change die down.

The Red Cloth Campaign aims towards normalisation of open conversation around menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Two-thirds of all cervical cancer deaths occur due to ignorance about menstrual hygiene. Lack of menstrual hygiene is also the fifth biggest killer of women all over the world. All these facts make the Red Cloth Campaign and talking about menstruation a lot more imperative.

The Campaign that began on 12th August has garnered an overwhelming response from people belonging to different fields over 3000 people have posted about the same including some, Celebrities like Kirti Kulhari, Shibani Dandekar, Lisa Ray, Divya Seth Shah, Malini Agarwal, Amrita Puri have graciously taken up the campaign so far. It has been taken up outside India as well in parts of australia, brazil, etc.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CD6rhyGpkLy/

The Red Cloth Campaign is leaving a mark on people and urging them to come out of their shells and play their part in sensitizing people about how menstruation is a normal biological process and there should be no hint of shame or embarrassment while addressing it.

Even though the Red Cloth Campaign has now reached a humongous crowd your support is needed to take this campaign to greater heights.The Red Cloth Campaign is open to anyone willing to do their part in bringing about a change and helping Humans for Humanity take a step forward towards normalisation of open conversations around periods to pull it out of the taboo and myths it lies embroiled in. Let’s take a step forward towards ending this stigma.

Quotes –

Kirti Kulhari –

“It is deplorable that menstruation and conversation around it has been shamed for centuries. There should be no need for code words for period, no need for wrapping newspapers around a pack of sanitary pads when buying it and asking for a pad doesn’t have to be a hushed request. Stains are foreseeable outcomes of having a period and we need to be okay with the fact. It’s time we ended period shaming and the silence surrounding it.”

Divya Seth Shah –

“The Red Cloth Campaign is a powerful and visual declaration of the End to this Silence. Misogyny found varied paths down the Ages. Subjugation and Superstition fueled them. The Silence and Shame centered around Menstruation has remained . A bodily function that propelled the Human Race is rendered Unspeakable by centuries of Social Taboo. Time to change that . Time to celebrate. The Rite of Passage. And into Adulthood. No one is flaunting it . Just making it Real and Dignified.”

Anurag Chauhan –

“Menstruation is not a problem, poor menstrual hygiene is.” He added, “The taboos must have had a relevance at that time, today believing in them makes no sense to me.”

Shibani Dandekar –

“I take a step forward to eradicate the ignorance around menstruation and menstrual hygiene.Lets Talk ! Period”

Malini Agarwal –

“Periods are normal, they are the elixir of life. Please Keep the chain going & the conversation around menstruation alive.”

August 29, 2020

India’s first 1st Virtual Literature Festival in Corona Times

by admin June 25, 2020

The country is in a state of lock down due to the widely spread virus and admist this chaotic time when people are going through this emotional upheaval, a Virtual Literature Festival was being organised by Anurag Chauhan who is a renowned Social worker & a well known arts empresario. Anurag is the founder of Humans For Humanity & Dehradun Literature Festival. The festival was very well recieved and was attended by celebrated personalities from all walks of life. The Virtual Literature Festival features exclusive sessions with popular personalities such as author Shobhaa De, Dr. Usha RK, acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, actress Lisa Ray, bollywood choregrapher Sandip Soparrkar, Sunanda Mehta, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Sonal Mansingh (Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha), actress Divya Dutta, Vasudha Rai, Padmashri Malini Awasthi, Bharathi S Pradhan, Singing Nun – Ani Choying Drolma, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and Padmashri Dr. Soma Ghosh. One of the largest and most awarded private radio networks in India, 93.5 RED FM has collaborated with Anurag Chauhan for this podcast series with an aim to entertain and motivate listeners during the pandemic. The podcast series reaching millions of listners will be launched on the RED FM appand will also be available it shall also be available to the international audience on Jio Saavan, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts & Spotify.

Speaking on the occasion, Nisha Narayanan, Director & COO, RED FM and Magic FM, said, “With internet content consumption at an all-time high, we wanted to bring a fresh and inspiring content for lovers of Literature. With this vision, we have collaborated with Anurag Chauhan who is a well-known literary and arts impresario to bring his special series on ‘Virtual Literature Festival’ on RED FM app. Through this entertaining and original podcast playlist, we will bring exclusive sessions by renowned personalities belonging to different fields. With content for every kind of listener, we hope to see engagement from across India.”

Speaking about the initiative, Anurag Chauhan, said, “To bring the people out of the feelings of fatigue that they are experiencing & psychological strain, I thought of organizing the Virtual Literature Festival. I am sure this too shall pass and the feelings of uncertainty will fade away. This is something new for the people who love literature & also for those who do not, as we all will leave with a ray of hope. I wanted people to avoid drifting into a state of feeling emotionally low & lonely, which is why I thought this would be of some help & it was the best way to utilize my own time.”

June 25, 2020

Celebrities Featured

‘Anurag Chauhan’ the real life Padman | Menstrual Hygiene Day Special

by admin May 28, 2020

Menstruation comes with innumerable taboos in India, despite preventing thousands of deaths women are victims of the taboos. A woman cannot sleep on the bed, she cannot sleep inside the house hence forced to sleep outside the house or even in the animal shelter at times, she cannot work in the kitchen and not even touch few articles, they cannot go to the temple and worship because during this period women are considered to be impure and some people even treat them as untouchable. In this era it’s shocking but the fact is, it is still practiced in various parts of our country.

Humans For Humanity is a non profit, voluntary organisation run by a 25 year old social worker, Anurag Chauhan who is working on a project called WASH – Women Sanitation Hygiene from 2015. The organisation provides free sanitary napkins to women, they are either handmade cotton napkins or prepared by supporting NGOs in India. They also provide workshops by doctors, nutritionists and research scholars who explain to the women and girls the biological reason of menstruation, kind of nutrition required, remedies to avoid pain/ cramps, hormonal changes in the body, discuss various stages of menstruation, personal hygiene, disposal of napkins and other factors to make them aware of the facts. Many people in rural parts of India consider menstruation a dirty process, some think of it as a disease, all of this happens due to lack of awareness and age old taboos. The team members also give counselling to parents, young girls and even women in the bracket of menopause.

The volunteers of the organisation provide a training program under which these women from slums, villages, govt. schools & colleges are taught how to make their own napkin rather than using ash, sand, leaves, jute bags, dirty cloth, which leads to cervical cancer, many other illnesses/ diseases and untimely death. Sanitary napkin making workshop helps them in a big way as most of the women in the slums and rural areas cannot afford buying sanitary napkins. Along with WASH the organisation also runs a project simultaneously – “Breaking The Bloody Taboo” to crush age old taboos about menstruation, which leads to the mistreatment towards women in many rural and urban areas.

Under the Project WASH awareness is not just for the women and girls but also for men of the families. Anurag saw that he as a man went and spoke to men about menstruation, men told him they had no idea about the danger the women are subjected to as nobody ever told them about it. He believes, when men will be also educated, it will then remove the taboo around menstruation. This shame associated with menstruation has lead to poor menstrual hygiene and care causing various health problems in women. Women feel ashamed to come out and speak about their health issues which are related to their reproduction organs as well as menstrual problems.

Not just the young girls but even the elderly women do not know how to use a sanitary pad. Project WASH provides raw material to the women in slums & villages to teach them how to make sanitary pads using cloth at home.

During the lockdown the work of Humans for Humanity has come as a great help to the women who have been taught how to make sanitary napkins at home as they don’t have to go out and buy them but they can make hygienic sanitary pads themselves at home. They have reached a new level of empowerment as they are not dependent on the outside world to maintain a healthy menstrual cycle. Humans for Humanity not just teaches women about menstrual hygienic but also how having nutritious food which should have iron is important for women to keep healthy as huge number of women in India suffer from anaemia which is caused by lack of iron. Anurag is an example how youth of India are breaking the stereotype associated with menstrual hygiene by touching lives of those who need awareness and education by honesty, dedication and a will do bring a positive change.

May 28, 2020

Celebrities Lifestyle

Anurag Chauhan curates a Virtual Literature Festival amidst nationwide lockdown

by admin April 22, 2020

The country is locked down due to the pandemic, but some initiatives to keep people engaged & positive are coming up one of which is a two day Virtual Literature Festival being organised on Instagram by Anurag Chauhan who is a known literary & arts impresario. Anurag is the founder of Humans For Humanity & Dehradun Literature Festival. In a bid to ensure that a larger audience get to enjoy the Virtual Literature Festival, the annual event will take place on 25th & 26th April, 2020 live on Instagram – @anuragchauhanofficial

“To bring the people out of the feelings of fatigue that they are experiencing & psychological strain i though of of organising this event. I am sure this phase shall pass too & once it passes the feelings of discondency will leave. This is something new for the people who love literature & also for those who do not as we all will leave with a learning experience. I wanted people to avoid a drift into a state of feeling very low & lonely, which why i thought this would be of some help & this was the best way to utilize the time”, said Chauhan.

The festival will be held between 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Instagram live. The speaker list includes renowned author Shobha De, actress Lisa Ray, singer Padmashri Dr. Soma Ghosh, Art Scholar & Director of JNCC – Moscow Dr. Usha Rk, beauty & wellness expert Vasudha Rai, Bollywood choreographer Sandip Soparrkar, eminent musician Brian Silas, acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, India’s first female Dastangoi artist Fouzia Dastango & poet Apurva Bikram Shah. All the speakers will be in conversation with Anurag Chauhan, who is the curator & presenter of this event. There has been a sudden rise in the cases of depression & loneliness, this event could be a treat to all. Link to join the sessions –

https://instagram.com/anuragchauhanofficial

April 22, 2020

Bollywood Celebrities Featured

Amongst array of other awardees ‘Anurag Chauhan’ & ‘Prasoon Joshi’ were only two male recipients of this prestigious Award

by admin February 23, 2019

International Women Empowerment Summit & Awards 2019 was being held in the National Capital, New Delhi. The award was organised by IWEP along with Ministry of Women & Child Development, Ministry of Water & Sanitation, Government of India & UNICEF. Amongst array of other awardees Anurag Chauhan & Prasoon Joshi were the only two male awardees of this prestigious award, both of whom hail from Uttarakhand.

Dharmesh Pradhan giving award to Anurag Chauhan

Union Minister Dharmesh Pradhan presenting Award

Prasoon who hails from Almora, Uttarakhand is a well known figure of hindi film industry and is known for his writing, poetry and filmmaking. He is also the Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), often referred to as the Censor Board which is a statutory censorship and classification body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Doonite Anurag Chauhan, youngest recipient, received the award for a project called WASH – Women Sanitation Hygiene which is a project of Humans For Humanity, an organisation founded by the 24 year old.

Humans For Humanity started making hand made Sanitary Napkins from cotton cloth and have been distributing free of cost in urban slums as well as villages. Workshops are held at various government schools and colleges with young girls to make the aware about the same by lady doctors and volunteers. They also teach women & girls how to make their own sanitary napkin which has also become a mode of earning for few women who make these napkins in bulk and sell it at very low price in near by household.

Humans For Humanity is a self funded organisation run by a 24 year old young social worker, Anurag Chauhan who is working on a project called WASH – Women Sanitation Hygiene for 3 years now. The organisation provides free sanitary napkins to women, the napkins are either handmade of cotton or prepared by supporting NGOs in India. They also provide workshop by female doctors, nutritionists and research scholars who explain to the women and girls the reason why menstruation takes place, hormonal changes, biological factors to make them aware of the facts. Many people in rural parts of India consider menstruation a dirty process, some think of it as a disease, all of this happens due to lack of awareness and age old taboos.

1st Indian woman to climb mount Everest Bachendri Pal and Anurag Chauhan

The volunteers of the organisation also provide a training program under which these women from slums, villages, govt. schools & colleges are taught how to make their own napkin rather than using ash, sand, leaves, jute bags, dirty cloth, etc. The organisation is breaking all age old taboos by conducting menstrual hygiene campaigns at temples, gifting sanitary napkins to women in the slums & villages, making them aware that its normal to have periods and there is no shame in this, the women do not need to hide the napkins and openly buy them or carry them. Anurag says, ” We need to save the lives of the women who are dying every day before we stand to empower them.”

“We certainly can’t change the world but start to change”,

added the 24 year old Founder of HFH

Humans for Humanity is a brain child of Anurag, who began this journey of serving society and doing social work from Dehradun, at a mere age of 16 years. Even at that age, he harbored an ambition to improve and work on the social strata of the world we live in. Currently, the organization headed by him is evolving social work by engaging not only the youth of Delhi, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh but also people of different professions to work towards regaining the lost sheen of society. The organization hosts interns from 17 countries (Spain, Brazil, China, Japan, Indonesia, Egypt, Argentina, Nepal, SriLanka, Australia, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Columbia, Italy, etc) working and researching on various issues of the slums in India. Other than WASH the organisation also works on the following projects –

✔ Street Smart
✔ Each One Teach One
✔ Clean India Campaign
✔ Promotion of Indian Culture and Heritage

The organisation has been recognised at many platforms – Karamveer Chakra instituted by United Nations & Icongo (International Confederation of NGOs) in 2017,

Bharat Nirman by Union Minister Dr. Najma Helptulla in 2016, National Icon Award 2018 and many more.

The award ceremony was being held at The Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Other awardees were boxer Mary Kom, mountaineer Bachendri Pal, athlete PT Usha, athlete Deepa Malik, actress Raveena Tandon, acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, actress Sushma Seth, IAS Ira Singhal, Shehnaz Hussain and many more. The Chairperson of IWEP Arushi Nishankh congratulated all the awardees, thanked the honourable ministers & Members of Parliament and gave the vote of thanks.

MC Mary Kom, Laxmi Agarwal and Anurag Chauhan

MC Mary Kom (Indian Athlete & Member of Parliament Rajya Sabha), Anurag Chauhan ( Social Worker & Founder, Humans For Humanity) along with Acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal

2014 UPSC topper IAS Ira Singhal & Anurag Chauhan

The awards were given away in three segments by MP Kirron Kher, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister Maenka Gandhi along with MP Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal

February 23, 2019