Mohammad Siraj is the founder of Pahchan Foundation(NGO) from West Bengal, He
is also known as child rights activist who are advocating for climate change. He is
also advocating for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and undertaken 100+
initiatives in the field of Education, Health and Environment. He is one of the
recipients of “Social Volunteer Award” 2020 from Institute of Social Volunteering and
also recognized as “Kolkata Hero” and received the prestigious “Kolkata Hero”
award 2021. He is appointed as “UN India YuWaah Advocates” in 2022 by United
Nations India for his work on Climate Change. He is also recieved the V-Awards
India 2022. V-Awards India is one of the prestigious award by UNV India in
association with Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, United
Nations India , United Nations Development Programme – UNDP & YuWaah –
Generation Unlimited India to recognise and reward volunteers for their tireless work
for the betterment of the society.
Hailing from the slums of Titagarh in West Bengal, Siraj has grown up witnessing
drunk men gambling away their money and beating up their wives and children. I
have been realized at a very young age that there is something different in me, who
desperately wants to bring a positive change and impact lives. It is said that charity
begins at home and I have been doing exactly that. Way back in 2006, I started off
from being a Children’s Group member of a non-governmental organization that was
working for the betterment of the children and the community in my area. With
effective leadership skills I evolved to become a part of the Youth Group and then
the leader of the Youth Group. This gave me a wide variety of opportunities to
represent the issues of slum and street dwelling children in various national forums. I
participated in a live debate show at Lok Sabha TV on the issue of communal peace
and harmony and represented West Bengal at the prestigious forum. There was no
end to the difficulties, faced on the path of doing social work to transform people’s
lives. I had unending financial problems which was a cause of delay in my higher
education. I knew that I had to earn to support my family. But I was dedicated
towards social work has been so strong that I was not ready to give up this passion. I
have started to volunteer with non-governmental organizations in the day and
worked for caterers and in factories at night to financially support my family. Hard
work sooner or later gets one sweet fruits, and that is what exactly I have achieved
through labour, love and dedication towards social work. I have been actively
working as a volunteer and community leader with various organizations at the state
and national level to address matters of children, community, hunger and ecology. I
have been tirelessly working at the grass-root level to generate awareness on the
Sustainable Development Goals. I am also the founder of ‘Pahchan Foundation’
which has had a tremendous impact on the lives of more than 200 children since its
inception in 2017. Through ‘Pahchan’ I am trying to ensure that no child goes without
education and every child has access to education. I do not want children to grow up
facing the difficulties that I did as a child. Also under the banner of Pahchan
Foundation we run several campaigns and one of our campaign “Insan Teri Ganga
Maily” – a weekly ganga river cleanup drive has been recognized and appreciated by
United Nations India on 12th August 2022.
Pahchan Foundation a volunteering-based organization with the help of few
volunteers, Under the banner of Pahchan we have taken an initiative which is known
as Insan Teri Ganga Maily, which is basically a Ganga Clean-up drive Campaign
where youth volunteers and young people devote their Sunday to clean Ganga Ghat
nearby the area and volunteers has shown an initiative to clean up notoriously filthy
Ganga river near Titagarh which is not impossible.
After a year of relentless voluntary clean-up, we had removed tones of tons of
garbage. we weeded out garbage, discarded cloths, food waste, human waste hair,
mobile covers even sanitary napkins coagulated industrial effluent and human fasces
to unearth clean sand without assistance of any government agency. The member of
the organization spends their weekends cleaning the river sites near to their area.
Pahchan founded the campaign on 12 October 2020 in order to pay real tribute to
the legendary pioneer’s dream of Clean India and taking the lead forward. One year
spend in a single Ghat(Glass Kal Ghat) and then it has been decided by the group to
reach another one in nearby the area with the invitation for everyone to join the
environmental movement, which we build and channel all year. Through clean-ups,
reforestation and advocacy, we are activating our grassroots supporters to spread a
message on the critical issues facing the planet-and to be a part of the solution.
Since the initiative through the campaign total collection of Garbage are 10000+ KGs
of waste in 117 weeks from two Ghats (Titagarh Peer Ghat and Glass Kal Ghat). Our
mission is to build the world’s largest environmental movement by activating
individuals and governments to invest in our planet. It will take all of us to survive the
effects of climate change and protect our home. The program has been planned by
connecting Sustainable Development Goal 14, which connects the Global Goals,
directly with Sustainable Development Goal 6(Clean Water and Sanitation), Goal-
11(Sustainable cities and Communities), Goal-13(Climate Action0, Goal-14(Life
below Water). Goal-15(Life on Land).
On 12 th August on International Youth Day 2022. He has appointed as “UN India
YuWaah Advocates” of the very first cohort of United Nations Indiamalong with other
5 UN India YuWaah Advocates and the flagship initiative of Pahchan Foundation
“#InsanTeriGangaMaily (The Ganga Clean Up Drive) has been appreciated and
recognised by the United Nations India.
