Teen environmentalist a beacon of hope for underprivileged women

Anshita Mehra

New Delhi, June 19

Amid discussions on waste management in India, 16-year-old Arshiya Dhingra took centre stage at the ‘Waste to Worth’ exhibition, organised by the OP Bhalla Foundation in Green Park here on Tuesday.

She has been garnering praise for donating funds, raised by selling her handmade mats and paintings, to support needy women.

Stresses need for recycling

• Arshiya had collected 15,000-kg waste paper and transformed it into 5,000 notebooks.
• She had donated these notebooks to the OP Bhalla Foundation, which supports underprivileged families with essential foodgrains.
• Besides, she taught painting to economically disadvantaged women, and the proceeds from the sale of their artworks, totaling Rs 2.5 lakh, were donated to aid vulnerable girls.

Highlighting the pressing issue of plastic waste, Arshiya said, “Every day, our country produces around 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste, placing us as the third-largest contributor globally after the European Union and the US.”

The teenage environmentalist said, “It’s imperative for us to take urgent steps to prevent our planet from drowning in a sea of garbage.”

Arshiya recounted her initiative to repurpose waste paper into 5,000 notebooks.

She also works towards empowering marginalised women through art. She taught painting to economically disadvantaged women. Besides empowering them with a skill to generate livelihood, the proceeds from the sale of their artworks, totaling Rs 2.5 lakh, were donated to aid vulnerable girls.

Arshiya’s altruistic endeavors have garnered recognition from several environmental organisations — the OP Bhalla Foundation, OOJ Foundation, and Eco Club India. Her story serves as a beacon of hope and action, demonstrating that age is no barrier to making a meaningful difference in the world.