Jaydeep Pathare

Early life and education

Jaydeep Pathare was born to a family from Wadule, a remote village in Parner Tehsil of Maharashtra. His father, Sambhaji Pathare, was then a professor and his mother, Chanda Pathare, was a housewife. He had a very modest upbringing and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Pune.

Social work

Prayas - Digital Literacy Campaign
Between 2008 and 2013 Pathare served as the founding secretary of the Prayas Youth Forum. It was founded by Jaydeep and Nikhil Pathare along with their friends as a reach out to rural and disadvantaged children through creating awareness about computers. What began as a college initiative has grown into a respected organization with the involvement of hundreds of students.[1][2][3][4]

Gandhi Vichar Yatra

To create an awareness of teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, on October 2, 2011, Pathare, along with 50 friends, set out on a yatra from Ahmednagar to Kopargaon. The travel route was about 100 km in length and was covered walking. The yatra participants visited villages, delivered lectures, and conducted dialogues along the route to create awareness about teachings of Mahatma Gandhiji. The volunteers also visited schools, meeting and engaging in dialogue with youth. This event was dedicated to Joy of giving or daan utsav.[5]

eduVarta

Pathare helped launch the eduVarta initiative to provide career skill development and awareness of employment opportunities among students living in remote areas who do not have exposure to the outside educational world. eduVarta connects these students to their more privileged counterparts in the cities who share assistance and guidance about careers. Once they subscribe to EduVARTA, the students receive SMS alerts about college notices and announcements, government decisions, course admissions, trainings, workshops, seminars, scholarships and all information related to exams and results.[6][7]

Drought Help Group

In 2012 the Maharashtra state was reeling under drought conditions. Pathare and Ravi Ghate brought together like-minded people from various fields to form a "Drought Help Group" on Facebook. The group built a wide network of 1,000 members across the state and succeeded in providing help to many villagers. The group consisted of village coordinators who started posting photos of the drought-affected areas as well as donors from the urban areas who started providing assistance in the form of water storage tanks and helping villagers de-silt the rivers and canals so that the water-holding capacity can be increased. The group's success in using the social media platform to bring immediate relief services to drought-affected people received recogniztion from Facebook. The group, which has now close to 12,000 members, received the prestigious Manthan Award from Digital Empowerment Foundation, New Delhi in December 2013.[8][9][10]

Urban to Rural Mentorship

Professionals from Pune double up as mentors to rural kids

Pathare formed a group of professionals from Pune to mentor rural students.[11]

Social Peace Force

In mid-2014, derogatory and anti-national messages and images were circulated on social media which resulted in social tension and riots in the state of Maharashtra. Pathare, along with several friends and his mentor Ravi Ghate, created a Youth Group "Social Peace Force" to end anti-social messages and curb digital nuisances. The work of this group was noted by news agencies, journals, the police and higher authorities. The work of the group was, however, criticized as a barrier to freedom of expression.[12][13]

Mentor to international students

Pathare has worked as mentor to international students visiting India in exchange programs and internships. He has guided them on youth development projects.

Personal life

Pathare is fond of photography.[14] He is married to Nikita Lagad who is also a Computer Engineering graduate.

Awards

Innovative Exhibitor - Annamalai University January 2008
Vodafone Mobile for Good - Vodafone India Foundation December 2010
Manthan Award Social Media for Empowerment December 2013

References

External links

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