Tarun Cherukuri

Indus Action is a policy implementation do-tank whose mission is to enable disadvantaged families in India, sustainable access to their legislated rights.

Our flagship project is called Project Eklavya, and has been running since 2013. The project focusses on ensuring that the most disadvantaged families in India have sustainable access their rights under the Right to Education Act section 12(1)(c).  In summary, the Right to Education Act in India, guarantees that 25% of places at India’s private schools should be awarded freely to children from the most high need, disadvantaged communities. Though this policy is extremely noble in its aim, it has been difficult to implement for a number of reasons, and many of these places are going unfulfilled meaning that many children are missing out on the education they deserve.
To address this, Indus Action mobilizes community volunteers to inform families of their rights, provide access to the information they need, and 1:1 support and guidance throughout the whole application process.

Since 2013, Project Eklavya has directly enrolled 6,960 children over the last 3 years in Delhi and enabled 30,000+ families’ access to this legislated right across 5 states in India. Through the Project Eklavya Network(PEN), we are supporting social entrepreneurs in expanding the mission to all districts across India. This academic year, PEN has presence in Bangalore, Lucknow, Raipur and Pune and is aiming to directly enroll 20,000 children.