Bengali Youth Icon Leverages Thousand Lives, Globally

Next time when you’ll be in Uxbridge London, you may hire a cycle to commute, popularly known in Westminster as ‘Boris Bikes’. For this initiative, you should be thankful to a young man from Kolkata, who made this concept a success.

Meet Dev Aditya, a London based lawyer who started this ‘Green Movement’ as a University project which now touches more than 50,000 lives. The project was supported by Boris Johnson, former London Mayor & Foreign Secretary of State. Under Dev’s leadership, the team, in only 5 weeks, was able to raise funds over £85,000 through crowdfunding and secure an additional £100,000 from Santander Bank; a sum equal to र1.6 crores.

Besides this campaign, he was elected as the first ever Asian to be the Vice President of the Student Activities at University of Brunel where he represented over 14,300 students. Dev has also been instrumental in organizing Bharatiya Festivals like Durga Puja & Navaratri in Uxbridge and has been instrumental in numerous other social activities. Dev has played a mentorship role for a large section of Asian students who experienced a culture shock when they traveled to the UK for the first time. This work became part of a campaign which was recognized as ‘International Campaign of the Year’ in 2017.

Realizing that there is a severe gap in employability skills in many Asian countries, Dev is now bringing a bouquet of Skill Development initiatives to Bangladesh and India. Designed by research scholars of Otermans Institute, UK, this will create holistic growth among high school students. Initially aimed at 14,000+ Schools in Bangladesh, this first-of-its-kind initiative is set to make these students ‘conscious & skilled’.

Covering critical aspects like conflict management or negotiation skills, Dev firmly believes that his skill development initiative will increase employability opportunities for thousands. “It is our responsibility to make this planet a better place to live in. Be it climate change initiative or skill enhancement, we must act now to initiate the change,” says Dev Aditya, a proud Bengali who has been nominated for “HEIST Award 2019” for his contribution for improving citizens’ lives in the UK.