Starting young

Name: Action for Pune Development
Place: Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Record title:Starting young.

Action for Pune Development (APD), a not-for profit organisation was started in 2012 by Aakash Shah (b March 25, 1996), when he was just 16. The 60-member student group, all below 18 years, began with planting trees and then moved on to creating awareness on the importance of wearing helmets. The group’s projects include distributing 10,000 pamphlets on safe driving on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway, helping run the ambulance service 24 hr during the Ganesh idol immersion days. They work with disabled people at Nirmalya Home helping the inmates in painting, making diyas etc. Among the other projects are pooling resources for providing battery cells worth Rs 8,000 for the inverter in an old age home, helping weaker sections with computer skills and others. APD helps the traffic cops by educating commuters on traffic rules, wearing helmets, giving pedestrians the right of way etc. The group and Aakash in particular have received several awards and recognitions.