This is the story of Abhay Rangan, a twenty year old Vegan, who is currently in the second year of engineering in CMR Institute of technology. “Change begins in you.” We’ve all heard this common saying. We’ve also seen so many people who talk about change, but very few who choose to act on it. Those that choose to act, give up when things don’t go their way. Only 0.1% of the few actually bring about the change they want to see in this world. One such person is Abhay. He is the founder of SARV( Society for Animal Rights and Veganism) that campaigns for Animal rights. He also runs a start up called Veganarke that makes veganism more acceptable via delicious, nutrient-rich, resource-efficient, cruelty-free alternatives to dairy.
In conversation with Abhay :
Abhay, how did you start your NGO and start-up? What exactly is Veganarke? What inspired you to start it?
I became an animal rights activist after seeing the enormous cruelty we subject the animals to. We subject billions of animals to suffering, pain and ultimately, death- for no justifiable reason! This gave rise to SARV. It was a channel for me to reason and grow my activism efforts. We’ve campaigned more than 250 times in 10+ states of India. The campaigns are mainly run by youth volunteers.
Veganarke is a start-up I own that makes delicious, nutrient-rich, resource-efficient, cruelty- free vegan products as alternatives. We manufacture plant-based milks and curds like almond milk and peanut yogurt.
This sounds interesting and it also stands as a fight for good cause. How does this help the society?
Vegan food is the future. It is healthy, uses far less natural resources than its animal-product counteracts. Also no animals are harmed in the making. Win-win for everyone.
That’s great! Behind every success, there’s always a pillar of support. Who is that in your case?
My parents, definitely. They’ve been such an awesome source of support. My mother in particular. She runs Veganarke with me.
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Interesting. What do you hope to achieve in the next ten years?
A strong animal rights movement in India, and a plant based dairy company that helps people switch to eating vegan in large numbers is what I want to see happen in the next ten years.
You’ll certainly see it happen! Few words for your peers?
It’s really cool that a lot of us want to make the world a better place. It starts with us minimising the harm we cause to the planet, and the individuals we share our planet with. With that in mind, please stand up for non-human animals and their right to live free from human-induced suffering. I dream of a day when every cage is empty, every chain is broken and every animal is free. Let’s make it happen.
This is really awe-inspiring, Abhay. This should stand as a motivation for those who dream of change but don’t act in it. If one student can make this happen, the others can too.
Reference links-
- Veganarke- http://veganarke.com
- SARV – http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Abhay_Rangan
