At 23 years of age, an average Indian youngster would still be at the doorstep of his life, contemplating his career choices and evaluating the opportunities.
Akhil Ennamsetty, at the same age, has not only decided what he wanted to do in his life, but also got international support for his philanthropic goal. This young law graduate from Warangal is among the chosen 600 world over by the Clinton Foundation for enrolment into its Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU), and the only one from Telangana.
His proposal to establish a Centre for Rights Activism at Warangal has received endorsement from the foundation, which would also fund the initiative and do the hand-holding after successful completion of his one-year programme.
Presently pursuing post-graduation in Human Rights Law from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Akhil envisages the Centre providing legal aid to the victims of rights abuse in the tribal villages of North Telangana, besides spreading legal awareness.
Akhil says he was inspired to this idea, moved by the plight of prisoners in Yerawada Central Jail, while he was pursuing graduation from Symbiosis Law School, Pune.
“I headed the Legal Aid Committee there for three years which was formed with the aim of providing community legal services. That was where I learnt legal aid was not a charity, but a right for the underprivileged to be represented in the court of law. Yerawada Jail was so overcrowded ,” Akhil said.
The experience goaded Akhil to choose Human Rights over admission offers from prestigious institutions such as London School of Economics and King’s College in fetching streams such as Corporate Law and Tax Law. His course at CGIU would help him ideate, design, implement and evaluate his project, besides offering him mentorship under someone who has already done similar work at other locations of the world.
