Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh — In the dusty lanes of rural Moradabad, where caste divisions have long defined social interactions, Manish Kumar is quietly scripting a story of change. An engineer by qualification and a SC community member by birth, Manish has found his true calling not in blueprints and circuits, but in building bridges between …
Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh — In the dusty lanes of rural Moradabad, where caste divisions have long defined social interactions, Manish Kumar is quietly scripting a story of change. An engineer by qualification and a SC community member by birth, Manish has found his true calling not in blueprints and circuits, but in building bridges between communities.
Six months ago, Manish walked into the offices of Hindu Rights Watch, uncertain about his path forward despite his engineering degree. What he found there transformed not just his own trajectory, but that of countless families in the villages surrounding Moradabad.
“I had the degree, but I wanted to do something more meaningful,” says Manish, adjusting his spectacles as he prepares for yet another village visit. “The Arjun and Gita program gave me that purpose.”
The six-month training under Hindu Rights Watch’s flagship initiative equipped Manish with skills he never learned in engineering college — how to navigate social barriers, how to listen to communities, and how to become a facilitator of dialogue rather than just a degree-holder looking for a job.
Today, as a fellow of the organization, Manish regularly organizes Arjun and Gita distribution programs across remote pockets of Moradabad district. But his real achievement lies elsewhere — in becoming the crucial link between Hindu Rights Watch and the SC-ST communities in areas where trust is hard-earned and suspicion runs deep.
“These communities were skeptical at first,” admits Manish. “Why would someone from among us work with an organization focused on Hindu rights? But I showed them it wasn’t about division — it was about inclusion.”
Every fortnight, Manish cycles through three to four villages, carrying not just literature but conversations. He sits in chaupals, shares tea with families, and patiently explains how community cohesion doesn’t mean erasing identity.
“Manish understands both worlds,” says a program coordinator at Hindu Rights Watch. “He speaks the language of the margins because he comes from there. That authenticity cannot be manufactured.”
The impact is visible. Villages that once viewed the organization’s outreach with suspicion now welcome its programs. SC and ST families participate actively in distribution events, and more importantly, conversations have begun — tentative but real.
For Manish, the engineering degree hasn’t gone waste. “I’m still building,” he smiles. “Just not structures — connections.”
In the heartland where divides often seem insurmountable, one engineer-turned-fellow is proving that the strongest bridges are built not with steel, but with trust.
