BEAUTIFUL MINDS & THE CHALLENGES AROUND THEM

Dhruv Bhatt

(Environmental Human Rights Defender)

Dhruv Bhatt,18, is an environmental human rights defender from Nainital, Uttarakhand. Since age 11, Dhruv has led advocacy initiatives intersecting environmental conservation, human rights, and sustainable development. As a Child Adviser with #CovidUnder19 (an initiative of Terre des Hommes, a Swiss NGO), Dhruv has actively participated in global forums, such as the Vienna Youth and Child Human Rights Defenders Conference, where he addressed the President of Austria and worked on recommendations to facilitate child leadership in environmental advocacy. He has co-authored a research paper, drafted policy briefs and toolkits, and written extensively and creatively to highlight the stories and needs of children from climate-vulnerable and marginalized communities. Closer to home, in Uttarakhand, Dhruv collaborates with his parents on a culture-conscious, green startup that revitalizes traditional water mills and village streams to preserve local milling traditions while generating employment opportunities to combat mass migration from his state.