Giving back to society is the most rewarding activity. It truly brings a purpose to one’s life and in turn, makes a difference in the lives of many others. Ritu Rathi, visionary and Social Activist from Surat, Gujarat contributes to society in as many ways as possible and has been associated with many NGOs, Seva Sansthan’s, and Schools to create a difference in her own life and that of others. Her main focus is to empower the children and youth as she firmly believes that, it is the youth who will shape the future.
Early years and Education
Ritu Rathi was born on 15th November 1981 in the state of Assam. Her father, Sri Shankar Somani, is a businessman in Assam while her mother is a politician and corporator in Guwahati. She was raised in Rajasthan and graduated with honours in Accounts. She is also a Medallist in Business Studies and completed a course as Fashion Designer in Export Technology from JD Institute, Delhi.
She got married to Ashish Rathi, a builder and director of Someshwar developers, Surat. Ritu Rathi is into construction business and she is also a Director of Someshwar Developers, Surat.
Her dad is her role model as he took the bold decision to send her out for further studies and exposure to real life. He was confident in her from beginning and that gave her the boost to excel in life and shape her life on her own.
The start of her journey in Social work
Ritu got inspired by her family to get into social work, as she is surrounded by her elders helping others and doing social work selflessly.
During the time of COVID 19, she donated the first-ever ‘Sanitizing Machine‘ in Surat to sanitize buildings and other places with minimal use of labour. As Face Masks are necessity today, Ritu took an initiative to spread the awareness about the importance to wear mask and distributed many mask to kids and adults as the most important precautionary tool towards COVID19. With many people struggling to get the basic food this time, she immediately made sure to organize food for them on a daily basis. She got a sense of self-contentment by making the specially-abled kids of ‘Manav Kalyan Trust’ smile and along with MLA Mr. Harsh Sanghavi, they fulfilled dreams of beautiful children. They supplied more than 7000kg of rice, wheat, food platters, masks, clothes, and many other things in different areas, in need during the pandemic of COVID 19.
Ritu strongly believes to nurture kids and makes sure to contribute to their growth in various ways. Along with Ritu, her 10 years old daughter, Sanaa Rathi, also supports her in various activities. Every Sunday, they go to the slums along with a team to teach kids and provide them with nutritious food and stationery so that education never stops. Ritu and team got the Ashram coloured and started Marma Therapy to calm kids who are specially-abled.
Ritu firmly believes that women are the most important when it comes to shaping the future. Ritu is also very much concerned about women’s health and hygiene. So on World’s Hygiene day, Sanitary napkins were distributed in slums to young girls who were facing hygiene problems. She also ran a drive for clothes donation at Umra Slum. Ritu also makes sure to market their products so that they become financially independent. She believes in empowering women so the entire family can be empowered. Ritu and the team celebrated Women Week from 2nd – 7th March where they indulged in various activities by reaching women who are in need of any type of support.
More feathers to her contribution
On 2nd October 2020, Ritu initiated NGO “Ek Soch: Ek Atmanirbhar Hindustan Ki Aur”, as she believed that to bring a change in society, we need to change the thought process. Her aim was to ensure that the “Ek Soch Foundation” becomes big support to bring a change in the lives of these people by empowering the young generation and the underprivileged community through a unique 360-degree development model which covers all areas. Their focus is on mainly changing the “SOCH” in all areas where needed.
On National Girl Child Day, Ek Soch Foundation went to the slums and educated the girls on the importance of studying. PARAKRAM DIWAS was celebrated with the kids at Cheddcha Village. Ritu loves taking care of birds, so she distributed bird feeders and water bowls to the Jagruti club and ladies club in Surat mainly to spread awareness in kids and the young generation.
Ritu conducted a program on Human rights with the Ek Soch team, they also conducted an awareness program in a rural village and distributed daily amenities like slippers, clothes, and much more. Ritu and team Felicitated the real Corona Warriors– Doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, cook and the management.
Ek soch foundation as a family has been the trustee of ‘Chayyado Manav Seva Trust‘ in Surat since 2002 which helps to serve food to patients of the hospital and help in their various treatments. During COVID19, all the patients in Civil Hospital are provided food from the trust.
Ritu has donated her eyes at ‘Shree ya Devi Bhagirath and hanshala’ and encouraged many others around her to do the same. Ritu and team is also the Trustee of “Shreeya Devi Bhagirath Rathi Blind Ashram” in Surat that accommodates 150 orphaned blind children. The Team is taking care of their education, food and expose them to national-level music competitions and other activities. Also, they are the trustee of ‘Shreeya Devi Bhagirath Rathi Maheshwari Vidyapeeth‘, which is a Co-ed school affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). It was established in 1961, to provide good education to all caste kids and even sponsor the students who have poor monetary incomes.
In an initiative under the mission of #Tiranagachallenge initiated by Dr. Vimal Rathi., Ritu and Team encouraged 978 little children to tie friendship bands on trees in just one minute and achieved a World Record on World Friendship Day. The intention was to encourage children to come closer to nature and take trees as their friends.
In March 2020, when the Pandemic struck India, Ritu and Team took the concept of “Going Local” and started the slogan “Going Vocal for my Surat Local” encouraging the home entrepreneurs and other businesses to come forward and market their products and services. This way Surat saw the products and services of many entrepreneurs and their business got a huge boost.
Being invited to many prestigious places as a Chief Guest or Jury, Ritu takes it as an opportunity to encourage others through her journey and experiences. When she was invited to the Inter College Quiz Competition, she was deeply touched by the youth of today and their views. She was invited as a Jury to judge an Inter-College Fashion Competition. Giving guidance on Fashion and Life, gave the youth an opportunity to understand many different aspects of the world.
Awards and accolades
For her contributions to society, Ritu bagged the Award for the Best Social Activist called “International Glory Award” from the hands of Madhuri Dixit in the year 2019 at Goa. She was awarded the ‘Crown Holder Awards’ with the responsibility for all the crown holders to attach their beauty with good cause and give it back to society and the city in their own ways. At another event where Crown holders globally were called, Ritu represented India and was awarded the title of “Beauty with Brains”. Her valuable achievement has been the “DIVINE MRS INDIA 2019” award where she was the only one selected from Gujarat on a National Level.
A new initiative of Ritu’s life is ‘Healthism‘ aimed to start awareness among the people of Surat about the importance of health. In the year 2019, she was awarded the “Social Activist of Gujarat” by actor Aman Verma in Mumbai.
She was awarded “Women of Wonders Awards 2020” with the title “Beauty with a cause”. Being a woman she strongly feels that it’s vital to empower other women. She also received the women leadership award appreciating all the social work and the leadership she had shown in different areas.
