Kumar’s story is more than the story of one young person bringing about change, it is a story of inspiring millions of small-town boys and girls to be changemakers.
Born into a family of farmers in Bihar, a 25-year-old lawyer and social activist Kumar Shanu dreamed from an early age of contributing to solving the problems faced by common people. His hometown Mokama was one of the worst victims of violence and lawlessness during the 1990s. Eventually, he ended up being at a law school in Delhi after completing high school education in Bihar.
He started approaching the courts and arguing cases of public importance even before getting a law degree. As a law student, Kumar and some of his law school friends challenged the legality of the Delhi High Court Right to Information (RTI) Rules before the Delhi High Court and got them amended, successfully fought against the educational institutions including CBSE before the Supreme Court for denying the access to evaluated answer-sheets under RTI to millions of students and helping around 12,000 kids from less privileged backgrounds to get admitted to private schools in Delhi at the government’s expense every year, among other significant victories in court cases involving public interest. Kumar co-founded Whistle for Public Interest (WHIP) with his college friend, Paras Jain. WHIP is a platform for law students and young lawyers to put their advocacy skills to use in solving public issues.
After graduating from law school, he not only kept building his organization WHIP but also started assisting government bodies on legal issues. Later, Kumar went on to pursue Masters in International Law at one of the finest educational institutions of the world to study international law/affairs namely The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, USA on a scholarship. At Fletcher, he was elected to the Fletcher Student Council and even got awarded by his university for engagement in public service and leadership activities during his stay in the US. Kumar is now back to India. on being asked about his future plans, he says “I spend most of my time in fighting for justice in courts as well as trying to inspire and assist young people in the rural India to access quality education and then urging them to use their education in giving back to the society in changing the world for the better”
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