Rajeshwari Singh – Born on 1^st November 1986, in Baroda, now Vadodara, Gujarat – Is an Environmentalist, Educationist and Entrepreneur.  She founded Zeroite – the Eco Space, the 1^st of its kind Zero Waste and completely sustainable Store in Gujarat, and works on various crucial issues related to environment and women empowerment. A decade ago she thought of living a sustainable life and gave up on single use plastic as an effort towards it.

Education and Personal Life

Rajeshwari Singh’s upbringing was in a natural hill station as she did her early schooling from a Boarding School in Mt. Abu for 8 years and completed further studies from Vadodara and Indore. She graduated through a Distance learning program in Mass Communication and Journalism.

Being the eldest of 3 siblings and loss of father at early age, instilled the sense of responsibility in her at very early age, she also inculcated the attitude of self-dependence in order to take care of family at later stage. Her philosophy towards life has always been of individuality with concept values being self-reliance and independence. In a way, circumstances in her life made her rely on herself first.

Career and Activism

Started her career in the field of Media (Radio and Print) and worked for 6 years. In 2015 she started her Company called i-India and fully devoted her time in the same. Later in 2018 and 2020, she started with an NGO called Caravan Classroom Foundation and established Gujarat’s first Zero Waste Store – Zeroite respectively. Under the umbrella of Caravan Classroom Foundation in 2018 she walked 1,100 kms from Vadodara to Delhi for raising awareness against plastic pollution.

About i-India – Ideas, Identities, Integration.

i-India celebrates the diversity in unity that defines India which is created by diverse cultures that add to the multiple colours on its palette. Through its activities, it attempted to communicate with every single Indian, down to last strata who makes our nation.

Campaigns at i-India aimed at celebrating oneness, diverse communities and societies keeping the “i” of an individual at the centre. The “i” in i-India represents a person’s individuality – a thing that we value, we believe every soul here has the right to assert their identity and celebrate its individuality because unity is about individuals, unmoored by limitations and coming together to promote the idea of India, its diverse society and distinct cultural variety.

Under i-India campaigns were targeted at Indian Culture– its language, music, theatre, paintings, food and dance forms among others, with students and youth, our county’s future, as the bearers. Events were conducted both in rural as well as urban areas working towards a better India. 

Caravan Classroom Foundation

A new age school, striving to create a balance between economics – education – empowerment – environment – ethics, that by associating with others, plays a collaborative and significant role towards local, national and international efforts to foster sustainable development. Caravan Classroom Foundation through its unconventional methods aim to bring in an impact through character building in individuals which would in turn bring change at various levels – from individual to community.

Caravan Classroom Foundation’s mission is to instil the seeds of holistic upbringing via sustainable practices as a living, in formal and informal education through its work with Citizens, Government bodies, Non-Government Organizations, Educational Institutions, Corporates, Policy Makers and reaching out to youth and the general community. It is to integrate education as a key driver for change in demonstrating and advancing sustainable practices in rural and urban communities, businesses and the public sector, and in meeting challenges of global issues such as climate change and biodiversity conservation. It also promotes individual and collective positive actions that are environmentally friendly, economically workable and socially valuable.

About the Walk – “Beat Plastic Pollution”

Professionally, being in media field, she had been associated with burning issues and was campaigning against such issues, pollution being one of them, so when she got to know that India was hosting World Environment Day, 2018 it instantly clicked her to make use of this opportunity. Which led to this walk aiming for beating plastic pollution. 

Rajeshwari Singh walked 1,100 km in 45 days from Vadodara to reach the capital on to raise awareness about plastic pollution and to catalyse people to stop the usage of single-use plastic items.
Keeping in mind 2018, World Environment Day’s theme of “Beat Plastic Pollution”, She undertook the journey on foot from Gujarat on April 22, making her way through Rajasthan and Haryana, interacting with locals from the cities she passed. Her goal was to make people more conscious about the quantum of single-use plastic being used in homes and how it was impacting the environment.