On Gandhi Jayanti, around a thousand young people gathered at Kalindi Kunj in Delhi, near the Yamuna River. Before starting the trash collection, they removed their shoes and approached the river barefoot.
Participants included students from various colleges of Delhi University, groups of friends, members of the Environmental Club, and NSS volunteers. Some came with gloves and bags, while others simply wanted to take part in the morning event. For a short time, everyone walked together towards the river.
This small gesture was aimed at helping the Yamuna River stop seeming like someone else's problem. Soon after, the main work began, and by the end of the cleanup, the students had collected over 2000 kilograms of waste from the riverbank.
The morning was part of the Gen Z Yamuna Jal Chaupal 2026 event, organized by Green Pencil Foundation in collaboration with The Better India. However, the essence of the event was not so much the one-day cleanup, but rather to encourage the youth to view a familiar problem differently: what happens if we stop walking past and start taking responsibility for the places around us?
Starting with the river, not with a lecture
The walk was led by Sandeep Khanda, founder of Green Pencil Foundation, along with Pankaj Kumar, founder of Earth Warrior, and Hiba Khan, founder of Hiba Green Foundation. The barefoot walk to the Yamuna was intended to create a sense of solidarity with the river and perhaps make the familiar environmental problem less distant.
Sandeep noted: 'We wanted the youth to feel that the Yamuna is not someone else's problem.' He added that 'the barefoot walk was symbolic, but the broader message concerned restoring the connection with the river and taking responsibility for its condition.' For students who often encounter environmental issues through coursework, campaigns, and social media, this morning offered something different—the opportunity to stand next to the river itself.
Then followed the cleanup. Students divided into three teams: one collected dry waste, another dealt with wet waste, and the third moved the segregated material to a designated spot for collection by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
From talking about trash to collecting it
The work was simple, physical, and perhaps less dramatic than discussing sustainable development online. But that was the point. Priyanshi, representing EnviSAGE, the environmental society of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College, said: 'When you are actually standing next to the river and starting to collect trash, the problem feels completely different. It makes you think about where our trash comes from and where it ends up.'
For Bumi Patak from Haritashray, the Environmental Club Society, this experience helped her feel the closeness of the Yamuna. She shared: 'Many of us grow up in Delhi without a real connection to the Yamuna. Coming here, working together, and observing the river up close, the problem becomes much more personal.'
Students from groups such as EnviSAGE, Haritashray, Paritantra, NSS ARSD, Green Brigade, Samvriti, Adveka, Aranya, Prithvi The Eco Club, and NSS SRCC participated in the event.
Cleanup may have its limits
Collecting trash in one section of the riverbank alone cannot solve the much larger problems of the Yamuna. The students understood this. Durgesh Kumar from Paritantra, Acharya Narendra Dev College, stated: 'We can clean one section of the riverbank today, but if we don't understand why the trash gets into the river, the problem will continue. Cleanup must be accompanied by discussions and changes in our daily behavior.'
This idea permeated the entire day: civic responsibility is not only about cleaning up public spaces after they become polluted. It is also about asking ourselves what we do before the trash reaches that place. The gathering brought together students from different colleges around this shared responsibility. For Kartik Palival from NSS ARSD, this was one of the most encouraging moments.
He emphasized: 'Environmental problems do not belong to one college, one organization, or one group. They require collective participation.'
Young people do not want to wait
Beneath the cleanup lay a broader question: what happens after everyone goes home? Prachi Jayra from Green Brigade, Professional Education College, believes the answer lies in changing the perception of youth in environmental discussions. She said: 'We are constantly told that youth are the future. But we are also the present. We want to participate in solving environmental problems now, instead of waiting for someone else to take action.'
Others spoke of shifting this responsibility back to their campuses. Yuvraj Singh from Adveka, Dial Singh College Environmental Club, believes that the discussion about the Yamuna should continue throughout the year through campus activities and daily choices. Prerna Bati from Prithvi The Eco Club believes that youth should be involved not only in campaigns but also in making decisions about what happens afterward. She noted: 'Youth should not only be called upon when there is a campaign. They should also be included in discussions about what comes next.'
Perhaps this is the hardest part of any civic initiative: maintaining that feeling after the gloves are taken off and everyone goes home.
The Yamuna Jal Chaupal event cannot change the river in a single day. However, it achieved something smaller, but perhaps more immediate: it brought together a generation that often hears about the Yamuna as a problem, confronting the river itself face-to-face. They walked barefoot. They collected trash. They discussed what could be changed in their campuses and in daily life. As Swanman Kaul from NSS SRCC says: 'When hundreds of students gather, even a simple act like cleaning the riverbank becomes a collective statement. The task now is to carry this responsibility beyond one day.'
And perhaps this is where civic responsibility begins. Not with a slogan or a one-day campaign, but with the realization that the places around us are not someone else's responsibility. The river belongs to the city, and the city belongs to all of us.
