What an IDIA, young lady!

At the age of 17, like many girls in the country, Anusha Reddy headed out of Hyderabad to pursue law from a university in Kolkata. Little did she think that life had other grand plans for her. Now 25, Anusha is the Director of the IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access) in Bengaluru. The primarily volunteer-driven organisation was founded by her professor, Shamnad Basheer. We talk to the young girl about her passion for helping students from non-English speaking backgrounds get educated in the country’s most prestigious law schools.

From a law student to director, and at such a young age! How did it all happen, is the first question that pops in anybody’s mind. “Prof. Basheer, who has been a great influence, realised that most students in our class came from privileged backgrounds and people from lower income groups had very little representation, as they didn’t have training in the field,” says the Hyderabadi girl.

“So during my college break, a friend and I headed back to Hyderabad and decided to train the visually-impaired and trained around five students, out of which two managed to get into the top law schools,” she adds excitedly.

And now, out of the 65 students who are looked after by the organisation, 13 are disabled. “I worked at a law firm in Bengaluru for over two years and realised that my professor was right. There was absolutely no diversity and everybody came from privileged backgrounds. I wanted to do my bit and give back to the society. Since I am young and don’t need to support my parents or anybody else, it’s something I can afford to do and something that I’m passionate about as well,” she says, confidently.

Anusha admits that it was her parents’ encouragement that egged her to follow her passion. “My parents have been a constant support. My father is a doctor and has instilled empathy in me which has had a huge impact on what I do,” she says.

But it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies for her or the organisation. “There are currently nine directors and there is a lot of diversity at IDIA, and we aim to generate more scholars from low income groups so that there is equal representation. One of the visually impaired persons we trained is currently not being allowed to take up the position of the judge at the Andhra Pradesh high court just because of his disability! He is fighting the battle and we are supporting him. The bias people have against such people is the most challenging thing for us to fight,” she says.

But when Anusha can, she likes to head back home to Hyderabad!