Susmitha Thomas Email & Phone Number

I was able to comprehend the complex system at work through my student years at Asian College of Journalism, a premier Journalism college in India – equipping me with the ground reality through the engaging classes, hours of reporting and an elective I undertook in Social Policy of India. Eminent personalities like P. Sainath and his lectures advocated to me the pragmatics of development. “If you cannot observe the change around you, the change ought to be you by involving in the great processes of this time – championing the cause of the deprived.”As I entered the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Suranya Kartike, a 29- year- old pregnant woman said that she has been receiving messages of installments in her bank account under Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme but her account remains empty. This was not just her story but the plight of numerous other pregnant women from the Most Backward Caste (MBC). Similarly, the awareness of the flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) billed as world’s largest government funded healthcare programme is still minimal in Tamil Nadu and hence its utilisation is nominal. When elucidating on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan “Rural India is 99 per cent open defecation free by providing toilets to over 60 crore people in 60 months and by building 11 crore toilets,” says the prime minister. While the ground reality paints a contrary picture where 48.4% villagers in K C Patty, Dindigul still do not have toilets in their homes. Since I started viewing the situations encompassing me with a critical eye, I have devoted myself to the cause of public service and social welfare.I believe that my educational background, my willingness and ability to tackle difficult situations, my strong sense of social responsibility, and, above all, my boundless enthusiasm for the cause of public service, will enable me to succeed in accomplishing my objectives. As Barack Obama said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Therefore, it is on behalf of social justice and public well-being that I will strive, for the rest of my life.