"The thought of doing something for the society and seeing politics as a medium of change persisted all through my growing up years," Hemakshi Meghani tells HerStory.
"Of course, I didn't have the language to articulate it back then, but looking back, it feels like a thread that tied everything I did in my career together."
Meghani is the co-founder of the Indian School of Democracy, a not-for-profit that teaches women how to get into politics in India, where the average age of a member of parliament is 50 and only 6% of MPs are under 35, per the BBC.
Meghani, who graduated from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 2011 with a Masters in Public Policy, tells HerStory she "wanted to do something that marries gender, leadership, and politics," adding we need role models who are "current, young, and relatable to get into politics."
At the moment, 43% of India's MPs have a criminal record, including rape, murder, and other crimes against them, per HerStory.
Meghani says she and the school's co-founder, Prakhar Bhartiya, want to change that.
"If we want good, smart, and principled people to get into politics
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