Varun Shrivastava

Varun Shrivastava (born 5 November 1986) is an Indian social reformer focused on education. He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur. Shrivastava has received several awards including the "Young Alumni Achiever Award" conferred upon him by his alma mater. a non-profit working for underprivileged children. He is trained CSR Professional from IICA (Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs) and a keynote motivational speaker. He pioneered the concept of footpathshala through this organization. It aims to replace begging bowls with books and bring schools to those who cannot reach school. UPAY has reached 9 states, operating 46 education centers. It has impacted the lives of thousands of children helping them move beyond begging.

Alongside he came up with an idea to make their families self-sustaining and hence, came up with an online e-commerce platform for them to sell handmade goods.

Early life Varun was born in an farmer family in Shahjahanpur village of Jhansi District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He was He attended a primary school in his village and later moved to Chirgaon, to complete his secondary school education from Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Chirgaon. Shrivastava was deeply moved by the predicament of children begging at traffic signals. Eventually, this gave him the impetus to start a movement for equitable education for every child.

Career He interned as a Research Trainee at Telephonica (R&D) in Madrid, Spain for 3 months.

Recognition Times of India referred to him as a Big Brother to street kids. He has been cited as among the top 10 ordinary Indians doing extraordinary things by Lokmat Samachar and other social media groups. He inspired youth from different backgrounds including doctors, engineers, college students, and teachers to take up the street children's cause and give them a motto of "Reach & Teach" underprivileged children.