Devang Vora, Chairman SSRDP | Podcast

The Man Who Declared War on Plastic

Devang Vora left a future in computer engineering to dedicate his life to a mission. Today, as Board member of the Sri Sri Rural Development Program (SSRDP), he is leading EcoKranti - a revolution to eliminate single-use plastic from every home, institution and corner of India!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEYDQC-z3bI

Timestamps:

00:35 - The origin story

02:50 - Birth of EcoKranti & rural entrepreneurship initiatives

06:18 - The EcoKranti philosophy

07:53 - Greenwashing concerns & authentic partnerships

10:54 - People & product philosophy explained

13:03 - Shocking truth about micro-plastics

16:17 - Making sustainability convenient

18:27 - Rural entrepreneurship & empowerment

22:30 - Leadership principles

23:33 - Mental equilibrium and quality of life

The Origin

There is a particular kind of courage required to look at a problem the world has quietly accepted and say, loudly and without apology: this is not acceptable. Devang Vora has that courage. And for the past decade, he has been channeling it into one of the most urgent environmental crises of our time.

But his story does not begin with plastic. It begins with a first-year engineering student in Bombay, overwhelmed by academics, who was told by a friend that a meditation program might help him study less and score just as well.

"The carrot was simple. Study less, get the same marks. But what I discovered was something far more advanced than any technology I had encountered in computer science."

That encounter with the Art of Living set Devang on a path he has never veered from. Over 25 years, he organized youth programs that introduced thousands to yoga and meditation, led construction projects across Indian ashrams, and eventually lived at the international centre - interacting daily with people from 180 countries.

Today he serves as a board member of the Sri Sri Rural Development Program (SSRDP), leading two critical verticals: rural entrepreneurship and sustainability. At their intersection sits EcoKranti - the movement he has poured his vision into.

The Silent Demon

Ask Devang to describe single-use plastic and he does not reach for the language of policy briefs. He reaches for something more visceral.

"It is a demon," he says, plainly. "Silent, unseen, and quietly part of everyone's daily life." India generates 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. A single plastic bottle introduces approximately 250,000 nanoplastics into the human body. Studies have found traces of plastic in 80% of tested blood samples. Each week, the average person consumes microplastics equivalent to the weight of a credit card - through air, water, and food.

"Twenty-five years ago, cancer was something that happened to people over fifty. Rarely. Today, 15-year-olds have cancer. The link to what we are putting into our bodies is impossible to ignore."

When Devang was studying engineering in Bombay, there was essentially one major cancer hospital in the entire country - Tata Memorial. Cancer was rare, almost anomalous. Today, most people can name someone in their immediate circle affected by it. The connection, he believes, is not coincidental.

The Paradox That Sparked a Revolution

The specific moment that gave birth to EcoKranti is, in hindsight, a perfect metaphor for how good intentions can go astray without thoughtful execution.

Urban India embraced waste segregation - separating biodegradable wet waste from dry waste that persists for a thousand years. A genuinely excellent initiative. But as Devang observed it on the ground, he noticed something jarring: people were collecting their biodegradable wet waste in single-use plastic garbage bags - introducing 8 to 12 kilograms of toxic material per household into the environment every year.

"Here was a programme designed to help the environment," he explains, "and the execution had a bug that completely undermined the intent." The response was not a petition. It was a product. EcoKranti began by reinventing the garbage bag - 100% plant-based, compostable, and equally strong. From there the ecosystem expanded: tree-free tissues from bamboo and bagasse, compostable food packaging, eco-friendly cutlery from fallen areca palm leaves, and corporate gifting kits that let companies celebrate sustainably.

"We didn't want sustainable alternatives to be less convenient. We wanted them to be equal to, or better than, what people were already using. That was non-negotiable."

The philosophy threading through all of it: From soil, back to soil. Where conventional plastics take a thousand years to break down, EcoKranti's plant-based alternatives decompose completely in under a year - returning to the earth without a trace.

Making Sustainability the Default Choice

One of the movement's foundational bets is that asking people to sacrifice convenience for conscience is a losing strategy. EcoKranti's philosophy of “Small steps, big impact” lowers the entry point deliberately. Change your garbage bag. Switch your tissue papers. Begin there.

"Once you're on this journey," Devang says, "it becomes almost automatic. You start looking for more ways to contribute." Through partnerships with Amazon, Flipkart, Zepto, and Blinkit, EcoKranti products reach customers across India within 24 hours. Corporate partners including Cafe Vishala, The Claridges, Sunbeam School, and the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust have already made the switch - and the movement is now reaching markets in Singapore and the USA.

EcoKranti is also structured as a platform rather than a manufacturer - creating an ecosystem for authentic sustainable suppliers, and in one striking example, converting a former plastic manufacturer entirely into a compostable products producer.

Empowering the Roots of Bharat

Sustainability, for Devang, is inseparable from who gets to participate in India's growth story. With SSRDP's presence across 100,000 villages, he sees extraordinary human capital in rural India - grit, resilience, hunger to build - often held back by language barriers and limited urban exposure.

"A catalyst in chemistry doesn't get involved in the reaction directly. But because of its presence, the reaction becomes more efficient. That is exactly what we want to be for rural entrepreneurs."

The goal: support 500 rural startups in the sustainability space within two years. Increasing a rural family's income by just Rs. 15,000 a month can double their total household earnings. The multiplier effect, he says, is where real national development lives. "When we talk about a 5 trillion or 20 trillion economy, the participation of rural India has to be central to that story."

The Mind Behind the Mission On Our Podcast

Leadership, in Devang's framework, rests on three pillars: empathy, team building, and the consistent creation of win-win outcomes. "I cannot win by making you lose," he says. "I can only truly win when you win."

Underpinning all of it is mental equilibrium - a concept he has refined through 25 years of meditation practice. "The quality of the life you live is directly proportional to the quality of your mind. You may have everything, but if the mind is disturbed, you cannot enjoy any of it."

His Vision 2030 is precise: reduce the production and use of single-use plastics by a minimum of 100,000 tonnes annually. And his deeper ambition is to make the words 'recycle' and 'reuse' entirely obsolete - because the materials in use will return to the earth without needing intervention.

"We have no plan B," he says. "And we have no planet B."

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This interview was first recorded on “Brain Box - The Leadership Podcast”