On 31 July 2025, Sewa Nyaya Utthan Foundation launched Project SANKALP,an on-campus gender safety awareness and education initiative, targeting more than 100 colleges in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
The project is designed to make college campuses ragging-free, gender-sensitive and communally safe through orientation sessions, legal workshops, raising field leaders for intervention on ground and pledge drives.
The initiative was launched as a response to a series of disturbing cases reported from Bhopal in March-April 2025 involving drugging, blackmail, rape, and forced religious conversions of young women by predatory communal gangs.
National Human Rights Commission member Priyank Kanoongo flagged the possibility of organised criminal networks operating behind these patterns as culprits were from a specific community while victims from another.
Project SANKALP is a collaborative initiative between SNU and Network for Access to Justice and Multidisciplinary Outreach Foundation.
The project runs parallel to SNU’s national legal advocacy campaigns, including a Supreme Court intervention petition opposing the lowering of age of sexual consent, supported by survivor testimonies and a research study sponsored by SNU and co-authored by IIT-IIM graduate and data scientist Sanjeev Newar.
IMPACT SO FAR
Sessions at Sage University:
Project SANKALP conducted multiple awareness sessions between 11 and 13 September at Sage University campus of Bhopal, engaging over 200 students across the BBA, MBA, BTech, LLB, and Pharma streams.
The sessions focused on identifying grooming red flags, legal rights under constitutional and criminal law, and preventive strategies for campus safety.
Students expressed shock at real-world case studies shared by the facilitators, leading to spontaneous discussions on peer-led vigilance, collective reporting, and institutional accountability.
Workshop at TRUBA Institute:
A dedicated workshop for 100+ engineering students was conducted at TRUBA Institute on 25 September, decoding red flags of communal grooming, ragging-linked coercion, and blackmail traps.
Campus authorities formally committed to zero-tolerance policies and institutional cooperation with the SANKALP team.
Engagement at LNCT & Science:
Reaching 200+ students from Engineering and Pharmacy at Lakshmi Narayan College of Technology & Science, a session on 26 September emphasised preventive mapping of local risks, anonymous feedback, and creation of campus-specific replication modules.
LNCT’s engagement is now being documented as a template for future replications across MP.
Session at Technocrats Institute of Technology
Team Sankalp successfully conducted an informative and interactive session at Lakshmi Narain College of Technology (LNCT), Bhopal, on 15th October 2025. The session engaged around 100 students from the MCA department, fostering meaningful dialogue and participation.
The discussion centred on key areas such as safety within institutional premises, gender sensitisation, awareness, and available reporting mechanisms as per legal frameworks. The students actively contributed to the discourse and shared encouraging feedback on the session’s relevance, clarity, and practical value.
The initiative underscored Team Sankalp’s continued commitment to promoting awareness, safety, and informed action among youth in academic spaces.
Series of Sessions at Bhabha University
Team Sankalp conducted a series of insightful and engaging sessions at Bhabha University, Bhopal, on 14th October 2025. The sessions covered various colleges of the university, including Dental, Agriculture, Law, Science, Pharmacy, and Engineering, and witnessed enthusiastic participation of students.
The discussions focused on crucial themes of safety, gender sensitisation, awareness, and reporting mechanisms within institutional premises, as mandated under relevant laws. The sessions were highly interactive, with students actively participating, sharing perspectives, and appreciating the initiative for its practical relevance and empowering approach.
The positive feedback and response reflected the success of the sessions in fostering awareness, responsibility, and proactive engagement — marking yet another impactful outreach by Team Sankalp.
Engagement at Lakshmi Narain College of Technology (LNCT)
Team Sankalp conducted an impactful session at Technocrats Institute of Technology, Bhopal, on 27th September 2025, attended by around 150 students and faculty members.
The session focused on safety, gender sensitisation, and awareness mechanisms within institutional settings. It witnessed active engagement and thoughtful discussions, with participants appreciating the initiative for its relevance and informative approach.
The session reflected Team Sankalp’s continued efforts towards fostering awareness and responsible action within academic institutions.
We will keep updating this report as new sessions are held.
Why Sankalp
The Crisis:
College campuses should be safe spaces for knowledge and growth, not hubs for sexual exploitation, trafficking, or forced conversions. Reports of communal gangs preying upon vulnerable students have raised national alarm.
The Vision:
Project SANKALP integrates legal literacy, gender justice, and communal harmony under one actionable model.
It seeks to ensure no student falls prey to exploitation or coercion traps again, while also generating research-backed evidence for policy reforms and Supreme Court advocacy.
How You Can Support
Support Project SANKALP and help secure India’s campuses from organised exploitation: sewanyaya.in/project-sankalp