#DoCCDiaries: Learning in the Himalayas: Management meets fragile ecosystems

Ravi Thakkar, Abhiram R, Piyush Chaudhari and Onkar Kotpalliwar embarked on their DoCC SPJIMR social internship with Healing Himalayas, an NGO that has spent close to a decade pioneering circular waste management across Himachal and Uttarakhand. Their journey led them to Kedarnath, where faith and fragility meet at 3,600 metres.

The climb is steep, the weather changes within minutes, and the flow of pilgrims strains every system. The temple steps gleam each morning, yet the inner lanes reveal sewage in drains, waste mixed in corners, and fragile infrastructure under stress.

In their first week, the cohort: Joined Karmacharis at dawn for IEC (Information, Education, Communication) rounds; conducted surveys with shops, dhabas, and homestays; took part in clean-up drives that filled bags from just 100 meters of roadside; tested reclaimify, a digital tool to capture waste patterns and practices

Challenges remain—hotels and stalls lack dry-waste bags, collection staff often carry only one, and shopkeepers cite limited storage space. Yet interventions are under way: pilot hotel partnerships for segregation, repeated IEC sessions, and collaborations with Nagar Panchayat and Sulabh staff.

Kedarnath is not just a destination but a classroom of resilience. Here, management education is tested against field realities—where circular economies, fragile ecologies, and everyday dignity intersect.

As the students observed: ‘The main road to the temple is spotless, but just behind it lie overflowing drains. Cleanliness here is often about image management—real sustainability requires much more.’

The experiences of the Kedarnath cohort remind us that learning happens in motion, in lived spaces—step by step, survey by survey, bag by bag in the field—beyond the classroom.

This effort is guided by Healing Himalayas’ founder Pradeep Sangwan, outreach manager Nikhil Laroiya, and manager Neha Mittal—with Ishwar Dass and Lalit mentoring the students on the ground. We thank them for hosting our students.

Development of Corporate Citizenship (DoCC), pioneered by SPJIMR over 30 years ago, is a mandatory initiative that builds participants’ sensitivity towards societal issues. Through immersive social internships across India and South Asia, participants apply management learning to real-world community challenges. Focused on sustainability, futures, and community, DoCC also hosts events connecting corporates, civil society, and the development sector. Recognised as a vital part of SPJIMR’s pedagogy, it shapes socially conscious leaders who drive meaningful, inclusive change.