SRIJAN was founded in 1997 by Ved Arya to make a difference in the lives of the rural poor through direct action. An opportunity to meet and observe the Gandhian way of life of Baba Amte and his wife Sadhna Amte, convinced Ved that educated professionals are needed to uplift rural communities with self-sustaining livelihood opportunities.

An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad, Ved left a career in the technology sector in pursuit of a mission to bring relief and self-reliance to the underprivileged. SRIJAN started out with small projects in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with support from donors such as Tata Trusts and The World Bank. Today SRIJAN is making a difference to the lives of over 86,545 rural families from 1,335 villages spread out in 7 Indian states with active collaboration from Government agencies, private and institutional donors.

In 2016 he founded the Buddha Fellowship Program –  a unique platform offering a complete eco-system for young emerging leaders from India’s premier educational institutions such as IITs and IIMs, an opportunity to build development enterprises