We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Siddarth Sikakolli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Siddarth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

Yes. Our whole objective was to serve one community that’s not only underserved, but overlooked. ProjectVikas, the initiative I have been running for a while now, is geared toward serving individuals in rural parts of India with access to legal aid and underfunded legal clinics across rural India. When we think of problems in India, we think of hunger and poverty. An Issue that stems from this is the lack of legal representation, a fundamental right every human being must have in order to survive this generation that’s full of uncertainties.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

If anyone knows me, they know me as the guy who’s all into the law. No one doubts it. If they hear the name Sid, it’s me, the high school student who has only and will only pursue a career in policy to change the world. That starts with the law. Ever since I joined my Middle School Debate club, I have loved to create points, deliver arguments, and most of all, understand both sides. To me, becoming a legal professional was the way to go. One issue, though. One part of being a lawyer is to serve the people who need it. Not anything corporate or business related, as that’s just not my cup of tea, but criminal defense or Constitutional law. That’s where you can serve the people more directly. Not like there’s anything wrong with corporate law. This led me to the dilemma where not everyone in the world has access to these professionals who are tasked to serve the “people.” Especially in my motherland, India. A place rich in culture but plagued by poverty. It is an issue not tackled enough, especially in places like India, where the legal system is just so misunderstood. I then created Project Vikas for that one purpose. To solve the lack of legal representation, by partnering with local legal aid to help fight that concern.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

For years, I believed that nonstop hustle was the only path to success. I’d fill every hour with work, thinking rest was weakness. But after burning out midway through high school, I realized productivity without balance leads to breakdown. It took stepping back, and actually doing less, to find clarity, creativity, and sustainable success. Sometimes, slowing down is the real power move. Luckily I figured that out before I go to college.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Our non-profit initially wanted to target individuals in India directly. This enables handling individuals’ legal access by giving it to them with our partners. Unfortunately, we soon figured out that doing that required a lot of support and manpower in India itself, which we did not have at the time. It was just a bunch of ragtag high school students wanting to initiate a cause we believed vital. I realized, however, that what if we could go to the next best thing. Legal aid in India. Since they actually handled what we wanted to, we reached out to a bunch of clinics that were on the verge of falling due to a lack of support. I still remember making those cold calls in the middle of the night since there’s a significant time difference between Atlanta and Delhi.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://projectvikas.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevikasproject/

Image Credits

Suresh Volam / Sri Photos