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2024 Robert M. Duncan Alumni Citizenship Award

Shubhendu Bhuta ’05

Shubhendu Bhuta ’05

Inspired by his family’s legacy of philanthropy, Shubhendu Bhuta ’05 has made community service his mission, transforming slums in India into houses with modern amenities, revitalizing a school for underprivileged children and tackling difficult problems such as youth substance abuse.

Bhuta is director of Bhuta Realty, a family-owned business for five generations, where he works with government leaders to improve housing for people living in slums in Mumbai.

“Hundreds of thousands of people live in unhygienic and inhumane conditions in these slums,” Bhuta says. “We are building proper brick and mortar houses equipped with plumbing, sanitation, a children’s play area and other basic amenities.”  Once people move into their houses, Bhuta Realty develops the remaining land for commercial, retail and residential use.

Bhuta also works tirelessly to protect vulnerable children and empower families to prioritize education and use it as a ladder to lift them from poverty. 

To that end, he revitalized a school built by his great grandfather in 1959 for underprivileged students under the umbrella of Shree Nagardas D Bhuta Charitable Trust. Shubhendu serves as a trustee for the school & charitable trust. He replaced the school’s crumbling infrastructure and added science and computer laboratories, digital classrooms and sports fields.

He also created a free lunch program and brought in speakers from diverse fields to inspire students to pursue their dreams. His efforts boosted the school attendance and significantly improved the quality of the children’s education and exposure.

“Shubhendu Bhuta exemplifies leadership, compassion and dedication to community welfare, demonstrating outstanding service to humanity. His strong work ethic and unwavering commitment to uplifting others are admirable and worthy of emulation.”

Ruchit Shah ’05, vice president, Ohio State Alumni Club of India

"I strongly believe that the true purpose of one’s life is achieved by serving the underprivileged,” Bhuta says. “To me, serving society and helping others is a beautiful journey and not a destination.”

His work has not been without risks. Drug dealers threatened him when he joined with local leaders, school officials and parents in a campaign against substance abuse.

“It took two main attributes to face this Goliath challenge, one being my mustering the courage to go against the drug mafia,” Bhuta says. “And the other was teamwork, working with all the stakeholders including parents, teachers, the police and addiction counselors.

“And two years later, I can happily share that as of today, not a single student in our school has been reported to have consumed illicit substances,” he says.

While the problems Bhuta faces are complex, he lives by a simple philosophy: “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. However, if we empower him to fish, we feed him and his family for a lifetime.”