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GLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | FUTURE LEADERS
Ideas, initiatives and projects that are making a difference
Prajakta is India’s 1st UNDP climate champ
Prajakta Koli
Content creator and actress Prajakta Koli is India’s first UN Development Programme Youth Climate Champion. She was conferred the title for her contribution towards mental health, women’s rights and girl child education.
An entrepreneur in the making
Divyesh Yeluri, entrepreneur
At 16, he has won the Youngest Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2021 for coming up with the idea of a nature-friendly, anti-bacterial bath towel called Towelights. Manufactured in Himachal Pradedsh, he wants to expand the units in Telugu states.
Protecting infants from Co2 levels in closed cars
Dakshyani Pandey, innovator
Dakshyani Pandey won the India@75 National Youth Ideathon 2021 for developing a cost-effective automotive prototype that could save infants who suffocate in cars. It detects Co2 levels inside a car, and automatically allows fresh air to flow into the car.
Helping clean water bodies
Varun Saikia, innovator
Fifteen-year-old Varun Saikia won an outstanding achievement award from the IRIS National Fair 2021 for inventing Flipper, a floating device that cleans garbage from the surface of oceans, streams and rivers.
1st Indian-origin politician in Australia
Lisa Singh, Australian politician
The first India origin politician elected to the Australian parliament in 2011, she was a senator from the state of Tasmania. She is currently the director of the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne.
Making cryptocurrency safe
Harshita Arora, app developer
Winner of the Bal Shakti Puraskar 2020, Harshita's Crypto Price Tracker portfolio app aims to protect users from scammers. The app analyses and keeps records of price movements for more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies from 18 exchanges in 32 fiat currencies.
GLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | THEN & NOW
Ideas, initiatives and projects that are making a difference
Creating a change
Simran Vedvyas, activist
In 2017, Dubai-based Simran received the NRI of the Year Award for leading over 75 successful youth engagement campaigns through her youth group Synergy. She is currently pursuing a career in public health.
Making dreams come true at MIT
Gopal Goel, STEM student
Gopal Goel, 17, of Oregon won $100,000 at Rengeneron Science Talent Search for studying the mathematical properties of random matrices. He is currently an undergraduate student at MIT.
From TV star to public health advocate
Dhruv Gaur, pre doctoral fellow
In 2018, Dhruv Gaur won the Jeopardy College Championship on TV, claiming the $100,000 prize. He was also on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. He is now studying economics and public health at Brown University, and is a pre doctoral fellow at Opportunity Insights.
Making biodiversity thrive
Aadya Joshi, environmentalist
She won the Children's Peace Prize 2020 for developing a database with a biopower index showing which plants best support biodiversity in different plant zones. The founder of The Right Green is now studying at Stanford University.
Working for water conservation
Shreya Ramachandran, young environmentalist
Indian-American teen environmentalist Shreya Ramachandran won the Gloria Barron Prize in 2018 for her NGO - The Grey Water Project that promotes the use of safe grey water and water conservation. She is now a freshman at Stanford University.
From AI tool developer to MIT
Nitya Parthasarthy, STEM student
In 2018, Nitya Parthasarthy developed an AI tool to detect gender-biased language in social media. Her algorithm detected words that served as a training model to detect potential gender-based stereotypes. She is doing computer science at MIT.
GLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | GIVING BACK
Ideas, initiatives and projects that are making a difference
Metal King Anil Agarwal donates 75 percent income to education
Metal King Anil Agarwal, the owner of Vedanta Group is donating 75 percent of his earnings to educational pursuits. The donation would amount to Rs 21,000 crore. The Patna born industrialist who resides in London, created the Vedanta Foundation in 1992.
Priya Patel: London-based scientist give wings to the space dreams of Indian students
The 25-year-old London-based scientist set up Sharda Foundation, an NGO to give wings to the space dreams of Indian students of modest means. The NGO will offer financial support to students keen on pursuing space-related studies. Read More
Gobhanu Sasankar Korisepati: The teen providing financial support to women
16-year-old student in Muscat, Gobhanu Sasankar Korisepati, has developed a unique microfinance concept for women. The concept titled Sustaining Women in Financial Turmoil (SWIFT) has so far benefited over 1,000 women in 77 countries. The NRI teen raised 1
Unique school for BPL girls in the Thar desert
In the middle of the Thar desert stands a fascinating school meant to educate girls from BPL backgrounds in Rajasthan. The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls' School has been designed such that it doesn't need any air conditioning despite the scorching desert lands Read More
Ishan Kapur: Distributes devices for online education during pandemic
15-year-old British Indian lad Ishan Kapur bagged the prestigious Diana Award for his humanitarian work in assisting Delhi kids to attend online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The teen organised a campaign to raise £5,000 (₹5 lakh) to distribute 100 Read More
Sheikh Asif: Upskilling Kashmiri youth
Sheikh Asif, the 27-year-old founder of UK-based web designing company Thames Infotech, has taught digital marketing to over 800 students across the globe. He has also been working to help upskill Kashmiri youth and make them job-ready. He is a nominee for Read More
GLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | STARTUPS & ENTREPRENEURS
Helping shoppers connect with local businesses
Deepak Ravindran, founder, LookUp
The founder of LookUp, Deepak's Bengaluru-based startup, which has Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and Infosys's Kris Gopalkrishnan as investors, provides a free and secure messaging app that connects shoppers with local businesses.
Designing apps and websites
Abhik Saha, Founder, Arnabhik Corp
The 16-year-old loves programming and has been enjoying working upon technologies since he was 11. With eight phone apps to his name, he has built Origgon, a social search engine. Abhik won the 2018 GYTI Award from the President of India.
World’s Youngest Serial Entrepreneur
Akhilendra Sahu, Founder, ASTNT Technologies
Known as the World's Youngest Serial Entrepreneur, he started his own business when he was 17. In three years, he became the CEO and founder of ASTNT Technologies, a tech company. He is also the co-founder of Scoop Beats Pvt Ltd, a media company.
Naman developed 22 apps
Naman Tiwari, a developer
Naman from Shahjahanpur (UP) is credited with building 22 applications covering entertainment, education, malaria detection, and security for women. He started coding at 11 and learnt different languages, mobile app development on his own.
Helping entrepreneurs spread their wings
Rohit Kashyap, founder, Maytree School of Entrepreurnship
He was just 14 when he founded Maytree School of Entrepreneurship to support young and passionate entrepreneurs in their journey. Apart from being a Karamveer Chakra awardee, he has a keen interest in finance and entrepreneurship.
Designing websites at lightning speed
Sreelakshmi Suresh, founder of eDesign
Sreelakshmi Suresh designed her first website when she was six. At 11, she started her company eDesign in 2009. Hailed as one of the youngest CEOs, she also owns another company, TinyLogo wherein she designs websites voraciously, at a rate few can emulate.
Global Indian | YOUTH | CULTURE
Bringing Indian hip-hop to the world
Suresh Mukund, dancer
The founder of Mumbai's hip-hop dance group Kings United, Suresh Mukund along with his troop won the World Choreography Awards 2020. Kings United had won NBC's reality show World of Dance Season 3, which also fetched them an Emmy nomination in 2019.
Singing in multiple languages
Sucheta Satish, singer
The Dubai-based Indian girl Sucheta has won the 100 Global Child Prodigy Award for singing in most languages during one concert. The girl, who can sing in 120 languages, launched her second album Ya Habibi in 2020.
Onir’s film script on gay officer rejected
Onir, national award-winning director
Defence ministry has rejected director Onir’s film script on the true story of a gay major who was stigmatised due to his alternative sexuality, and eventually quit the Indian Army.
Falguni Shah eyes a Grammy
Falguni Shah, artist and singer
Indian-American singer Falguni Shah has been nominated for the second time at the Grammys for the best children’s album. Shah’s music attempts to understand racial equity, and explains the same to children from diverse cultures.
Mixing Carnatic music with pop songs
Janaki Eshwar, singer
The 12-year-old made heads turn with her stunning performance on The Voice Australia in 2021. She became the youngest singer ever to audition on the singing competition. Her cover of Billie Eilish's Lovely got her a standing ovation from the judges.
Rana is a character to watch
Pravesh Rana, Indian actor
Foundation sees Pravesh Rana essaying the role of Rowan. He is best known for his appearance in Bigg Boss and Emotional Atyachar. He was also seen in a small role in the Netflix series Serpent, based on Charles Sobhraj.
GLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | GOOD READS
Top reads curated from the internet
Srikanth Bolla: The blind CEO’s £48m company which nearly didn’t happen- BBC
Educational institutions should be opened for a healthier India: Mint
A staggering crisis of education confronts the country: Mint
Anomalies that need to be fixed in India’s startup regulations: Business Insider
Take a look at how Azim Premji remembers the promises he makes: Moneycontrol
The Future of Universities: Can India Overcome The Digital Divide? Outlook
Srikanth Bolla: The blind CEO’s £48m company which nearly didn’t happen- BBC
(The article first appeared in the BBC on January 24, 2022) Every day, for two years, six-year-old Srikanth Bolla walked several kilometres to school in rural India, guided by his brother and following his classmates.The route was a muddy track, lined with shrubs, which flooded during monsoons. It wasn't a happy time...
15 Reads
Educational institutions should be opened for a healthier India: Mint
(The column first appeared in Mint on January 18, 2022)
- It was a day of interesting headlines on The Economic Times online; Sunday had stories on Tamil Nadu and Telangana extending school closures until the end of January. There was a detailed report citing Jaime Saavedra, global education director at the World Bank, who had stated upfront that closing educational institutions should be a last resort. He was not merely voicing an opinion, but citing evidence. There was no evidence that reopening schools had led to a surge in cases and that schools were not safe places. Equally, school closures had not come in the way of new and repeat waves of infections...
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A staggering crisis of education confronts the country: Mint
(The column first appeared in Mint on January 20, 2022)
- We went from one ruin to another. One, magnificent and resonant with the wonder that it once was. A centre of learning with over 10,000 students, 1,500 years ago. The other, a centre of learning today, with 300 students. The classrooms surrounded by rubble, overgrown with thorny bushes...
15 Reads
Anomalies that need to be fixed in India’s startup regulations: Business Insider
(The article first appeared in the Business Insider on January 15, 2022)
- Investors like Tiger Global, Accel and SoftBank turned a startup into a billion dollar enterprise at an average of one every eight days in 2021. Industry insiders argue that the new year could see a lot more money than the $42 billion raised by Indian startups last year, if the government would fix some of the anomalies in taxation, processes and regulations...
15 Reads
Take a look at how Azim Premji remembers the promises he makes: Moneycontrol
(The article first appeared in the Moneycontrol on January 18, 2022) The highly successful and effective often have certain habits that set them apart; many are early risers, they send out e-mails between 4 am and 6 am, or, they switch off from work-mode in the evenings. For business tycoon Azim Premji, it’s how he remembers things...
15 Reads
The Future of Universities: Can India Overcome The Digital Divide? Outlook
(The article was first published in the Outlook on January 15, 2022)
- As 2022 gets off to a limping start, the impending crisis in higher education so different in India and in the West, that they practically complement each other. So much so that they could almost solve each other’s problems...
15 ReadsGLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | WORLD IN NUMBERS
Statistically speaking
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Fun facts about India and Global Indians
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GLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | GIRLS IN STEM
Nileena Mariam Jones: Student conservationist
Nileena Mariam Jonesh won the Diana Award at nine for her eco-conservation and humanitarian work. The Sharjah student visited her hometown Cochin and saw it littered. This led her to recycle newspapers, clean beaches, deserts and mangrove planting as well.
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Fun facts about India and Global Indians
GLOBAL INDIAN | YOUTH | OPPORTUNITIES
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