Young Achiever

Young Achiever: Aarav Sureka

Go kart prodigy Aarav Sureka (9) is blazing a trail on national and international motor racing circuits. Last January (2024), Aarav won the FMSCI IndiKarting Pro Season Championship 2024 held in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Nine months later, this Mumbai-based go-karter finished #5 in the Final of Round 5 (Chennai) of the Rotax Max Challenge […]

Young Achiever: Kenisha Bathia

Kenisha Bathia (10), a class V student of Children’s Academy School, Mumbai is captivating friends and audiences with her extraordinary grasp of ancient Indian mind and memory techniques. She can recall and accurately rattle off up to 100 names in any prescribed order — with a single glance. Coincidentally, Kenisha’s father, Dhaval, was also […]

Young Achiever: Young Inventors

Team G2 — a quintet comprising Aryan Rahul Yadav, Mushfiq Mohd Ghous Farooqui, Shreyansh Shridhar Kasturi, Falak Mallebari and Krishika Amit Kambli, all class VI-VIII students of Mumbai Public School Hariyali Village CBSE School, Vikhroli, Mumbai — has designed the prototype of a Smart Hygienic Toilet which bagged first prize at the RoboRise Innovation […]

Young Achiever: Aryan Nehra

Currently a final year undergrad student at the Florida University (USA), Ahmedabad-born Aryan Nehra (21) is a promising swimming champion with over 100 state, national and international aquatic championship medals and trophies displayed on his mantelpiece at home. In February at the 38th National Games of India staged in Uttarakhand, this Gujarat merman who […]

Young Achiever: Tanish Kumar Sahu

A class IX student of Chhattisgarh’s Bhilai Steel Plant Senior Secondary School, Tanish Kumar Sahu (14) was crowned national champion at the 25th edition of TCS IT Rural Quiz (TCSITRQ) 2024 staged last November. The quiz attracted participation from over 5.6 lakh students from rural and small town India.

Following two elimination rounds which began […]

Young Achiever: Garuda Balaji

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

For fearlessly captivating audiences in schools, colleges, orphanages, NGOs, and temples with his extraordinary grasp of Sanskrit shlokas and wisdom beyond his years, Bengaluru-based Garuda Balaji (7), a class II student of the city’s Orchids The International School, has recently merited entry into the India Book of Records and also the Asia […]

Young Achiever: Turiya Uma Kalyan

Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai)

Turiya Uma Kalyan (17), a Chennai-based fisherfolk evangelist, recently launched an informal cooperative christened Nambikkai Alai (“Tide of Trust” in Tamil) — comprising a group of 30 fishermen and women — to address the socio-economic challenges of the fisherfolk community.

A socially aware class XII student of the city’s APL Global School, […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Anish Sarkar

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

Kolkata-based chess prodigy Anish Sarkar (4) who earned the distinction of becoming the youngest FIDE rated (1555) player in history last October (2024), is the latest to join the elite league of celebrated Indian chess players.

Anish made his debut at age three years and eight months at the first All Bengal Rapid […]

Young Achiever: Manisha Ramadass

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

A trainee at the nationally renowned Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), Bengaluru, Manisha Ramadass is the first Indian woman para-athlete to have won an international paralympics badminton medal.

In the 25-minute final of the SU5 category — a classification for players with upper limbs disability — the 19-year-old upset Denmark’s Cathrine Rosengren […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Pragnya Mohan

Runa Mukherjee Parikh (Ahmedabad)

With high hopes of winning an Olympic medal in Los Angeles four years from now, Ahmedabad-based South Asian and national triathlon champion Pragnya Mohan (30) has also set her heart and mind on the success of her social project “Ek beti, Ek cycle” (one daughter, one cycle).

After being selected a Young […]

Young Achiever: Turiya Uma Kalyan

At just 17, Turiya Uma Kalyan, a 12th-grade student from APL Global School, Chennai, has proven that determination and empathy can drive real change. Through her initiative Nambikkai Alai (Tide of Trust), she has not only addressed the socio-economic challenges of fisherfolk communities but has also inspired many with her research-driven, culturally rooted […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Sayani Das

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

Kalna (West Bengal)-based Sayani Das (26) is the first Asian woman to swim the 34.5-km North Channel, a strait between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Notwithstanding freezing cold conditions, strong currents and gusty winds, on August 30 Sayani swam the channel braving box jellyfish and assorted marine species, in 13 hours 22 minutes […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Deepthi Jeevanji

Somasekhar Mulugu (Hyderabad)

Warangal (Telangana)-based para-athlete Deepthi Jeevanji (21) won a bronze medal in the 400m T20 (classification for athletes with intellectual disabilities) sprint event of the Paralympics Games 2024 staged in Paris between August 28-September 8. Introduced in 1976, Paralympic Games is an international multi-sports event modelled on the Olympics, featuring athletes with physical […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Tanvi Patri

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Tanvi Patri

Even as the star of former badminton world champion P.V. Sindhu is dimming, another star is rising in Bengaluru’s world-class Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA). Early teen Tanvi Patri is earning encomiums in the international and national badminton circuits. In late August, 13-year-old Tanvi recorded a stunning victory over […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Swapnil Kusile

Nasrin Modak Siddiqui (Mumbai)

Swapnil Kusile

Back in Pune from the Paris Olympics 2024 (July 26-August 11), Swapnil Kusale, bronze medalist in the men’s 50 metre rifle three-position event, was given a red carpet hero’s welcome.

The 29-year-old gives credit for his exemplary achievement to supportive parents — Suresh Kusale, a Zilla Parishad school teacher, […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Ved Lahoti

Autar Nehru (Delhi)

It’s raining accolades for Indore teenager Ved Lahoti (17). A student of Allen Career Institute, Kota, Ved chalked up an incredible 355 of a maximum possible score of 360, the highest ever in IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) Advanced — held on May 26. IIT-JEE (Mains), the joint entrance examination of India’s globally […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Kaamya Karthikeyan

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

A class XII student of Mumbai’s CBSE-affiliated Navy Children School, Kaamya Karthikeyan (16) became the youngest Indian to scale Mt. Everest — the highest point on Planet Earth. On May 20, she accomplished this eight-hour gruelling feat from the Nepal side for the first time after pioneer woman mountaineer Bachendri Pal four […]

Young Achievers

Shivangini Arora

A list of Bangalore-based Shivangini Arora’s (23) achievements would require many more pages than the editor of EducationWorld could possibly spare. With a passion for media and journalism, Arora has freelanced for numerous youth publications in India and abroad including Teens Today, Bangalore Times, Mcube, Levis Cool Coed and Talent Asia.

“I admire communicative prose and oratory prowess and I feel quite […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Team Think

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Team Think — comprising Mukkabir Rahman, a class XII student of Pragya Academy, Ankush Yadav, a student of IIT-Kanpur, and Varsha K.J, a student pursuing chartered accountancy, all from Assam’s Golaghat district — was adjudged a winner of Solve for Tomorrow (SFT) 2023, a CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative of Samsung (India).

Their […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Rayaan Naveed

Nasrin Modak Siddiqui (Mumbai)

Mumbai-based Rayaan Naveed Siddiqui (13) is the newly crowned Spell Master of India. In the final round of the national season XIII SBI Life Spell Bee 2024 hosted by popular actress-anchor Mandira Bedi in Mumbai on March 10, this talented teen bested 75 spelling whiz kids who made the final round […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Vivo ignite champs

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

An AM Naik School, Powai, Mumbai (estb.2022) team — comprising class IX students Vedanshi Mehta, Aarav Mohanraj and Arushi Ganguly — was declared National Winner of the Vivo Ignite Science & Innovation Ver. 2.0 competition for innovating prototypes of green, energy-efficient, economical and safe Smart Street devices. The finale was staged in New […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Karman Singh

Autar Nehru (Delhi)

Revolted by stinking storm water drains choked with garbage in Jammu’s Nanak Nagar neighbourhood, Karman Singh, a class X student of the city’s top-ranked Jodhamal Public School (JPS), has designed a Smart Dustbin solution. Last November, Karman was awarded a British patent for his revolutionary invention.

The Smart Dustbin combines radio technology with an […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Ayaan & Shaurya

Noida-based Ayaan Suri and Shaurya Mahajan — members of Team Quadrex — are the newly crowned under-14 junior champions of RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) 2023, staged between December 5-9 (2023) at the Alpensia Convention Center in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Team Quadrex was among six teams invited from five countries to compete in RCAP 2023, after winning […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Ayaan Deshpande

Mumbai-based music prodigy Ayaan Deshpande (10) has sprung into the global limelight. Last August, he was adjudged winner in piano proficiency and composition at the Golden Key Music Festival, Vienna. This qualified him to perform at the winners’ Gala Concert held at the majestic Ehrbar Hall — once the concert venue for 19th century Western […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Anush Agarwalla

Somasekhar Mulugu (Hyderabad)

Paderborn (Germany)-based equestrian Anush Agarwalla (24) was among 26 sportspersons conferred the prestigious Arjuna Award, 2023 for outstanding performance in sports by President Murmu on January 9. Anush won a gold medal in the team event and a historic bronze — India’s first — in the individual equine dressage event at the Asian […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Arnav Daga

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

For building the world’s tallest (11ft 4 inches) freestanding structure showcasing four iconic buildings of Kolkata — St. Paul’s Cathedral, Writers’ Building, Shaheed Minar, and Salt Lake Stadium — in 41 days using 143,000 playing cards without tape or adhesive, city-based Arnav Daga (16) merited an entry into Guinness World Records last December […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Haazik Kaizi

Nasrin Modak Siddiqi (Mumbai)

A class XII student of the wholly residential Hotchkiss School in Connecticut (USA), Haazik Kaizi (17) is a young environment activist battling oceanic plastic pollution. His smart ship christened Ervis uses centripetal force, a multistage cleaner and compactor to sustainably and responsibly cleanse the seas of plastic waste. Last September, Haazik was […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Aryan Rajvanshi

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Ahmedabad-based Aryan Rajvanshi (16) is a teenage prodigy representing the growing tribe of social innovators countrywide. Last November, a six-minute documentary video featuring his breakthrough innovation MechaCrop was showcased at the United Nations’ Global Impact Summit — a global initiative to support young innovators — in New York (USA). MechaCrop integrates AI and […]

Young Achievers

Vikram Hemanathan

Though only 19 years of age Bangalore-based Vikram Hemanathan is already a youth of many achievements. This enthusiastic and cheerful teenager has won more than 200 prizes and awards in inter-school art, drama and sports competitions. His most recent and highly prized accolade is an award in the “Greetings Galore” contest of the IV SAARC International Youth […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Anahat Singh

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

A grade X student of Delhi’s upscale The British School, Anahat Singh is set to make an impact in the international squash racquets circuit. In November, this 15-year-old was crowned women’s national squash champion at the HCL 79th National Squash Championship staged in Chennai.

Earlier in October, Anahat bagged two bronze medals in the […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Anandkumar

Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai)

In early October, Chennai-based engineering student Anandkumar (20) returned with a bronze medal from the Asian Games 2023 staged in Hangzhou (China). He was among the three-member-strong 3,000 m speed roller skating relay team which finished behind South Korea and gold medalists Chinese Taipei.

Winning an Asian Games medal for India was a dream […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Aditi Swami

– Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Satara (Maharashtra)-based Aditi Swami (17) returned home to a hero’s welcome after winning gold and bronze medals in her debut in the compound archery team and individual events at the XIX Asian Games 2023, which concluded in Hangzhou (China) in early October. Aditi went well-prepared for Hangzhou. In August, she was the […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: D Gukesh

– Runa Mukherjee Parikh (Ahmedabad)

Chennai’s chess prodigy D. Gukesh (17) is on a roll this year. In September, he ended former five-times world champion Viswanathan Anand’s 36-year reign in FIDE live ratings to become India’s top-ranked chess player. There’s more.

The world’s third youngest GM (grandmaster) and India’s youngest (12 years, 7 months, and 17 days), […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Jyothi Yarraji

– Somasekhar Mulugu (Hyderabad)

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)-based athletics star Jyothi Yarraji (24) is on a roll this year. At the recently concluded XIX Asian Games staged in Hangzhou (China), she won a silver medal in the 100 metres hurdles clocking 12.91 seconds — .13 seconds faster than her own national record. Earlier in July, this lanky […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Ayhika & Sutirtha Mukherjee

– Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Back in Kolkata from the XIX Asian Games — which concluded in Hangzhou, China with a blaze of colour on October 8 — Ayhika Mukherjee (26) and Sutirtha Mukherjee (28) brought home a bronze medal in table tennis (women’s doubles). En route, they derived considerable consolation from having bested world champion Chinese […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Gokul Kumar

– Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Abu Dhabi (UAE)-based Gokul Karthik Kumar (24) is bent on leveraging the power of AI (artificial intelligence) to create positive social impact in the world. Among his innovations are a

GOKUL KUMAR

methodology to detect hate speech in social media memes, an AI-human interactive dubbing platform and deep learning-based text-to-speech systems in […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Lydian Nadhaswaram

-Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai)

LYDIAN NADHASWARAM

Chennai-based teenage music prodigy Lydian Nadhaswaram (17) sprang into the global limelight after he won the $1 million (Rs.7 crore) The World’s Best (American reality show) title in 2019 for piano proficiency, and wowed viewers on The Ellen DeGeneres Show with blindfold piano play. In addition, he plays 18 musical […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Akshar Mishra

-Autar Nehru (Delhi)

A class IX student of Prelude Public School, Agra, Akshar Mishra is the latest teen to join India’s league of young novelists. On April 8, this 14-year-old’s second novel The World of Magic Powers (Himanshu Publications) was released at Prelude School jointly by Dr. Prateep Philip (former DGP, Tamil Nadu & author), Salim […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Team Udaan

-Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

L-R: Prisha, Anupriya & Vanalika

Team Udaan comprising Prisha Dubey, Anupriya Nayak and Vanalika Konwar — all class XII students of Amity International School, Saket, New Delhi — was adjudged winner of the inaugural Corporate Social Responsibility Program of Samsung (India) — Solve for Tomorrow (SFT) 2022 National Innovation Competition, for developing […]

Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Anandini Sengupta

-Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

A class X student of Kolkata’s top-ranked Modern High School (MHS) for Girls, Anandini Sengupta (15) is still savouring the sweet taste of success, months after her short story Hope Floats was selected from 10,000 entries and published by Scholastic Publishers in an anthology titled Teen Tales. The Top 16 entries of aspiring […]