The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Infosys honours young achievers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 10, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Others

Infosys honours young achievers

Special Correspondent

Among the winners are an artist, a writer and a potential inventor Among the winners are an artist, a writer and a potential inventor

DOING THE COUNTRY PROUD: The young achievers with Infosys Chairman N.R. Narayanaa Murthy. — Photo: Sampath Kumar

Bangalore: They are in the 11-23 age group and they have all done their country proud by excelling in their chosen field of activity.

Eight young persons received the Infosys-Education World Young Achievers Awards on Friday. Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayanaa Murthy spent some time with each one of them.

"In a country like ours, where a vast majority of the people are poor and unschooled, it is the responsibility of the educated people to make a positive difference. This mindset is developed when one is young and the awards are to identify a young leader. Not just to recognise individual accomplishment but also for something that makes an affirmative difference to society."

The award-winners were from Bangalore and other cities and their interests were varied.

Aliya Das Gupta (17) of Vidya Niketan School, Hebbal, is a skilled horse rider who has won medals in show jumping. Abhiram Chkaraborty of Sri Sairam Engineering College, Chennai, an engineering student, has invented a "smart cap" that can help epilepsy patients and has presented scientific papers in Germany, Luxembourg and Ukraine in recent years, addressing audiences of much older and professional people. Twenty-three-year old Gaurav Gaur (23) works with Yuva Sankalpa Foundation, a non-governmental organisation carrying out extensive work on spreading HIV/AIDS awareness.

Nischinta Aamarnath (20), a student of Stella Maris College, Chennai, co-authored a book, "The Voyage to Excellence". She won the Shankars International Prize for fiction in 2003. For T.A. Aparna, a technology student, also from Chennai, the award is for filing the patent for a metered dose inhaler she designed.

Among the youngest of the award winners was Anjali Chandrasekhar of Chennai, who won a prize in the Global Children's Art Competition, held in Oslo, Norway, presenting the concept for a sculpture on "Safe and secure in mother's arms". This is to be turned into a large sculpture to be publicly exhibited there. One of her paintings was published in the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction calendar and distributed at a world conference in Japan.

Vignan Pattamatta (16) of Hyderabad is the winner of the Asian Regional Space Settlement design competition and was invited to the 93rd Indian Science Congress. Adfa Taqui of Stracey Memorial High School, Bangalore, is a 15-year-old sportsperson.

The awards presented since 2005 are sponsored by Infosys and conceptualised by EducationWorld journal.

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