Infosys Foundation has identified winners of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards 2018 across six award categories: Healthcare, Rural Development, Destitute Care, Women’s Safety & Empowerment, Education & Sports and Sustainability. The winners were selected from a pool of more than 900 submissions by a distinguished jury comprising Prof. Trilochan Sastry, former Dean, IIM Bangalore; Padma Shree Mr. Arvind Gupta, an Indian toy inventor and science expert; Prof. Anil Gupta, visiting faculty member, IIM Ahmedabad, a globally renowned scholar of grassroots innovations and founder of the Honey Bee Network; Prof. GVV Sharma, Faculty member of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Coordinator, Teaching Learning Centre, IIT Hyderabad; Mr. Sumit Virmani, Senior Vice President and Global Head - Marketing, Infosys, and Infosys Foundation Chairperson and renowned author Mrs. Sudha Murty.
Award Winners 2018
Platinum Winners
Khushwant Rai and Anjali Khurana
Innovation: Affordable Braille Printer
In this contemporary world, an ink-jet printer is available for as less as INR 1,500. By contrast, the price of any available Braille printer starts from INR 1.5 Lakh. The cost makes braille printers inaccessible to most of world’s visually impaired population. Khushwant Rai and Anjali Khurana are trying to solve this problem with their 'Affordable Personal Braille Printer'. This printer will cost around INR 25,000 and comes with a multilingual text to Braille conversion software, called 'BabelSoft'.
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Prashant Gade
Innovation: The Inali Arm, a low cost prosthetic arm
India is home to more than 22 million people with disabilities. Most of these people have no access to prosthetic care, due to its high cost. Prashant Gade is trying to change this with his innovation, the Inali Arm, through which, Prashant aims to make prosthetic care affordable, and thereby accessible to millions of people in need.
Watch VideoGold Winners
Mayur Ramrao Ladole, Gaurav Ghanshyam Dastane and Nilesh Lakshman Jadhav
Innovation: A water disinfecting hand-pump
Mayur and team are trying to make clean drinking water accessible to millions of rural households in India. They have come up with a technology in which a slight modification in the pumping system itself can completely disinfect bore-well water. This modification of hand pump leads to a phenomenon known as hydrodynamic cavitation, which can disrupt the bacterial cells or make them nonviable, thereby making ground water safe for consumption.
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Swapnil Chaturvedi, Iti Mathur - Samagra Empowerment Foundation
Innovation: SmartLOO Platform
There are over 100 Million Urban Poor living in Indian cities, who rely on public toilets for their daily needs. However, a large number of these toilets are today in a state of disrepair. This is forcing millions of women and children to compromise on basic privacy in order to relieve themselves. SmartLOO is an IoT and AI enabled governance platform that enables Urban Local Bodies and schools to improve toilet cleaning and upkeep through monitoring capabilities, actionable intelligence, and standardization of toilet hygiene.
Watch VideoSilver Winners
Sumanth Mudaliar and Vishrut Gaurangkumar Bhatt
Innovation: Handicare
Handicare is a mobility device to help people with lower body impairment. Sumanth and Vishrut would often noticed that the wooden boards that disabled people use, result in a lot of health issues, including damage to their hands. Handicare was born as an effort to help these people be mobile, without putting their hand in contact with the ground surfaces. Handicare does not need any battery or fuel and can simply be steered for movement. More than 200 users are already using Handicare.
Aakash Bhadana, Vasu Kaushik, Rahul Gupta
Innovation: Caeli
According to statistics by WHO, more than 90% of the global population today breathes toxic air, and air pollution is the reason for over 7 million deaths every year. Patients dealing with respiratory diseases are at maximum risk from air pollution. Caeli is Aakash’s and team’s aim to help people deal with air pollution. Caeli is a smart automated drug delivery and anti-pollution mask for asthmatic and other chronic respiratory patients. It can significantly improve the quality of life for respiratory patients living or traveling in polluted areas.
Bronze Winners
Sharwan Kumar Bajya
Innovation: Agricultural equipment: Wider
Sharwan Kumar, a farmer himself, has created a machine that can help farmers in weed removal. The machine, which can be either powered by solar panels or even a bike engine, removes weed and feeds it back into the ground, in the form of green manure, which acts as a natural fertilizer for crops. Sharwan has also built a seed drill to help farmers prepare onion nurseries. This machine reduces seed wastage by over 50%.
Sanskriti Dawle
Innovation: Annie
Annie is an audio-tactile device that addresses the pain points of low braille literacy among the visually impaired by helping them learn how to read, write and type in Braille on their own. Annie can be used directly by children with visual Impairment to learn Braille, while being monitored by teachers or parents. It is accompanied by a content creation platform for interactive audio-tactile content and a companion app to track progress, schedule tests and homework, and experience new content.
Jury’s Special Awards
Ajinkya Vikas Dhariya
Innovation: PadCare
Over 12 billion used sanitary pads are discarded every year, out of which almost 98% end up in a landfill. It takes 800 years for a single sanitary napkin to decompose. PadCare Labs has developed a rapid, easy, economical and eco-friendly sanitary waste sterilization, segregation and disposal solution to deal with the problem of menstrual waste.
Karibasappa MG, Dayananda K and Anil Kumar MK
Innovation: Solar Light powered Insect Trap
Solar Insect Trap uses LED Technology for lighting with low ultra-violet light, with a range of different frequencies and wavelengths to attract flying insects. The device is aimed at reducing the usage of chemical pesticide in agriculture fields. It operates with fully automatic solar charging, with auto on and off functionality, to help trap insects that cause damage to crops.
Tarun Bothra - Saathi Pads
Innovation: 100% Biodegradable, all natural sanitary pads
Saathi has developed 100% biodegradable and compostable sanitary pads, made from banana fiber which is one of the most absorbent natural fibers and is abundantly available in India. Unlike wood pulp or cotton, it is an agricultural by-product and does not require additional land usage. Saathi pads are all-natural pads and do not contain bleach or chemicals, making them safer for women. Saathi pads also degrade within 6 months of disposal, 1200 times faster than conventional pads.
Chirag Bhandari, Siddharth Gala and Kavya Ananth
Innovation: The Yelo Bag
In India, a large number of government schools don't have proper infrastructure, including benches for children to sit and study. This problem forces kids across the country to sit on the floor for long hours, impacting their posture and spinal alignment, and creating a long term impact on their health. The Yelo Bag is designed to help solve this problem. The Yelo Bag is a school bag that converts into a sturdy writing desk, and helps children sit upright.
