Prashant Chaudhary wins the Rohini Nayyar Prize

Dehradun technology educator Prashant Chaudhary has won the fifth Rohini Nayyar Award for outstanding contribution to rural development. Created in memory of Mrs. Nayyar, a scholar-administrator and rural development activist, the award is presented annually by the Nayyar Foundation to noted contributors to social and economic causes.

Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant presented the award to Mr. Chaudhary on Saturday (October 31, 2026). The award includes a cash prize of ₹ 10 lakh, a citation and a trophy. This year’s winner was selected by a jury with experience from civil society, academia and state administration. “Mr. Chaudhary is the founder of the CodeYogi Foundation, which equips India’s untapped youth with practical artificial intelligence and technology skills. His platform runs exclusively on family smartphones in Indian languages, without dependence on computers, labs, English or trained teachers,” the foundation said in a statement.

The first person from his village near Meerut, UP to join an IIT (IIT Delhi, 2010), Mr. Chaudhary started teaching technology to students from his village right after graduation. “In 2020, he committed to expanding this mission and introducing CodeYogi. The model has now evolved into a 30-day applied AI fluency program where students use real AI tools for tasks that are relevant to their studies and family life. Over the past three years, it has expanded to more than 350,000 students in 9 districts,” Issue 120 added.

Published – 01 Nov 2026 21:49 IST