A 17-year-old from Bengaluru featured in Forbes 30 under 30

Divaa Uthkarsha, a 17-year-old girl from Bengaluru featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2025 in the Social Impact category. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Divaa Uthkarsha, a 17-year-old student from Bengaluru, has been named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2025 list in the Social Impact category, making her the youngest honoree in the category this year.

Ms. Divaa has just completed her 12th standard from the National Academy for Learning in Basaveshwar Nagar and plans to study industrial engineering in the US soon. She said, “The reason I was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list was because of the Surya Project, my non-profit organization. I started the project in 2021 when I was 13 years old after my younger brother Surya was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Watching my family go through the financial and emotional burden of his diagnosis made me think about the millions of low-income families who faces the same support in India.”

Along with her parents, Uthkarsha Lokesh and Pallavi Uthkarsha, she conducted a research study on type 1 diabetes before starting Project Surya. “Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong disease that requires daily insulin injections to survive. In India, nearly 18% of middle-income families’ income goes to managing the disease, and 80% of these families do not have access to government subsidies or health insurance. In 2022, over 35,860 people will die of type 1 diabetes without ever receiving a diagnosis. This is where Project Sury played an important role.

Shortly after launch, the youth-led non-profit reached over 4,02,000 individuals, directly supported 3,190 children living with type 1 diabetes and raised over ₹20,000 through grants, institutional partnerships and grassroots fundraising.

Reflecting on her organization’s achievements, Divaa said the nonprofit has so far donated 4,500 insulin vials, 2,500 glucose monitoring strips and 1,000 insulin syringes to families who could not afford consistent treatment. “We have also trained more than 200 ASHA health workers to create awareness about diabetes in thousands of villages and reach 49,500 villagers. During these four years, more than 1,020 glucose screenings were also conducted through free health camps,” she added.

Ms Divaa and her team have presented their work at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the International Diabetes Federation and WHO forums. Currently, Project Surya has branches in Bangalore, New Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, USA, Canada, Morocco, UAE and Nigeria with more than 120 volunteers and 35 dedicated high school volunteers.

Awards and recognition

Ms. Divaa was recognized and honored by the British Royal Family with the Diana Award 2023. She was a top 10 global finalist in the Chegg.org Global Student Prize, selected from 11,000 applicants from 140 countries. She was also one of five people in the social category (youth) to be awarded the World Sustainability Award in Amsterdam 2024.

Published – 01 Jun 2026 0:16 IST