Five youngsters were honoured with the Rotary Young Achievers Awards for their remarkable commitment to service. The awardees were selected from 245 nominations from 29 Rotary districts by a jury comprising former Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Munish Bhandari, former Rajasthan minister Bina Kak, and sports journalist Jovito Lopes, said awards committee co-chair PDG Anil Agarwal. Each winner was given ₹1 lakh, along with a trophy and citation.
Among the recipients was Akarshana Sathish (14), founder of The Open Libraries, who has established 24 libraries to make books accessible to underprivileged children in Hyderabad. In a gesture reflecting Rotary values, she donated her prize money back to Rotary to help establish 100 more libraries across India.
Aneesha Narain, District Interact Representative, who is a Paul Harris Fellow from Delhi, was recognised for her humanitarian initiatives, including Project OGAAN, which provided 7,000 underprivileged children with new sweaters.
Nidhi Rana, an Interactor and entrepreneur from Chandigarh, is the co-founder of Steptern, TetraCaps and Eco Flow Initiative — ventures spanning AI-powered education, circular-economy furniture design and sustainable water engineering.
International bestselling author Bhavini Bhargava has won over 30 global awards for her poetry collection Unheard. Suhana Saini from Rohtak, a world junior table tennis champion, completed the list of young achievers.
Child prodigy Raul John Aju delivered an engaging talk on artificial intelligence, explaining its real-world applications and urging youngsters to focus on innovation, skills and creativity. While AI may transform job roles, it will also create new opportunities. Human curiosity and creativity remain irreplaceable, he said.
The institute also witnessed the felicitation of three Padma Shri awardees by Rotary leaders: Senior Supreme Court advocate C S Vaidyanathan recalled his association with Rotary as a Group Study Exchange student in 1978, when he was selected by RID 320 (Madras) for a programme in Mississippi, US. Dr Neerja Bhatla, former Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at AIIMS, New Delhi, and a former member of RC Delhi Chanakya Puri, was honoured for her pioneering work in cervical cancer management.
Gurvinder Singh, founder of the Bhai Kanhaiya Manav Sewa Trust in Sirsa, Haryana, was recognised for his work in health, education and humanitarian service. A paraplegic due to a spinal cord injury from a road accident, his experiences during his hospitalisation inspired him to dedicate his life to public welfare, he said.
Thirty corporates, including JK Cement, Bata, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Sun Pharma and Jindal Steel, were conferred CSR Awards. Conceived by PDG Manjoo Phadke as a district initiative in 2018–19, the programme has since grown into a national event, with 126 companies shortlisted from 740 entries for the final round.
PRIDs P T Prabhakar and Anirudha Roychowdhury felicitated a 39-member team of the International Fellowship of Motorcycling Rotarians (IFMR), currently on a pan-India rally from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Having already covered 14,000km across the eastern, southern and western regions, the team is expected to complete a journey of 1.3 lakh km, spreading goodwill and raising awareness about Rotary across villages, towns and cities.