These child prodigies are making their mark and how

Children are often perceived to be uncut diamonds, the clay that is yet to be moulded. But in the words of Irish artist Stacia Tauscher, “We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, we forget that he is someone today.” Children are free—to think, create and innovate. They put no limits on their capacity to dream. They strive fearlessly towards what they want, unlike most of us. In India, nearly one-fourth of the country’s population is below 18 years of age and they’re all things bright, ambitious and creative. In a world of fierce competition and being part of the rat race, their only resolve is to create a better tomorrow and have some fun while they’re at it. Armed with technology, unimaginable intellect and exposure to the world’s many facets—challenges and all—these children have achieved admirable awards, broken records, and created impact.

A low-cost tool to identify elephant poachers—Anika Puri

When the US-based, 13-year-old Anika Puri travelled to India a few years ago and saw a flourishing ivory jewellery market in Mumbai, she was shocked. And she wasn’t wrong. Elephant poaching had been made an illegal activity in India since the 1970s. To combat the problem, Puri developed a low-cost prototype of a software that records and analyses movement patterns in thermal infrared videos of humans and elephants. It is said to be four times more accurate than current detecting methods.

Neer Setu Farming Innovation, Triple-Lock Borehole protection lid and lots more—Shreenabh Agrawal

He’s written and presented seven research papers, authored two books, is a coder and is an innovator at the core of it all. His website is only a brief glimpse into his mind and vision for tomorrow. The Neer Setu Farming project is a jute-reinforced farming method to save the crops from drought, thereby helping farmers in areas such as Karnataka and Maharashtra, and thus reducing the incidence of farmer suicides. When the model was tested at the Raman Science Centre Innovation Hub, they found an increase in the productivity of the wheat crop by 300 per cent and a reduction in water consumption by 400 per cent. Agrawal also invented a product to prevent loss of life due to open borewells.

Nine musical instruments, 29 broken records – Vyom Ahuja

This 12-year-old, Lucknow-based boy has 28 records in his name in the India Book of Records, including that of the youngest player to play nine musical instruments at the age of nine, creating an algorithm with knight moves on the chess board for which he was given the title of Grand Master and his most recent entry of becoming the fastest child to solve the Brainvita Game. Ahuja practices what he calls ‘Flute-boxing’ which is a fusion of beat-boxing with the flute and has given more than 300 stage performances so far.

Minecraft Student Ambassador—Namya Joshi

The 15-year-old Namya Joshi describes herself as a Minecraft mentor, an author, a podcaster, a speaker and an entrepreneur. When she was 13, she won a UNESCO Award for creating a virtual library on Minecraft, mapped to the various modules of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She has been an active participant in UN projects such as ‘Everyday Kindness,’ ‘No Poverty and Zero Hunger.’ Her motto is #EachOneTeachTen and Joshi has spent the last few years designing and conducting coding workshops for more than 10,000 teachers and students, and her ultimate aim is to raise awareness about social and environmental issues and develop solutions for the same.

A wristband to track Alzheimer patients – Hemesh Chadalvada

Hemesh Chadalvada is a Hyderabad-based web developer and innovator who created a smart wristband device which would help track and identify the whereabouts of Alzheimer patients. The idea occurred when his grandmother was diagnosed with and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. The wristband was approved by the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India, which also requested Chadalvada to create smaller versions to enable large-scale production. His ultimate aim is to use technology and innovation to help vulnerable sections of society.

Environmental activist – Prasiddhi Singh

Winner of the Prime Minister National Child Award in 2021, 10-year-old Prasiddhi Singh is all about the environment. After Cyclone Varda, which wreaked havoc in Chennai in 2016, Singh took it upon herself to create a cleaner and greener planet. Amidst accolades, awards and recognition, Singh has since, planted nearly 76,000 trees, created eight fruit forests in government schools across Tamil Nadu, and is on a mission.