Bengaluru Teen Divaa Uthkarsha Named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2025

Bengaluru, June 2, 2026: Divaa Uthkarsha, a 17-year-old student from Bengaluru, has secured a place in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2025 list under the Social Impact category, becoming the youngest person recognised in the category this year.

Having recently completed Class 12 at the National Academy for Learning in Basaveshwar Nagar, Ms. Divaa is preparing to pursue industrial engineering in the United States. The recognition, she said, was awarded because of Project Surya, the non-profit organisation she founded in 2021 at the age of 13 after her younger brother, Surya, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

“The reason for getting named in Forbes 30 Under 30 was because of Project Surya, my non-profit organisation. I launched the project in 2021 when I was 13 years old after my younger brother Surya was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Watching my family navigate the financial and emotional weight of his diagnosis led me to think about millions of low-income families in India who face the same reality without proper support.”

Before establishing Project Surya, Divaa, together with her parents, Uthkarsha Lokesh and Pallavi Uthkarsha, conducted a research study on Type 1 diabetes. Explaining the motivation behind the initiative, she highlighted the challenges associated with the condition.

“Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong condition requiring daily insulin injections to survive. In India, nearly 18% of a middle-income family’s earnings goes towards managing the disease, and 80% of those families have no access to government subsidies or health insurance. Over 35,860 people died of Type 1 diabetes in 2022 without ever receiving a diagnosis. This is where Project Surya played an important role,” she explained.

Since its launch, the youth-led non-profit organisation has impacted more than 4,02,000 individuals, directly assisted 3,190 children living with Type 1 diabetes, and raised over ₹20 lakh through grants, institutional partnerships and grassroots fundraising efforts.

Speaking about the organisation’s achievements, Divaa noted that Project Surya has provided 4,500 insulin vials, 2,500 glucose monitoring strips and 1,000 insulin syringes to families unable to afford regular treatment.

“We have also trained more than 200 ASHA health workers to bring awareness about diabetes in thousands of villages reaching out to 49,500 villagers. Over 1,020 glucose screenings through free health camps were also conducted in these four years,” she added.

Over the years, Ms. Divaa and her team have showcased their work at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, as well as at forums organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Diabetes Federation. Currently, Project Surya operates chapters in Bangalore, New Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, the United States, Canada, Morocco, the UAE and Nigeria, supported by more than 120 volunteers and 35 dedicated high school volunteers.

Awards and recognitions

In 2023, Ms. Divaa received the Diana Award from the British Royal Family. She was also named among the Top 10 Global Finalists for the Chegg.org Global Student Prize, selected from a pool of 11,000 applicants representing 140 countries.

Additionally, she was among the five individuals recognised in the youth social category at the World Sustainability Award 2024 held in Amsterdam.

News Credits: The Hindu