Aarohan Social Innovation Awards Announces the Winners of 2019

Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, today announced the winners of the second edition of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards. These awards were established in 2018 to recognize and reward individuals, teams, and NGOs for creating innovative solutions to support the underprivileged in India, at scale.

This year, Infosys Foundation identified winners across four award categories: Healthcare, Rural Development, Destitute Care and Sustainability. The winners were shortlisted from a pool of over 1,700 submissions and evaluated by a distinguished jury comprising:

• Padma Shri Mr. Arvind Gupta, an Indian toy inventor and science expert
• Padma Shri Prof. Anil Gupta, visiting faculty member, IIM Ahmedabad, a globally renowned scholar of grassroots innovations, and Founder of the Honey Bee Network
• Prof. Trilochan Sastry, former Dean, IIM Bangalore
• Prof. GVV Sharma, Faculty member of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Coordinator, Teaching Learning Centre, IIT Hyderabad
• Mr. Sumit Virmani, Chief Marketing Officer, Infosys
• Mrs. Sudha Murty, Chairperson – Infosys Foundation, philanthropist and renowned author

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Limited Liability Partnership (DTTI LLP), are process advisors for the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards.

The winners of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards 2019 are:

• Gold Award: Prize money of INR 20 Lakh
  • Healthcare: Partha Pratim Das Mahapatra from Kolkata, developed a non-invasive, non-contact robust hand-held portable device to measure human bilirubin, oxygen saturation, and hemoglobin levels, without drawing blood from the body
  • Healthcare: Dr. Binita S. Tunga and Dr. Rashbehari Tunga from Bengaluru, created a single device that detects the three most prevalent mosquito-borne diseases: Malaria, Chikungunya, and Dengue, effectively and accurately, in the very early stages of infection
  • Healthcare: TUMAAS (Foundation for Tuberculosis, Malnutrition and AIDS) from Mumbai is developing a point-of-care, user-friendly, cost-effective, and rapid test for diagnosis of TB through urine.
  • Sustainability: Rashid K, Vimal Govind MK, and Nikhil NP from Kerala, developed ‘Bandicoot’, stated to be the world’s first manhole cleaning robot with the aim of eliminating manual scavenging, saving humans from manhole accidents and adding dignity to human life
  • Destitute Care: Ramalingam PL from Chennai, created an affordable standing wheelchair that helps special children and individuals with spinal cord injury
• Silver Award: Prize money of INR 10 Lakh
  • Healthcare: Nitesh Kumar Jangir from Bengaluru, made Saans, a low-cost multi-powered, multi-use newborn breathing support system that requires minimal supporting infrastructure
  • Healthcare: Mr. Aneesh Karma from New Delhi, developed a Mechanically Actuated Stance Controlled Knee Ankle Foot Orthotic (MASC-KAFO), an assistive device focused on providing a better alternative to the existing orthotic calipers by automatic locking and unlocking of the knee joint according to the stance and swing phase of the user
  • Healthcare: Rajlakshmi Borthakur from Bengaluru, invented ‘TJay’, an Internet of Things (IoT) / Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered smart wearable device that can predict epileptic attacks and identify mental health states
  • Healthcare: Dr. Vishal US Rao and Shashank Mahesh from Bengaluru, developed Aum Voice Prosthesis to help throat cancer patients who have lost their voice box to speak again
  • Rural Development: Rohit Patel from Madhya Pradesh, developed a low-cost onion storage solution that can increase the shelf-life of onions through the duration of monsoon

Felicitating the winners, Mrs. Sudha Murty, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation, said, “This is the second edition of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards and we have been able to create significant impact by encouraging people to showcase their innovation, and address some of the greatest social challenges in our country today. I believe that innovation can and should create inclusive, cost-effective and sustainable solutions. I would like to congratulate the winners who worked tirelessly on path-breaking solutions to create a better future for India, and wish that many more individuals are inspired through this program.”

Furthermore, as part of this recognition, to help incubate and scale their innovations, the Gold Award winners will also be offered an 8-week residential mentorship at IIT Hyderabad.

For more information on the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards, and the winners, please visit: www.infosys.com/aarohan.