17-year-old from Bengaluru listed in Forbes 30 under 30

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 finished class 12 at the National Academy for Learning in Basaveshwar Nagar and plans to study industrial engineering in U.S. soon. She said, “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.”

Along with her parents Uthkarsha Lokesh and Pallavi Uthkarsha, she conducted a research study about Type 1 diabetes before launching Project Surya. “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. 

Soon after the launch, the youngster-led non-profit organisation has reached over 4,02,000 individuals, directly supported 3,190 children living with Type 1 diabetes and raised over ₹20 lakh through grants, institutional partnerships and grassroots fundraising.

Reflecting upon the achievements of her organisation, Divaa said that so far, the non-profit has 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 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.

Ms. Divaa and her team have presented their work at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the International Diabetes Federation, and WHO forums. At present, Project Surya has chapters across Bangalore, New Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, U.S., Canada, Morocco, UAE, and Nigeria, with over 120 volunteers and 35 committed high school volunteers. 

Awards and recognitions

Ms. Divaa was recognised and honoured by the British Royal Family with the Diana Award 2023. She was a Top 10 Global Finalist for the Chegg.org Global Student Prize, selected from 11,000 applicants across 140 countries. She was also one among the five people in the social category (youth) to be honoured with World Sustainability Award in Amsterdam 2024.