Chemical engineer Niyati Kukadia’s trip to the Rann of Kutch in 2016, changed her life and career. She was so impressed by the traditional beadwork of the Mir community, which had been passed down from women to women for generations, that she started her own venture, Tokar Sustainable Designs. Through this venture she helps Mir women sell their traditional beadwork, with both physical stores and online business models.
When his father suffered a heart attack in 2013, Rahul Rastogi from Noida, decided to design a device that could monitor heart conditions regularly and immediately connect the patient with a doctor in case of an emergency. With his wife Neha, he founded Agatsa Software and developed a pocket-sized portable ECG machine named, ‘SanketLife 2.0’. The machine can detect cardiac symptoms in just one ECG, and the results can be easily shared with doctors in real-time.
Researcher Rajul Patkar from IIT Bombay, claims that it takes fifteen days for farmers to get their soil testing results due to the complicated methods used currently in India. To solve this issue and increase awareness among farmers, the scientist has recently developed Nutrisens, a portable device that will test and show the soil’s health in a few minutes.
Indian Air Officer A.C. Barua’s retirement plans changed when he saw the struggle of a distressed woman in her 80s, during the Assam flood in 2007. He founded ‘Seneh’, a shelter home to help and rescue poor and abandoned women, in 2011 in Guwahati. Since then, he has provided food, medical aid and lifelong shelter to over 60 women.
NRI mother-daughter duo, Vasavi and Alak Nanda, wanted to create a brand from their love for ‘podi’ (the dry spicy powder sprinkled on food to add flavour and popular particularly in South India). They started ‘Podi Life’ in Hyderabad, to spread the essence of South Indian podis beyond South India. Podi Life offers a wide range of podis and is also exported to Atlanta, US, where it has found a strong customer base.
Mumbai-based engineer Bhumika Marwaha and her colleague started their startup, ‘Jhappi’, a retail store in the city in 2022, to sell quality products made by NGOs. Jhappi is a platform that connects NGOs with consumers across India. NGOs can sell the products made by their beneficiaries, especially people with disabilities, women from low-income groups, and more, through Jhappi.
International Family Day is celebrated worldwide on 15 May, with a different theme each year. The day is observed to spread awareness of the importance of families and their role in society. The theme of this year is, ‘Demographic Trends and Families’. which includes ageing and inter-generational changes and their impact on modern families. People spend this day with their families to celebrate their unique bond.
Despite being diagnosed with epilepsy at a very young age, Priti Vishwakarma from Uttar Pradesh found solace in travelling. She noticed that there were not many platforms that provided a safe travel experience for women. Hence, Priti launched her startup, ‘Womaniya on Roadtrips’, a travel initiative in 2016, where women can travel and explore the world by themselves with Priti as their leader and tour guide.
Did you know that International Nurses Day is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing? The day is observed annually across the world on 12 May, to honour the contribution of nurses to society and acknowledge their vital role in the overall healthcare system. The theme of this year is, ‘Our Nurses, Our Future’.
Cancer survivor Hari Subramaniam from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, experienced the complex and time-consuming process that patients undergo during a cancer diagnosis. Hence, he came up with his innovation, the iMS biosensor, a palm-sized wireless device that monitors patients’ vital signs in near real-time, helping clinicians to maximize treatment and allows remote patient monitoring. He also added that the device is to be placed above patient’s heart so that it can record different vitals from various machines. It is also useful in keeping track of several reports.
