Delhi innovator & Haryana mental health campaigner win Diana Award

London: A Delhi-based innovator whose low-cost electric invention helps overcome power cuts, and a mental health campaigner from Haryana are the Indian winners among 20 worldwide recipients of the Diana Legacy Awards, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Diana Award charity set up in memory of the late Princess of Wales. Uday Bhatia, founder of Uday Electric, and Manasi Gupta, founder of Huesofthemind Foundation, received their awards from Prince William, the older son of Princess Diana, at an awards ceremony in London's Science Museum on Thursday evening.

Taking place every two years, the Diana Legacy Award is a prestigious accolade for exceptional young people from around the world for their social action or humanitarian work. “The paths taken by these young people have not always been easy. Many have overcome adversity and prejudice, but they are driven by courage, compassion and commitment – qualities shared by my mother,” said William, Prince of Wales, in his speech. When Uday Bhatia began mentoring students as a 16-year-old schoolboy in the slums of Bichpuri, Uttar Pradesh, he saw how frequent power cuts rendered children unable to study.

To tackle the power crisis, he developed his ground-breaking invention called the Outage Guard bulb, as a low-cost solution designed to provide uninterrupted lighting for up to 10 hours during power cuts. It has reportedly resulted in 950 families receiving stable and reliable power, boosting their educational and employment opportunities. “Being a social innovator means tirelessly solving problems for the community. I view the Diana Legacy Award as a means to generate a ripple effect that inspires social innovators to change the way we view global issues,” said 18-year-old Bhatia on receiving the honour.