Time honours Indian architect

Magazine names Bangalore youth as 'Leader of Tomorrow'

New York: A 28-year-old Indian architect has been named "young leader of tomorrow" by Time magazine for his pioneering work in designing affordable flood-proof houses for slum-dwellers.

Alok Shetty is among "leaders of tomorrow" who are "working hard to change their worlds today," Time said as it named six inspirational young persons in its first class of "next generation leaders".

Shetty, working with the Bangalore-based non-profit Parinaam Foundation, is designing homes for hundreds of slum dwellers whose makeshift houses flood during the heavy rains and become breeding grounds for diseases like malaria.

He designed flood-proof houses, costing $300, out of discarded scaffolding, bamboo and wood. The houses are affordable and easy to set up as it takes only four hours to erect and dismantle them. He Shetty is seeking government subsidies to bring the price down further for those who cannot afford the units.

"Shetty epitomizes a growing breed of young leaders and entrepreneurs in India who are committed to finding solutions for a country undergoing rapid social and economic changes, some of which can leave India's poorest straggling behind," Time said.

Another venture by him is a plan to boost access to healthcare and education in remote communities. "In my travels I saw vast stretches of rural India where infrastructure for health care and education was severely underdeveloped," he says in the Time report.