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DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

RAVI KATPADI

From being a half-goat and half-demon to a Vampire and a Hollywood superhero, 38-year-old daily wage labourer Ravi Katpadi has donned multiple costumes for Sri Krishna Janmashtami celebrations over the last seven years.

But he does that for a cause: To cover the hospitalisation costs of sick children from poor families. Ravi’s multiple avatars have helped him raise Rs 83.5 lakh to meet the treatment expenses of 43 children.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

RATHNAMMA

Born in the dense forests of Chammanahalla in Chamarajanagara, where education was never a consideration, Rathnamma went on to become the first Soliga woman to be awarded a PhD in the State. Since then, her life’s mission has been to educate, uplift and empower the community members, drawing huge rays of hope in the horizon.

Her visually impaired father and lone bread-winner mother meant Rathnamma had to battle heavy odds, eating midday meals at school to satiate hunger. But, determined to make a mark, she emerged as the first to pass SSLC from her community in the area.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

D RANGASWAMY

Denied medical help in the crucial golden hour, D Rangaswamy’s childhood friend had died in a highway accident. Devastated by that loss, he resolved to do everything he could to boost awareness on road safety and prevent such avoidable deaths.

Painting signs and slogans alerting motorists near accident-prone areas, re-erecting fallen signboards, filling up potholes himself, Rangaswamy took the lead. Inspired by his verve and enthusiasm, students signed up for his awareness campaigns in their teeming hundreds.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

RAHUL R VELLAL

Only 14 years of age, Rahul R Vellal is a Carnatic music sensation. In just six years, he has enthralled audiences at venues of prestige across India, completed six international concert tours, collaborated with world renowned musicians and earned comparisons with the likes of Balamuralikrishna and Mandolin U Shrinivas.

Rahul had shown signs of greatness when he was barely two and half years old. But his parents could not find a teacher ready to put him through the rigours of Carnatic music at such a young age. A local vocalist finally agreed to teach him Sanskrit shlokas, and that was springboard enough for Rahul’s unique talent to take flight.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

PRIYA MOHAN

The Indian athletic fraternity was stunned by the arrival of Priya Mohan as the fastest woman 400m runner in the country this season. But behind that success lay a series of disappointments, powerful comebacks, steely determination and a resolve to never rest on her laurels.

Clinching the 4x400m mixed relay bronze at the Nairobi World Athletics under-20 Championships with her teammates was only a sign of her potential for bigger stuff. The 18-year-old had topped the podium, outrunning seniors and seasoned 400m specialists at the inter-state meet in Patiala. It was the final Olympic qualification event for Tokyo.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

OMSHIVAPRAKASH H L

Making huge strides in the digital preservation of Kannada literary works, 38-year-old technology professional Omshivaprakash H L has been a game-changer over the last decade. Frustrated by the lack of a standardised software, he created a portal from scratch to publicly make available Vachanas in an accessible digital format. But that open source project was only the start of a long, enriching process.

Omshivaprakash and his team had no text recognition software (OCR), no portal and no funding. Undeterred, they developed a source code over years to make scores of Kannada literary works readable, page by page in digital format.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

S NASREEN

Desperately fleeing from the clutches of a farmhouse owner and a possible molestation, a 12-year-old slum dweller girl ran into a hut in Hosapete pleading for help. Offering her not just safety, S Nasreen vowed to rehabilitate her.

Today, as a 24-year-old, Nasreen is a beacon of hope for hundreds of girls like the one she save three years ago. As a youth facilitator with the Sakhi Trust, she has devoted her life for the welfare of the downtrodden, addressing social evils in and around Hosapete.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

MUDIT DANDWATE AND GAURAV PARCHANI

Can patient-tracking get simpler than this? A mat / strip called Dozee placed underneath a mattress reads all the vital parameters of a patient in real-time, on a smartphone. Mixing Artificial Intelligence with their collective spirit of innovation, the duo of Mudit Dandwate and Gaurav Parchani has come out with a transformative device that could be truly empowering.

Beyond business, the duo has a big social mission called the million ICU initiative. They want each of the country’s estimated one million public hospital beds to be fitted with an ICU-like system. Having already completed close to 270 hospitals in India across 30 districts, they are forging ahead.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

MOHAMMED KALEEMULLA

Deeply attached to heritage, local history and culture, 69-old retired high school teacher Mohammed Kaleemulla was saddened by the dilapidated state of the Lord Malleswara temple in Mandya’s Machalagatta. Built during the Ganga period, the structure deserved to be restored, and Kaleemulla knew exactly which door to knock to get the required funds.

Rooted in local history, Kaleemulla has always harboured a deep interest in inscriptions and monuments. He found the Covid lockdown period the right time to prepare a synopsis of all inscriptions in Mandya, which till date has crossed 1,070. Today, as an informal consultant, he spreads this knowledge among school students, while helping out with temple restoration work in surrounding areas.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)

DH CHANGEMAKERS 2022

22 TO WATCH IN 2022

Deccan Herald proudly presents the 22 Changemakers to watch in 2022.

Listen to their remarkable stories of endurance, social service, excellence in fields as diverse as public health and clean energy, culture and community empowerment.

MARUTI GOUDA

Fighting to revive the traditional bivalve / clam-collecting along the Aghanashini river in Kumta, Uttara Kannada, Maruti Gouda had his task cut out: To first get government compensation to the families of clam diggers who died at work. He did win that battle against much odds, but there was much more to be done.

When the Aghanashini river ran out of bivalves, the obvious suspects were illegal sand and shell mining and use of chemicals by the artificial bivalve farms in upper stream areas of the river. Maruti knew he had to fight again, and this time he chose the Right to Information Act as a weapon.

Listen in…

(Narration, Podcast Edit: Rasheed Kappan / Music: Bensound)