In which category has 17-year-old diva Utkarsha been included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2025 list? When and with what inspiration did Diva start ‘Project Surya’? How many children suffering from Type 1 diabetes has Project Surya helped so far?
17 year old diva Utkarsha from Bengaluru has achieved a big achievement. His name has been included in Forbes’ ’30 Under 30 Asia 2025′ list in the social impact category. The special thing is that she is the youngest celebrity to make it to this category this year. According to a report in The Hindu, the diva has received this recognition for her non-profit organization ‘Project Surya’. This organization helps children struggling with type 1 diabetes and their families.
Diva, who has passed 12th from the National Academy for Learning in Basaveshwara Nagar, Bengaluru, is now planning to study industrial engineering in the US. “My name in Forbes 30 Under 30 comes because of ‘Project Surya’, which is my non-profit organization. I started this project in 2021, when I was 13 years old. It started when my younger brother Surya was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes,” she told The Hindu.
He further said, “Watching my family struggle with the financial and emotional burden of this disease, I thought of the millions of poor families in India who have to face the same reality without any proper help.”
Before starting Project Surya, Deeva and her parents, Utkarsha Lokesh and Pallavi Utkarsha, did extensive research on type 1 diabetes. Explaining the challenge, he said, “Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong disease that requires daily insulin injections to survive. In India, about 18% of a middle class family’s income goes into the management of the disease, and 80% of families do not receive any government subsidy or health insurance.”
According to reports, Project Surya has so far reached out to more than 4.02 lakh people and directly helped 3,190 children suffering from Type 1 diabetes. The organization has raised over Rs 20 lakh through grants, partnerships and community fundraising.
Talking about the impact of this initiative, Diwa said, “We have also trained more than 200 Asha health workers to spread diabetes awareness in thousands of villages, thereby reaching out to 49,500 villagers. More than 1,020 glucose screenings have also been conducted through free health camps in these four years.”
The organization has donated 4,500 insulin vials, 2,500 glucose monitoring strips and 1,000 insulin syringes to needy families. His work has also been appreciated at the forums of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, International Diabetes Federation and WHO. For these achievements of Diva, she has also received the prestigious Diana Award, a place among the top 10 finalists for the Chegg.org Global Student Prize and the World Sustainability Award 2024. These honors have cemented his place among Asia’s most promising young changemakers.