Pune: The Infosys Foundation has announced the winners of the fourth edition of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards, honoring eight breakthrough innovations across education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability.
The Aarohan Social Innovation Awards recognize individuals and teams developing technology-led solutions that create measurable social impact and improve community well-being across India.
Aarohan Social Innovation Awards 2025: Focus on High-Impact, Tech-Driven Social Solutions
Launched in 2018, the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards aim to promote transformative ideas that address critical national challenges.
This year’s edition received over 2,000 entries, from which innovators were selected for their potential to uplift communities through creativity, compassion, and technology.
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₹50 Lakh Category Winners Announced
The 2025 awards recognized three major innovations with a prize of ₹50 lakh each:
- Education Category
- Bengaluru-based innovators Rajesh A Rao, Ravindra S Rao, and Deepa L B Rajeev were awarded for ‘Connecting the Dots’, an interactive learning program offering daily live classes, lab kits, scholarships, and teacher training.
- The platform enhances STEM and spoken English learning for government school students from Grades 6 to 10.
- Healthcare Category
- New Delhi innovators Chitranjan Singh and Robin Singh were recognized for ‘CLUIX C012’, a portable, AI- and IoT-powered water-quality analyzer that provides GPS-tagged reports in real time.
- The device tests 14 key parameters and identifies waterborne diseases within 30 minutes, making water testing more affordable and accessible in urban and rural regions.
- Environmental Sustainability Category
- Pune innovators Rahul Suresh Bakare and Vinit Moreshwar Phadnis received honors for ‘Borecharger’, the world’s first robotic artificial borewell-recharge technology.
- The solution can inject 4–80 lakh litres of rainwater into existing borewells annually, helping enhance irrigation, increase farm productivity, improve drinking water availability, and strengthen the sustainability of rural and semi-urban communities.
Salil Parekh, Chairman of Infosys Foundation, said the awards reflect the organization’s commitment to nurturing purpose-led innovation.
“Innovation with purpose can transform lives and build a sustainable future. The Aarohan Social Innovation Awards celebrate individuals who turn challenges into opportunities with ingenuity and empathy,” he said.
Sumit Virmani, Trustee, Infosys Foundation, added, “The dedication of this year’s winners reflects the extraordinary impact ordinary people can create through compassion-driven innovation.”
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Jury Special Awards: ₹10 Lakh Prize Each
Five teams received Jury Special Awards of ₹10 lakh each for promising social innovations:
- Sukoon – A Digital Hybrid-IDEC-based cooling jacket for workers in extreme heat-stress environments, developed by Falgun Mukesh Vyas from Pune.
- Comprehensive Wildlife Management Platform – A One Health-based digital system for wildlife rescue, treatment, rehabilitation, and release, developed by Neha Panchamiya and Nachiket Utpat from Pune.
- Project Bindu – A remote, technology-enabled work ecosystem empowering persons with disabilities (PWDs) to provide elderly-care and backend services, developed by Sowmya S and Pallavi Kulkarni from Pune.
- CERVICHECK – India’s first CDSCO-approved at-home self-sampling HPV screening kit, created by Anirban Palit, Dr. Sayantani Pramanik, and Palna Patel from Vadodara.
- Hexis & Iris – An integrated learning ecosystem for visually impaired students featuring a refreshable Braille display and tactile diagram explorer, developed by Nagarajan Rajagopal, Vidhya Y, and Supriya Dey from Bengaluru.
Total Prize Pool of ₹2 Crore Distributed
In total, the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards 2025 recognized eight innovations and distributed ₹2 crore in prize money to support scalable, community-focused solutions that improve education, healthcare delivery, and environmental resilience across India.
