Women's Day is just around the corner, and it is the perfect moment to celebrate women and their achievements. The Women's Entrepreneur Magazine Team has compiled a list of nine talented young Indian women who will lead the army of next-generation of movers and shakers.
India is home to some of the world's most talented individuals from varied industries and sectors. With a growing number of ambitious, educated students, Indians all throughout the country are seizing every opportunity to follow their dreams, and as a result, making it to the very top echelons in their respective fields.
It's no surprise that Indian women are among the most successful in the world, and this trend is only anticipated to continue. Not too long ago, a majority of Indian women had to struggle to gain opportunities. But the past two generation of women have worked extremely hard to shorten the gender divide when it comes to aiming for success and achievements. The hard work put in by our previous generation of women has borne fruit and today things are quite different for young girls who want to achieve greatness. Be it the field of sport, academics, business, entertainment etc, more and more women are craving a name for themselves.
We shine the spotlight on nine accomplished young Indian women who are all set to become the next-generation of newsmakers in their respective fields.
Abhijita Gupta, 7
Abhijita Gupta, a fourth-grader, has accomplished what many people want to do "someday." Abhijita, a published author since the age of seven, has released her third book, ‘To Begin with the Little Things’. In addition, the girl was given a royalty of INR 3 lakh for her previous work.
‘Happiness All Around’ and ‘We Will Surely Sustain’, her first two novels, were published in November 2020 and February 2021, respectively. All three volumes, which are collections of short stories and poems, were published by Invincible Publishers.
Her last two novels sold over 9,700 copies across all platforms, so she and her mother are eager to see how her third book is received.
The International Book of Records named Abhijita the "World's Youngest Author," while the Asia Book of Records named him the "Grandmaster in Writing." As per the India Book of Records, she is the youngest author to create poetry and prose.
Apoorvi Bharat Ram, 18
Apoorvi Bharat Ram has been chosen for the Ashoka: Everyone a Changemaker programme. As she got older, she witnessed her sister suffer from severe depression. She recognised the importance of psychologists and psychiatrists in the lives of students suffering from mental diseases. As a result, she founded the Happiness project, which comprises a three-step approach for analysing children's happiness quotients in government schools, as well as training teachers to serve as para-counselors. It screens youngsters for depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and concerns with body image, among other things.
Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu, 22
Harnaaz Sandhu has won the title of Miss Universe for the first time in 21 years, succeeding Lara Dutta, who was crowned in 2000. Ms. Sandhu competed in the 70th Miss Universe competition in Eilat, Israel.
She beat Paraguay's Nadia Ferreira and South Africa's Lalela Mswane.
Harnaaz, who began competing in pageants when she was 17, won Femina Miss India Punjab 2019 and finished in the Top 12 of Femina Miss India 2019. She was also named Miss Diva 2021.
Harshaali Malhotra, 14
Harshaali Malhotra, who played Munni in Salman Khan's 2015 movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan, was awarded the Bharat Ratna Dr Ambedkar Award.
Malhotra posted a series of photos on her personal Instagram account of herself holding the coveted trophy, which she dedicated to her co-star Salman, the film's director, Kabir Khan, and casting director, Mukesh Chhabra.
Malhotra was eight years old in 2015 when she played Munni.
Kaamya Karthikeyan, 15
Kaamya Karthikeyan is the youngest person to reach Mount Aconcagua's peak and the youngest person to ski from Mount Elbrus' summit.
She was also awarded the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for her outstanding climbing efforts, the highest national civilian honour for people under the age of 18.
Kaamya, the daughter of Commander S Karthikeyan and a Class VIII student at Mumbai's Navy Children School, is now on the "Saras" expedition and aims to win the "Explorer's Grand Slam."
Kaamya became the world's youngest girl to summit Mount Stok Kangri and the world's youngest girl to climb any peak above 20000 feet in August 2017.
Purnima Pandey, 19
Purnima Pandey, an Indian weightlifter, set eight national records on route to gold in the women's +87kg division at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships. Purnima won the tournament and qualified for the Olympics by lifting 229 kg (102 kg + 127 kg).
She set eight national records in all, including two in the snatch and three in the clean and jerk. As a part of this competition, she became the fourth Indian weightlifter to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
Sara Kothari, 16
Sara Kothari, a pianist, is one of India's youngest Trinity College London Licentiates (LTCL piano). The Licentiate examination at Trinity College is a Level 6 music performance diploma, comparable to the final year of an undergraduate degree. Trinity's Performance Diplomas are the highest level of performance certificates, preparing artists to perform and understand music at a professional level.
Sara, a Class 10 student from Noida, has been learning the piano since she was six years old and is a Trinity College associate. Sara has also earned scholarships from the Delhi School of Music.
Sreelakshmi Suresh, 24
Sreelakshmi Suresh, the founder and CEO of eDesign Technologies, is a web designer from Kozhikode, Kerala. She is most recognised in India for her website design work, which drew media attention as early as 2006. She also knows a thing or two about SEO, PHP, e-commerce, WordPress, and UX design. She is also regarded as the world's first female entrepreneur and the world's youngest web designer and CEO. She founded eDesign Technologies when she was eleven years old.
Sreelakshmi Suresh has garnered numerous awards and accolades. In 2008, she got the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development's National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement.
On January 5, 2009, Sonia Gandhi awarded her with the honour at the Vigyan Bhavan gathering in New Delhi. She has also received the Golden Web Award in the United States, the Feebleminds Award of Excellence in the United Kingdom, the Webmasters Ink Award in the United States, the Sixty Plus Education Award in Canada, and the Penmarric Bronze Award in the United States (Canada).
Tasnim Mir, 17
Young shuttler Tasnim Mir became the first Indian to achieve world No. 1 in the under-19 girl’s singles category in the most recent BWF junior rankings.
The 16-year-old from Gujarat was recognised for her excellent performance last year, when she won three junior international events and rose three places to the top of the junior world rankings.
Mir has risen to the top of the Under 19 Girls Singles world rankings for 2022. She is the first Indian lady to receive such recognition. Even seasoned players such as PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have never been ranked first in the junior rankings. Tasnim won the competition with a total of 10,081 points.
Women today are defying male-dominated society and civilization more than ever before. In any number of disciplines, self-assured, bold, brilliant, and ambitious women from across the country roar "success". Their achievements are an incredible treasury for India.
