Anantapur youth bags Royal Diana Award

Anantapur: A 25-year-old Bisathi Bharath hailing from a poverty-stricken remote Kandikapula village in Putlur mandal in the district, has been selected to the Royal Diana Award 2021 of Great Britain, the highest honour given to the youth for his outstanding services and notable achievements from the royal highnesses Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, the sons of Diana.

He received the award by a virtual mode on June 28. A post-graduate in political science and economics, he is selected for the highest British award for his contribution to community development and youth empowerment. Although the village lacks basic amenities like proper roads, unhygienic conditions and lack of public transportation, he took up the challenge as an opportunity and started a youth organisation Pragathi Padham Youth Association (PPYA) which today has a network of 150 young leaders.

With an aim that no village student should be left behind lagging in opportunities, he adopted 3 villages Yerraguntlapalli, Ammaladinne and Putlur and had trained 25,000 personnel across India in free career guidance sessions, soft skills development trainings, digital education and in personality development, during the past 7 years.

He was selected as a UNV India Young leader to Indonesia for International Youth Exchange 2017. He drew inspiration from National Service Scheme(NSS) in Government Arts College, Anantapur and taken active role as a NSS team leader and organised 4 special camps in villages for development of "Swachh Bharat, sanitation, environment conservation, women empowerment, adult education, mega health and eye camps, free food distribution to the homeless poor, rural sports meet, yoga sessions and drug abuse prevention activities". He was also the recipient of the President of India award for his social action and rural development.

Bharath was also appointed as a Trainer of Trainer (TOT) for the Nehru Yuva Kendra for Kurnool and Kadapa districts.

He had been a part of 67 Rural Youth Development projects and is connected to 20,000 youth across India. Now for training many young leaders across India and standing against all the odds to fight for the youth problems, he is being awarded for The Diana Award 2021. In last 10 years, he received 8 National Awards, 35 State-level awards and 50 district-level awards from various departments and Ministries for his remarkable services. He worked in Yadiki, Tadipatri, Anantapur, Kalyandurg, Penukonda, Hindupur and Raptadu mandals and online training sessions to the 3,500 students from 4 states. He also organised 80 career guidance sessions to 8,000 rural students.