Accessible design — talking medicine box · INDIA
Hyderabad student of Devnar School for the Blind — visually impaired himself — whose Smart Medicine Box for the Visually Challenged (five compartments, Braille prescription slot, voice playback of name/dose/time) was one of Telangana’s five national winners at the 12th INSPIRE-MANAK NLEPC (Oct 2026), per The New Indian Express. Now studying Intermediate; preparing for JEE Main/EAMCET.
No age published; matriculation completed, now studying Intermediate
Telangana · India
BEHIND THE RESULT
For someone who cannot see, the difficult part of taking medicine can begin before any tablet is swallowed: two medicines can feel almost identical to the touch. Rehan Raza of Hyderabad knows the problem personally. “I am visually impaired myself,” he told The New Indian Express. “When I was studying at Devnar School for the Blind, I had friends who were also visually impaired. Some of their parents were visually impaired too.” His friends identified medicines by touch, often through their parents — a method that fails, as he put it, when “two medicines felt similar, there was a possibility of confusion.”
His answer, as the Express describes his design, is the Smart Medicine Box for the Visually Challenged. It has five compartments — one for a prescription, which can be written in Braille, and four for individual medicines. Each medicine compartment has a button that plays a recorded message announcing the medicine’s name, the prescribed dosage and the time it should be taken, so the user can listen before opening it; the recordings can be prepared with an AI-powered app feature that scans a medicine and retrieves its details. The box also has automatically opening doors, an alarm for dose times, and runs on mains power or battery. The project was one of five from Telangana among the 62 recognised nationally at the 12th INSPIRE Awards–MANAK exhibition at Bharat Mandapam in October 2026. Rehan has completed his matriculation at Devnar and is studying Intermediate while preparing for engineering entrance examinations including JEE Main and EAMCET.
Think of one everyday task you do without thinking about sight — how would you redesign it for someone who cannot use sight at all? That is a question from us, not part of his record.
Source-based story · the activities are prompts for readers.
Open the article edition →Hyderabad student of Devnar School for the Blind — visually impaired himself — whose Smart Medicine Box for the Visually Challenged (five compartments, Braille prescription slot, voice playback of name/dose/time) was one of Telangana’s five national winners at the 12th INSPIRE-MANAK NLEPC (Oct 2026), per The New Indian Express. Now studying Intermediate; preparing for JEE Main/EAMCET.
2026-10-14 · Supporting source ↗
The New Indian Express · Telangana students bag five national INSPIRE Awards, 15 October 2026 ↗Regional news report
The New Indian Express feature on Rehan Raza (via republication) ↗Feature report
Original source ↗
Bio-based air filtrationDelhi · India
Delhi student whose bio-based alternative to synthetic HEPA filter media (compressed wool felt, electrostatic cotton) was felicitated at the 12th INSPIRE-MANAK NLEPC (Oct 2026); overall winner, InnoHEALTH Young Innovators Awards (Jan 2026). Journey began with a 2024 INSPIRE Award at Lilavati Vidya Mandir; now IB DP-1 at DPS R. K. Puram; founder of PraaNavya.
No age published by any official or independent source
Read the story →InnoHEALTH ↗Source photograph · see credit
