- By JVG Krishna Murthy
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Year End Report 2024 - WHEELS Global Foundation
This letter is to give everyone a brief report on how your Time, Talent, and Treasure have been applied by WHEELS in 2024. None of the following would be possible without your support.
Address by the President, WGF
Happy 76th Republic Day! A perfect day to share the 2024 Year Report with all of you given all of our collective efforts are to bring to life the ideals that laid the foundation of this great Republic.
2024 has been perhaps the most remarkable year in WHEELS history, a true inflection point in many ways. WHEELS has come of age to discover and take major strides to its most unique & deserving position in the entire impact ecosystem – a role that is anchored on its three uniquely differentiated assets: IIT-brand (part of its core identity) that brings respect, trust and opens doors to vast resources; deep technology & business expertise to take on some of the most complex challenges at the national scale; ability to build mega-scale capability ecosystems that are must, to move the rural transformation needle materially. You will see ample proof points for all these three aspects as you read the rest of the updates here.
For any organization’s execution discipline, one of the easiest indicators is what it promised in previous year-end priorities. On behalf of the entire WHEELS family, it is heartening to report that we well executed all of them:
♦ At the recently concluded PIWOT 2025, we launched the NGO collaboration platform, naming it Impact Collaboration Platform (one of those mega-scale capabilities – an ecosystem of hundreds of curated social impact partners to drive rapid replications of existing proven innovations for massive multiplier effect from societal impact investments already made).
♦ We formally signed MOUs with six IITs to create structured pathways from these premier technology institutions for rural India relevant innovations to get to end-beneficiaries via WHEELS’s pan-India NGO network and ICP.
♦ This month, after several rounds of inputs from the Indian Embassy and other stakeholders, we launched the promised ‘ThinkTank’ initiative that is geared to build a virtual ecosystem of highly-valued NRI CXO layer to advise Govt of India on technology investments that would uplift greater India, grow exports, and substitute imports, and thus free up capital for accelerated infrastructure investments needed for country’s goal of Developed Economy by 2047.
♦ We built strategic relationships with several Fortune 100 CSR entities for multi-crore national-scale initiatives.
♦ Our solutions portfolio has grown to 55 curated initiatives from a rapidly growing NGO ecosystem of 120+ partners. A key achievement to establish full relevance to every giving-minded alumni & professional, as well as giving WHEELS the unique ability to build a very quick coalition for any type and any scale challenge.
♦ Our national-scale newborn/infant malnutrition initiative is accelerating from an already in-progress effort in M.P. State (2nd largest State in India) to two other States in progress (Meghalaya and Jharkhand) and negotiations with four others. Just that initiative alone puts us in a position to easily cross our stated goal of impacting 20% of Rurban India by 2030.
The above achievements and several other strategic initiatives are establishing WHEELS’ close partnerships with Government (Central and State), NGOs, our 500,000+ alumni network, mission-aligned professionals such as doctors/ lawyers/ accountants, IITs & other premier institutions, CSRs and other Foundations.
All that acceleration also needs corresponding organizational capacity. I am glad to share that we nearly doubled our Board of Trustees and added more Board Members, and of course several Chapters in the USA & Europe. This has now given a solid ballast to build out WHEELS further.
I hope all of you WHEELS members and supporters will find plenty that resonates with you and excites you to play your important part in our journey of impact at scale, helping us accelerate our goal of impacting at least 20% of Rurban India by 2030 and in the process make your impact or 2nd chapter in life count, as Winston Churchill said ‘You Make Living by What You Get, But You Make Life by What You Give’. Donate Here.
Key Updates on WHEELS Six Domains
HEALTH
The New-born Nutritional Health Initiative leveraging the pioneering research & IIT Bombay’s innovative platform technology – Spoken Tutorials to address pervasive new-born malnutrition at scale in India. WHEELS, with a generous grant from RIST (Rural India Supporting Trust), is enabling the deployment of this initiative across the state of M.P. in collaboration with the National Health Mission to impact lives of over 10 million mothers and babies. Program has already trained nearly 25,000 health workers (ASHA, Aanganwadi, ANMs), along with entire supervisory leadership chain in seven districts. This program is unique in that it not only trains field workers with rigorous five-step methodology, it also has extensive testing and validations of successful mastery of new techniques and real-life application on babies & mothers. This ensures impact for decades. The program has now kicked off in Jharkhand & Meghalaya states also. Four other large States are in active negotiations (West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh).
Watch Video on WHEELS New-born Nutritional Health Initiative
The Consulate General of India in New York hosted a Press Event for WHEELS to discuss the ‘Deployment of Our Newborn Nutritional Health Solution in Madhya Pradesh, India’ on 9th April 2024. Event was well attended by nearly dozen WHEELS partners and regional alumni leaders and doctors, and received widespread coverage. Read Here
WHEELS signs MOU with Ranchi-based partner Swavalamban to augment their path-breaking poverty eradication solution with our new-born and mother nutritional health solution. Already held first training session for their 42 Preraka ladies across Khunti district of Jharkhand. State Principal Secretary keenly looking for State wide scaling. WHEELS’ HST team has launched the same solution in Meghalaya with strong sponsorship of State Principal Secretary to tackle severely acute malnutrition in State’s predominantly tribal population.
In all these deployments, there is non-stop stream of field reports of dozens of stories of babies gaining 5-6 times weight gain in first 6 months! Program has already uplifted several thousand babies that would otherwise have become stats in that dreaded number of ~50% babies being severely malnourished/stunted across all of rural and tribal India. It is hard to imagine any other nobler initiative because if a baby is severely malnourished in first 12 months (which is responsible for vast majority of brain development), then there is not much which can be done to reverse lifetime of mental and physical handicap and suffering.
As part of our Women’s Health initiatives, Sanitary Pad Dispensing Centres have been set up in West Bengal at five locations in collaboration with partners MICRO & NOBA GSR. The Girl Schools in Mahalandi, Udaychandpur, Gobarhati, Rajkhanda and Jiadara now have the access to the sanitary napkins at an affordable cost of 2 Rs. only. WHEELS has further added the second exciting solution ‘Saukhyam’ (discovered through our Innovation Contest in Dec 2023) which is going three steps further on top of affordability – eliminate landfill contribution of billions of pads by introducing reusable environmentally friendly pads that also eliminate country’s billions of dollars in import bill by substituting imported wooden pulp by domestically abundant banana fibre, and health benefits (reduction in cramps, rash and PECOS).
Saukhyam awareness programs continue to accelerate. In September – several workshops across Tamil Nadu (reaching ~3,000 students) to take the solution to youth, leveraging WHEELS partner Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan. To drive scale, WHEELS introduced the solution to its health partners MedoPlus and Sanjeevani Society, thus reaching villages near Lucknow and Varanasi. Saukhyam recently received an award from the Entrepreneurs Association of India in New Delhi for creating livelihoods for the rural population of India. Two of WHEELS senior leaders in USA (Shubhomoy and Mitali) helped passionate Saukhyam team to build effective e-commerce strategy for rapid scale.
Your every penny is crucial—help us provide affordable and eco-friendly sanitary solutions to empower women and protect the environment!
Rural Telemedicine solution continued its growth through several key launches: a new hybrid RTM model with launch to support rural communities near Alwar (Rajasthan); rural communities in ten districts in Bihar in partnership with Gram Sansad; nearly three dozen sites in two new States in partnership with Samhita Impact Ventures.
WHEELS mental health initiatives portfolio has grown to three compelling solutions covering full demographic spectrum: partner Hema Foundation’s innovative SEVL model for building mental resilience in K-12 school kids; guided exercises for adults by partner Yoga of Immortals (YoI); and very innovative and highly scalable mobile app delivered solution for youth from our partner PeakMind. YoI solution completed recent pilot, under the guidance of WHEELS Health Council leader Dr Varsha Vaidya, at Bharti Vidapeeth University in Pune, paving the way for similar pilots at several IITs.
Watch Video on WHEELS Mental Health Initiative – Peakmind
EDUCATION
School-in-a-Box Solution (SIAB) has been implemented in six schools in rural/underserved areas across Rajasthan, including Alwar, Sirohi and Jaipur districts, benefiting 2000+ underprivileged students and opening the scaling path to large networks these schools are connected to. This solution addresses chronic teacher under-staffing present in 70% of India’s schools, along with 20+ modules (e.g., Tinkering Kits, Story Making) to foster creativity and innovation to enhance the educational experience. We continue to receive heart-warming stories from Principals, teachers and students from these schools. Next – engaging a large network of PM Shri Schools across the country.
Support the School-in-a-Box Solution to bring innovative education to underprivileged students and transform rural schools across India—your support can shape countless futures!
Watch Video on WHEELS Education Initiative – School-in-a-Box Solution
Spoken Tutorials – ‘Enabling IT Skills for Masses’ – Continues to cross new heights- exceeding now 8 million learners! WHEELS is taking to numerous locations in Gujarat, West Bengal and Karnataka, along with school networks like Navodaya. Spoken Tutorial are available in over 22 languages, covers a wide range of IT topics, from basic computing to advanced programming and application development. And looking now at new domains to support: such as advance STEM skills in partnership with Space-i-fic, business communications skills, nursing skills.
WHEELS supported storytelling sessions for teachers and students at EkTara, a learning center situated at Kolkata’s slum areas, in partnership with Obo with an objective to enhance communication and learning skills. WHEELS is partnering with Space-i-fic and Ektara Schools to extend STEM Education for middle-school to high-school kids in topics like space, astronomy, robotics, AI using the Spoken Tutorials.
Watch Video on Spoken Tutorials
A two-day Moodle LMS (a learning management system that helps you create engaging eLearning experiences) workshop was organised for faculty at Shree Kaljibhai R. Katara Arts College, Shamlaji, aimed at improving the teaching methods. This effort is part of the Digital Literacy Lab under the Aravalli Smart Village project. Empower communities with essential IT skills through Spoken Tutorials—your support can make technology accessible for all!
EkTara came alive with innovation as Class VII students dived into a 12-session robotics workshop, supported by WHEELS and conducted by Space-e-fic. Over the course of two-hour sessions, students enthusiastically explored Scratch-based coding, turning creative ideas into tangible robotics projects. With an impressive attendance of 30 to 35 students per session, the workshop fostered curiosity and hands-on learning.
WHEELS has partnered with TATA Edge to help under-resourced K-12 schools with structured lesson plans and digitized content so teachers can play the step-up role of coaches and mentors. Launched pilot at a high-school for the underprivileged community in Pandeswaram village, Trivellore District, Tamil Nadu.
WHEELS’ education partners Upay and Katha signed MOU to cross-leverage their education innovations. Perfect proof-point of WHEELS Innovation Webinar/Panels and Impact Collaboration Platform to drive replications and multiplier effect. Read about Footpathshala. Katha, utilizes its StoryPedagogy to re-engage young children from challenging backgrounds. It has reached over 3,500 slum communities and 2,900 schools across 22 states in India. Its fully digitized content is ready to be implemented in elementary schools nationwide.
WHEELS partner GCAP’s Scholar Planet solution, after successful deployments in Ladakh, launched in 105 schools in U.P. to take its innovative digital learning platform with crowdsourcing model for very engaging learning through exercises and contests. Program is already showing very promising results for H.S. students in these schools.
WATER
WHEELS water-led integrated development initiative at YEIDA (Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority) reported rehabilitation of several ponds near Great Noida – transforming trash-filled health-risk filthy water pockets to vibrant large water-bodies with flocks of birds on the periphery trees. Residents are also enjoying life-time bacteria-free safe drinking water from their handpumps using TaralTec innovation WHEELS is supporting.
WHEELS Water Council, in collaboration with Development Alternatives, organized street plays and formed pond committees in 12 villages of Gautam Budh Nagar within the Greater Noida region, including Ahamadpur Charoli, Rustampur, and Dungarpur Rilka. This initiative is part of a larger project focused on the Restoration and Revival of Water Bodies and Holistic Community Development across 27 villages in Uttar Pradesh, in partnership with the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). Through these efforts, 1,200 people were educated on the importance of water conservation, emphasizing the need to preserve water for future generations.
Watch Video on YEIDA Project
WHEELS borewell-recharge initiative using partner Urdhavam’s Bore++Charger innovation crossed another important milestone. Last month, team collected 2nd round of water-volume increase data from participating 25 farmers in the pilot in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. We are excited to see farmers able to increase their pumping hours 30% to 400% (and thus adding 1-2 more crops), corroborating the experience of first round assessment 6-months ago. It underlines our rigorous evidence-based approach to select and support right innovations. Given the solution’s promise to 10m+ farmers relying on individual borewells, we will now be taking documented evidence to our CSR and State Govt partners to launch our scaling phase. Every thousand dollars in support could help scale this to nearly a dozen farmer families.
Watch Video on Bore++Charger
ENERGY
WHEELS is enabling rural energy innovations of several partners such as Gram Samriddhi Abhiyan’s very affordable BioGas plants for rural households (with less than 6 months of payback) with micro-finance options using partner RangDe’s P-to-P impact financing innovation.
In partnership with E-Hands, WHEELS has finalized innovative self-sustainable model of micro-grids coupled with rural agri-enterprises. First launch is expected in early 2025 in partnership with Mirzapur FPO.
Additional new initiatives are in final decision-making stages to help build new workforce in rural India for EV vehicle maintenance and repair as greater India witnesses explosion of 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler EVs.
LIVELIHOOD
IEEE India Smart Village Symposium- Aravalli
On November 7th to 9th, 2024, a delegation of 19 Gram Panchayat (GP) representatives from Aravalli, Gujarat, participated in the IEEE India Smart Village Symposium organized by the South Asia Working Group (SAWG) and supported by WHEELS Global Foundation. Many students from IIT visited and were awarded for their Rural Development Innovations by Govt. Director IIT Bombay, Professor Shireesh B Kedare requested 1000 students for rural exposure through WHEELS.
Empowering Chenchu Women: A Leaf of Transformation
Nestled in the Nallamala forests of Andhra Pradesh, the Skills Training Centre in Thummalabailu village is a beacon of hope and empowerment for 14 Chenchu women. Through the Sal Leaf Plate-making entrepreneurship project, supported by WHEELS, tribal women of the Chenchu region have unlocked a path to sustainable livelihoods right within their village.
WHEELS supported partner Magan Sangrahalya Samiti’s build out of a Community Shared-Services Centre to enable dozens of women-led rural enterprises from its 1500-strong SHG cluster, giving these enterprises access to critical expertise and infrastructure (marketing, sales, distribution, packaging, etc) at very affordable cost.
WHEELS is supporting exciting composting innovation coming out of IIT-Kanpur and being scaled by partner Agnys – creating rural jobs and eliminating bio-waste with attractive monetization.
In partnership with P.S. Livelihood in M.P., WHEELS is supporting very progressive and ambitious initiative Universal Social Engagement with the goal of uplifting every rural household’s income to dignified living across the State and then the nation.
WHEELS added several new exciting partners to its now 15 initiatives-strong Livelihood portfolio: LightHouse Communities, Drishtee Foundation, EcoVillages, Customized Energy Solutions for Livelihood.
SUSTAINABILITY
WHEELS is supporting partner Gram Samriddhi Abhiyan’s innovative Smart Tree Plantation initiative that leverages IIT Kharagpur research to help farmers plant trees that helps the environment as well as grow their income three-to-four fold.
Read Here the News Story on Mango seed donation drive by WHEELS partner Gram Samriddhi Abhiyan.
In partnership with Sajeevan Foundation, WHEELS has launched BioChar initiative in Aravalli district to transform rural landscape devastated by invasive Lantana Camara plant to high-value bio-fertilizer using a very low-cost pyrolysis process which also generate premium carbon credits, making the program highly scalable and self-sustainable.
CHAPTER/ COUNCIL NEWS
WEBINARS
WHEELS continued its series of Webinars-cum-Panel discussions bringing in each session 5-6 innovating partners, senior Government officials, and academics towards our goal of building a coalition of 200+ social-impact partners with pan-India deployment capabilities for rapid replication and scaling.
WATCH LIVE RECORDINGS OF WEBINARS – WHEELS YouTube Channel
1. Solving Complex Education Challenges for Rural & Underserved Millions at Scale
2. Technology to Improve Health Outcomes for Underserved
3. Innovations for Up-skilling and Livelihoods at Scale
4. Innovations and Collaborative Governance to address Water Challenges at Scale
6. Sustainability – A Career with a Purpose”- Webinar with National Digital Library of India (NDLI)
7. Quarterly Impact Update by WHEELS Global Foundation, India, South Chapter
NEW LEADERS
Livelihood Council welcomed new leader Rajiv Vaid (IIT-Roorkee & IIM-Ahmedabad) to scale growing portfolio of WHEELS Livelihood initiatives (from partners Raah, Samta, PARFI, SOBUS, Drishtee etc.) Read Here
WHEELS Health Council welcomed several new leaders (taking the Council to nearly 110 strong experts) at its recent Quarterly Update, and brought together six amazing leaders to launch new initiative for driving thought leadership in mental health.
WHEELS welcomed to its Board of Trustees four new well-known leaders, Arjun Malhotra, Farid Khan, Ranbir Singh, and T K Mukherjee.
Arjun Malhotra, joining as Chairman of Board of Trustees, is a pioneering Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of HCL Technologies, one of India’s leading IT services companies. A visionary leader, he has played a significant role in shaping India’s IT industry on the global stage.
Farid Khan is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, senior risk & regulatory compliance adviser, and a published writer. A former head of business at Hitachi Software Europe and past Chair of IEEE Smart Village – South Asia Operations.
Ranbir Singh is a trailblazer in Silicon Carbide power semiconductors, driving innovations in high-power and high-frequency applications. An IIT Delhi alumnus with 200+ publications and 30+ patents, he has made impactful contributions to research, industry, and philanthropic programs.
Mr T K Mukherjee is a technology leader with global experience. He is a Strategic thinker with a results-driven mindset, a strong communicator with the ability to foster collaboration, and Committed to ethical governance and sustainability. Passionate about social issues, innovation, diversity, etc.
WHEELS also welcomed Dr Uma Ganesh to its Board. Uma Ganesh, an MBA from FMS Delhi and PhD from IIT Bombay, has over three decades of expertise in skills development, education technology, and digital startups. Her venture, Global Talent Track, has impacted 1.2 million youth, bridging academia and industry through innovative learning solutions.
Mahesh Vaidya, WHEELS India West Chairman, welcomed new senior leader Nirmala Raghavan bringing decades of impact work in Education. And, Yadav Sankaran Murty, WHEELS India South Co-Chairman, welcomed Arulmozhi Ramanathan, a senior Rotarian leader with years of experience in driving water initiatives.
WHEELS welcomed new Water Council Chairs Kishan Goenka and Madhur Khanna, looking further to build and grow outstanding initiatives (such as Underground Spring Rejuvenation across Himachal Pradesh) under the leadership of Gauri Kumar and Yogesh Andlay.
Under WHEELS Global Chapter-Convenor Dr. Ram Ramanan’s leadership, WHEELS launched our WHEELS Europe Chapter under co-chairs Yogesh Sharma and Farid Khan. The new Chapter has already undertaken several strategic initiatives including a very visible WHEELS presence at PanIIT Europe Conference in September, and building a pipeline of exciting initiatives to support.
WHEELS Market Research – Participate in our upcoming online survey to help us understand the impact IIT alumni seek, their preferences, and their philanthropy habits. Your insights would help improve WHEELS and IIT Alumni offices.
EVENTS
WHEELS and PanIIT
To fulfil its role as PanIIT’s Social Impact platform, WHEELS played a major role in planning of next PIWOT’2025 (PanIIT World of Technology) to elevate PIWOT from networking to driving outcomes that matter to Greater India. WHEELS responded to the local host/sponsor Government of Maharashtra’s with a comprehensive MOU to implement several social impact initiatives in the State. WHEELS featured a Rural Transformation Innovations Pavilion with 20 of its Social Impact Partners.
WHEELS led or played a major role, in almost all the program tracks (Social Impact, AgriTech, Health, Sustainability, Academia, and Start-up Investing). Further, WHEELS is greatly expanding PIWOT to campuses of newer IITs – showcasing innovation assets, R&D collaboration of these premier institutions & impact and relevance to IIT brand. WHEELS partnered with CII to take PIWOT to 6 IIT Campuses with Satellite Events at Ropar, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, and Tirupati.
WHEELS also used PIWOT as the perfect platform to announce launch of its very strategic ThinkTank initiative that has been in works since our promise to Hon Nitin Gadkari in late 2023. Initiative received strong interest from visiting Minister of Railways as well as other senior dignitaries. We expect this to receive participation from several key wings of Govt of India and industry groups.
We thank all IITs and our partners for joining us in these strategic activities and creating opportunities for collaboration between industry, academia, and alumni, including faculty and student exchanges, joint degree programs, and regional resource exploration.
OTHER
To highlight and discuss the “Deployment of the Newborn Nutritional Health Solution in Madhya Pradesh.” a press event as hosted by the Consulate General of India in New York.
In July, WHEELS NJ Chapter hosted partner Mukti Foundation founder Mr. Sankar Haldar. Sankar shared appreciation of WGF supporting Mukti’s communities with the Subjee Coolers. Further, audience was deeply inspired by Mukti’s groundbreaking work in rehabilitating coastal communities in Sunderbans that gets perennially devastated by cyclones and floods – vetiver grass-led bunds, organic farming, market place for artisans, cycle-resistant sustainable housing.
Dr. Sarika Kulkarni, cofounder, Raah Foundation presented her work during WHEELS Outreach Meet at Edison, NJ on livelihood programs for rural youth, climate change and reforestation of Sahyadri mountain range..
WHEELS was featured in PAN-IIT Seattle 2024 Conference held on June 8th, 2024 at Bellevue, Washington, US. Mr. Ratan Agarwal, President, and Dr. Raghavan (Ram) Ramanan, Chairman of the Sustainability Council, presented the WHEELS work.
WHEELS Celebrates Dr. Abdul Kalam’s Legacy with LEAF
October 15th – Sponsored by Himanshu Verma (Board Member – WHEELS) and coordinated by his father Mr. SK Verma, the event recognized outstanding societal contributions. In tribute to Dr. Kalam’s inspiring vision, WHEELS leaders and IIT alumni were honored with the Abdul Kalam Excellence Award. WHEELS is honored to celebrate Sujata Roy (President, WHEELS Global Foundation India & Chairperson of the East Chapter) for receiving the prestigious Scroll of Honour from Leaf Association and Lions Clubs International, Hyderabad.
WHEELS Hosts Inspiring Session with HelpAge India
On September 25th, WHEELS organized an interactive session with partner HelpAge India, creating an inspiring evening in Edison, NJ. The event featured Swati Nigam, Executive Director of HelpAge India, who shared the organization’s remarkable efforts in supporting over 2 million vulnerable seniors across 26 states and 175 districts. The evening concluded with an insightful overview of WHEELS’ impactful work, presented by Ratan Agarwal, President, WHEELS Global Foundation. Read Here
In August, WHEELS President Ratan Agarwal addressed annual meeting of North East Chapter of IIT-Roorkee Association of North America.
WHEELS hosted joint fundraising events in Washington D.C. and Princeton, NJ in partnership with physician community and BJANA (Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America) to support launch of Newborn Nutritional Initiative in States of Bihar & Jharkhand.
WHEELS IN NEWS
The New India Abroad, an E-Newspaper with largest circulation among Indian diaspora in USA and Canada, has been publishing a series of weekly articles on WHEELS Initiatives. Read more
WHEELS is covered in the Allison Seymour story on Channel 9 News.
See the coverage of the press event hosted by the Consulate General of India in New York by TV Asia.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF WHEELS MEMBERS
♦ WHEELS Global Foundation officials talk on India Abroad – In this video, Raj Shah MD MBA, Chairman – Health Council, WHEELS Global Foundation, and Ratan Agarwal, President – WHEELS Global Foundation, shared insights about the Newborn Nutritional Health Initiative. Watch Here
♦ Ratan Agarwal, President, WHEELS- PM Modi leads by example…(deccanherald.com) Read Here. Modi’s Leadership Revolutionizes India’s Path… (devdiscourse.com) Read Here
♦ Suresh Shenoy, Vice-Chairman, WHEELS- Sense of ethnic identity and cultural heritage in Indians …(newindiaabroad.com) Read Here
♦ Chaitanya Buch, Executive Director, Health Council, WHEELS – Indians who left the country and came to US. (newindiaabroad.com) Read Here
BLOGS
We are also thrilled to see a growing bench of youth. See the inspiring blogs by our youngest youth supporters, Riya Laheja and Nishank Seth.
Explore Blog section, for more updates.
Priorities Going Forward – 2025
♦ Add senior operational leaders in India to drive rapidly growing multi-year national scale initiatives
♦ Solidify WHEELS role as program integrator of large-scale initiatives
♦ Continue to expand WHEELS ecosystem of social impact partners, and onboarding as many of them as possible in new Impact Collaboration Platform
♦ Get traction on new ecosystem initiatives such IAS-Alumni Community, NRI USA University Researcher Community.
♦ Further maturity in WHEELS marketing and outreach to get closer to 10% Alumni Awareness target
♦ Initiative Impact Dashboard to showcase impact achievements of WHEELS and partner ecosystem
At WHEELS Global Foundation we remain committed to our creed of embracing every individual and entity who is willing to partner with us for applying their talents, time, and treasure to leverage technology to scale philanthropy. We greatly cherish your engagement with WHEELS and appreciate your participation in our activities.
Meanwhile, we wish you and all your loved ones a Very Happy New Year, and our thoughts and prayers are with you for your safety, peace, and good health.
None of the work above would be possible without the able guidance, contribution, and stewardship of all the WHEELS Global Foundation Trustees and Board members, our Council and Chapter Leaders and Members:
Rajat Gupta (Chairman-USA), Ashank Desai (Chairman – India), Suresh Shenoy (Vice-Chairman), Digvijay Chaudhari (President- India), Hitendra Ghosh, Ashok Siddhanti, Mrs Gauri Kumar, Yogesh Andlay, Dr. Raj Shah, Dr. Bindu Kumar Kansupada, Indrajit Chatterjee, Dr. Smita Siddhanti, Nitesh Kumar, Sundar Kamath, Kannan Srinivasan, Sushil Bhatia, Ambassador Pradeep Kapur, Kavita Kapur, Prof. Kannan Moudgalya, Pradip Nadkarni, Madhur Khanna, Arjun Malhotra, Ron Mehta, D. C. Agrawal, Yagya Datt Sharma, Himanshu Verma, Dr. Raghavan Ramanan, Kishen Goenka, Mahesh Vaidya, Sujata Roy, Ramnath S. Mani, Surendra Makhija, Rajesh Tripathi, Raj Bhayani, Chintu Patel, Chirag Patel, Dr Ashok Gupta, Dr Varsha Vaidya, Dr. C. S. Buch, Rahul Walwalkar, Girish Kulkarni, Yadav Murti Sankaran, Rajah Venkatraman, Debashish Bhattacharya, Sunil Khanna, JVG Krishna Murthy and Padmini Padhy.
We also wish to acknowledge all the Directors of the IITs who have been actively engaged in participating in WGF activities. Several members of the faculty have also been actively engaged in Data Analytics, Language translations, Site Visits, and student-led projects. Please accept my apologies if I have missed the many volunteers who have been actively engaged with us over time.
*****
Sincerely,
Ratan Agarwal
President – WHEELS Global Foundation
