Washington, Oct 20 (PTI) The India Philanthropy Alliance (IPA) has announced results of this year's Youth Essay Competition, designed to increase the culture of philanthropy among Indian-Americans, particularly youth.

The winners are Rithani Saravanakumar of Redmond, Washington and Eisha Yadav of Redwood City, California of the high school and middle school competition, the IPA said in a statement on Tuesday.

Also Read | Taliban Agree to New Polio Vaccination Across Afghanistan, UN Agencies Gear Up To Vaccinate All Kids Under Age 5 Against Polio.

Diya Patel of Woodland Park, New Jersey and Chinmayi Joshi from Basking Ridge, New Jersey were the respective runner-ups.

“These middle and high school youth presented thoughtful, passionate and well researched ideas for how to address some of the bigger challenges faced by India today,” says Deepak Raj, chairman of the Alliance.

Also Read | COVID-19 Vaccination: Will Make Life Very Difficult for Unvaccinated Citizens, Says Malaysian Health Minister.

“We are heartened by their enthusiasm and look forward to seeing their continued development,” he said.

As part of the competition, winners will have an opportunity to present their ideas at a special webinar hosted by IPA member Indiaspora on November 10 where hundreds of philanthropists, business leaders and nonprofit staff and volunteers are expected to be present.

Winners will receive a USD 1,000 award to be directed to the charity of their choice while runner-ups will have USD 500 to be directed to the charity of their choice.

All of this has been made possible through the generosity of The Sarva Mangal Family Trust, the IPA said.

“We are very encouraged by the enthusiasm and thoughtfulness of the students, some of whom are already engaged in the causes for which they advocate,” said Mona Shah, one of the judges for the competition and a representative of the Trust.

Saravanakumar wrote about deregulation of India crop prices and its impact on the rural farming community.

“We need to help small farmers' ability to stay in business. Too many have had to give up their farms and are being left behind,” Saravanakumar said, advocating for the development of a reliable infrastructure so that small farmers can produce, transport and store their agricultural products.

Yadav is passionate about setting up programmes and community centers for the aging in India.

“How can we ignore the needs of the population that helped raise us?” asks Eisha, advocating for day care centers to be developed in India so that seniors receive social and emotional support in addition to basic health services.

Patel advocated for equitable education for India's rural youth while Joshi advocated for advancing services to disabled people, particularly those living in remote and impoverished regions of the country.

The finalists include Aniruddh Marella of Frisco, Texas, Eshwar Venkataswamy of Athens, Pennsylvania and Jibraan Rahman of Plymouth, Michigan in the high school category; and Arhaan Iyer of Dallas, Texas, Eesha Jain of Seattle, Washington and Riya Pharsiyawar of Danbury, Connecticut in the middle school category.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)