A G Padmanabhan Gopalan is a young engineer with a vision to help the poor and needy. This young entrepreneur who launched the NGO No Food Waste to pacify the hunger of the needy and the online crowd funding organization Edu Dharma to help poor students was conferred with the state youth award on Independence Day. He received the award from the chief minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, on Tuesday.

Padmanabhan excels in the field of technology and with his expertise he assisted the Coimbatore Corporation to develop an entrepreneurship model for solid waste management. In this model, people are encouraged to segregate the collected waste and they can also earn some money by selling recyclable waste.

Padmanabhan also has his hands in the Bala Jana Graha project that helps corporation school students to create scientific temper and cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation. He proposed the setting up of Tinkering Laboratories at the SRP Amanniammal Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School.

Padmanabhan’s organization had fed nearly three lakh people, while under Edu Dharma they had collected and distributed around Rs78 lakh to 120 needy students. He said that the award will be an inspiration for him to work harder in order to be a better entrepreneur. He also runs a small software developing firm.