"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
8 Jan 2018
Siddharth Mandala as a 12-year-old had accompanied his mother to the Nirbhaya rallies in Hyderabad and decided that there had to be a better way. He felt that women might forget to carry tasers or pepper spray, but everyone puts on shoes. Now, at 18 he is the inventor of ElectroShoe – a device that enables the user to electrocute an offender and alert the nearby police station and friends of their location using WiFi.
It took him two years to come out with the prototype using social media for help. He believes technology can truly change the quality of our lives. He launched Cognizance Welfare Initiative (CWI) that teaches coding to students and inspires them to use science to enable them to create solutions for their communities. In May 2017, Mandala was awarded a letter of appreciation by the Telangana government for his invention.