Delhi Student Who Began Feeding One Stray Dog at 11 Wins Diana Award After Helping 1,500

Kushal Sachdeva, a student at Delhi's Vasant Valley School, has received the 2026 Diana Award for his work through the stray-dog rescue organisation Protect Paws. Sachdeva began feeding a starving street dog when he was 11, and never stopped.

A rescue that began with one dog

Protect Paws has reportedly helped more than 1,500 stray dogs: vaccinating 200 dogs, sterilising 110, rescuing more than 30 animals, and raising over $13,000 to support animal welfare.

The Diana Award and this year's Indian honorees

The Diana Award, established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, recognises young people aged 16 to 25 for social action and humanitarian work. This year's recipients were announced on November 4 at a virtual ceremony streamed internationally: 198 young people from 44 countries, including 49 from India — nearly a quarter of the cohort.

Fellow Indian honorees include 18-year-old Aadvik Jain, who founded Team Period to break menstrual stigma, and Krish Aggarwal, whose Project Vayu fits low-cost filters onto ordinary classroom fans to clean the air, reaching about 10,000 pupils.

(File photo: a stray dog on a street in India. Image: Prabhu Chhaya Foundation)