India, Nov. 15 -- A s Delhi battles hazardous air pollution, with AQI levels crossing 400, a 17-year-old Delhiite has found an affordable way to help schoolchildren breathe cleaner air. Krish Agarwal, who developed a Rs.140 filter that turns an ordinary classroom fan into an air purifier, has earned a place on the 2026 Diana Award Roll of Honour. Under Project Vayu, Agarwal, a Class 12 student at Sanskriti School in Chanakyapuri, and his cousin, Samarth Meattle, 15, have produced 602 filters since starting the initiative in 2023. These have been installed in 295 classrooms across schools in Delhi. "I wanted to create something that can help tackle indoor air pollution, especially in schools that provide education to the underprivileged children," says Agarwal. He adds, "Being in a school, I know how much of an issue the hazardous AQI can be to our health. It affects our studies and forces us to take leaves when we are unwell." While his school has air purifiers, Agarwal was concerned about government school students without access to them. "We found there are two important components to an air purifier: the fan, which is the more expensive part, and the filter. Schools already have fans, so all we needed to design was a filter that could be attached to these," he explains. Finding an affordable filter was the next challenge. "When we reached out to a US-based company with a branch in India, they surprisingly responded and helped provide the filter media. We tried five, seven different types of media before we arrived at the one we use now," says Agarwal. For the teenager, the recognition is also about inspiring others: "One huge thing is to empower the younger generation to actually make change. So many students and teenagers in India want to, but they don't have the platform because even today, people think that kids are young and inexperienced and don't believe that they can be front runners to lead a change."...