President inaugurates Innovation Festival

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates the Festival of Innovation at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre on Saturday. Beside him is Union minister Harsh Vardhan. (Photo: Asian Age)

President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday inaugurated the seven-day Festival of Innovation at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The exhibition features 65 grassroots innovations, including an alert switch in public vehicles for safety of women, a groundnut digger and a natural water cooler. The festival is being organised in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation.

At the inaugural function of the second edition of the festival, secretary to the President, Omita Paul, said the programme has been expanded this year to include innovation scholars, writers and artists from across the country.

The first Festival of Innovation was held from March 7-13, 2015 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Throwing light on the genesis of FOIN, Mrs Paul said, “In 2013, the President met the vice-chancellors of various Central universities. During the meeting, he thought of bringing an innovation movement to India. This idea was followed up by directors of IITs, NITs and other Central & state universities, along with NIF chairperson Dr R.A. Mashelkar and executive vice-chairperson Prof. Anil K. Gupta, also a professor at IIM-A, who gave shape to the seven-day event in the form of discussions and debate to generate new ideas and tap grassroots potential.”

This year’s event will witness a number of exhibitions, roundtable discussions on different topics related to innovations with national and international participation, a talk by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi; Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards and Visitor’s Awards to central universities. The festival will also see a wider participation, both nationally and globally as about 85 innovation clubs are participating from various universities of the country. Eleven innovation scholars, artists and writers are being hosted by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan as part of the festival for two weeks.

A statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said that the Tezpur University has won the annual visitors award for the best university.

The best university will receive a citation and trophy while winners of visitors award for innovation and research will receive a citation and cash award of Rs one lakh, it added.

The alert switch, aimed to aid safety for women in autorickshaws and buses, has been made by 19-year-old Satiya, a BA student from Surendranagar in Gujarat. “Women’s safety is a big concern nowadays so I wanted to make a switch which will send signals to the nearby police station. Then the vehicle number and the location will get available to the police,” said Satiya, who was present at the exhibition along with her brother Mehul.

She said she was glad to have completed this project as she always had interest in science but because of her dream to become a deputy collector, she could not take up the subject in her graduation.

Sanjay Patel, also from Gujarat, completed his degree in Commerce and got himself a job, but his interest towards farming led him to develop the groundnut digger. The tractor-operated machine digs and uproots the groundnut plant, which is passed over a conveyor. The digger has a fuel capacity of 1.5 acre per hour and Patel said it can reduce cost of harvesting to about 50 per cent of manual harvesting.

“The digger is better than the normal tractor as it has a V-belt, which can take the load. It took me and my brother three-four years to built. We have made supplies locally and in other states.”

The exhibition will also feature an anti-molestation device worn on wrist, a crop-thresher, simple flushing mechanism for public urinals, foot operated page turning device for differently-abled, height-adjustable wash basin; a wrapper picker posture correcting chair and rain water syringe for water conservation.

The exhibition will remain open between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. till March 19 for the public. All visitors to the Mughal Gardens will be able to visit the exhibition.