Five Innovation Scholars who are part of the first Innovation Scholars-in residence scheme of Rashtrapati Bhavan called on President of India, Pranab Mukherjee today (July 17, 2014) at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Speaking on the occasion, the President expressed happiness over the success of the scheme and complimented the innovators for having created products which have a larger social purpose. He said there is need to pay special attention to grass-root innovations in society. For a country with over 1.2 billion population, there are large number of problems that call for ingenious solutions. The Rashtrapati Bhavan has provided a platform to Innovators for refining their ideas and products. It will continue to facilitate their future endeavours. Innovators should use the experience and ideas gathered to not only refine existing products but also come out with new solutions to the problems society is facing.
The five innovators told the President the experience has been a dream comes true. None of them could believe that they would have an opportunity to live in Rashtrapati Bhavan as guests of the President. The opportunity given to them reflected the President’s respect and support for grassroots innovators of the country. This has sent out a positive message both in India and the world. Innovators who stayed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan were Shri Gurmail Singh Dhonsi, a farmer from Rajasthan, who has invented a Rapid Compost Aerator; Shri Dharamveer Kamboj from Haryana, who was a rickshaw puller 27 years ago in Delhi and has invented a multi-purpose food processing machine; Ms. Manisha Mohan, a final year student of Automobile Engineering at SRM University, who has developed an under-garment which aims to protect women from assault by sending a 3,800kW shock to the attacker; Shri M.B. Avinash, a Ph. D. student at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore, who has invented a Self-cleaning functional molecular material and 16-year-old Tenith Adithyaa who has invented a technology for preserving banana leaves for over two years without using any chemicals.