20 days at Rashtrapati Bhavan: A dream come true for innovators

Packed with ideas and clarity about the road ahead for taking their innovations to masses, the five innovators staying as President Pranab Mukherjee's guests on Monday bid goodbye to the President House.

Staying at Rashtrapati Bhavan from July 1, 16-year-old Tenith Adithyaa, 21-year-old Manisha Mohan, 51-year-old Dharamveer Kamboj, 55-year-old Gurumail Singh Dhonsi and 28-year-old M B Avinash on Monday left the compound of the President House with a vision of making their innovations "commercially viable" and "available to the masses". 

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Manisha, a final year student of Automobile Engineering at SRM University, has developed an undergarment which aims to protect women from assault by sending a 3,800 KW shock to the attacker.

"I was very passionate about the anti-rape undergarment I had developed and have been working hard to make it accessible in the market. But during my stay here and meetings with various ministries, private and public sector enterprises I realised how things actually work in our system. I also got to know about various loopholes in my product which need to be fixed before it can be launched in the market," said Manisha Mohan.

"Also the line between 'research' and 'relevant research' is no more blurred for me.During my discussions with various experts, I have also got ideas about making this undergarment practically reusable and cost effective and I will work on it now," she said. 

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Dharamveer Kamboj, who had worked as a rickshaw puller 27 years ago in Delhi, says meeting the President was no less than a dream come true for him.

"The best part of my stay here was the meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee and getting appreciated for my product. I had no idea how the Rashtrapati Bhavan would be. I also liked the meeting with the HRD minister Smriti Irani," says Kamboj, who has invented a multipurpose food processing machine.

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"For me this experience has been a big assurance that our country has scope and acknowledgement for innovators. I always used to think that I will develop some innovative products, which will lead me to some excellent university in US. But after the multiple meetings we had during the programme, I realised there are enough opportunities here and youth like me have enough support of further research and development work and diffusion of our innovations," said Tenith Adithyaa.

He had developed a technology for preserving banana leaves for over two years without using any chemicals.

The technique increases the durability, temperature resistivity and weight-bearing capacity of the leaves without affecting its natural colour. It is an eco-friendly technology useful for making various items like plates, cups, bags, boxes, packaging wraps, containers and covers.

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Other innovators including Avinash, a Ph.D student at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore, invented a self-cleaning functional molecular material and Gurumail Singh Dhonsi has developed rapid compost making machine and tree pruner.

Staying under 'Innovation Scholars-in residence scheme of Rashtrapati Bhavan', the five were selected for their innovations with an aim of promoting the spirit of innovation and giving further impetus to grassroot innovation.

The five were selected from amongst 100 applicants from across the country.