President's guests: 5 innovators who made a big difference

It was a dream come true for five innovators when they received personal attention and appreciation from President Pranab Mukherjee who assured them his support in future endeavours.

Staying at Rashtrapati Bhavan from July 1, 16-year-old Tenith Adithyaa, Manisha Mohan, 51-year-old Dharamveer Kamboj, 55-year-old Gurumail Singh Dhonsi and 28-year-old M B Avinash shared their experience with the President.

They had never imagined that they would get an opportunity to stay in the Rashtrapati Bhavan as guests of the President.

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They said the opportunity given to them reflected the President's respect and support for grass-root innovators of the country and this has sent out a positive message both in India and the world.

The President expressed happiness over the success of the scheme and complimented the innovators for having created products which have a larger social purpose.

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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 and it will continue to facilitate in their future endeavours, he said also asked them to use their experience and ideas gathered to refine existing products and also come out with new solutions to the problems society is facing.

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Staying under 'Innovation Scholars-in residence scheme of Rashtrapati Bhavan', the five were selected for their innovations and also provided a platform to interact with various ministries and departments to commercialise their invention.

Mohan, a student of Aeronautical Engineering, invented 'Society Harnessing Equipment', a device to safeguard women from molestation, assault and sexual harassment. She designed it with an intent to punish the assaulter on the spot without taking the law in hand.

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Adithyaa, the youngest in the team was appreciated for a finding a method to preserve banana leaves.

The process makes leaves resistant to drying and preserve them for over one year without using chemical. It increases its durability, malleability, temperature resistivity and weight-bearing capacity without affecting its natural colour. 

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Gurumail Singh Dhonsi, a farmer from Rajasthan, invented a Rapid Compost Aerator; Haryana's Kamboj, who was a rickshaw puller 27 years ago in Delhi, invented a multi-purpose food processing machine.

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Avinash, a Ph.D student at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore, invented a self-cleaning functional molecular material.