A 13-year-old boy from a Maoist violence-affected district of Chhattisgarh has won the prestigious APJ Abdul Kalam Ignite Award for suggesting an idea for a software to instantaneously register a vote given through an electronic voting machine with the authorities. Roshan Sori, a Class 6th student of Sukma district, came upon the idea after reading in the newspapers that Maoist rebels often loot EVMs on the way to counting centres, causing long delays and spiraling costs in the poll process.
- His parents are small farmers. Sori was called by district collector of Sukma and awarded. He studies in Boya Residential School and is resident of Burdi village.
- Sori is one of three students from the state among this year’s 28 awardees. The other two students of Chhattisgarh are Himanshu Rateria of Janjgir Chanpa district and Indu Manikpur of Dantewada (Bastar region).
- Manikpuri’s idea was to develop a septic tank pressure record scale while Rateria wanted to create a medical alarm on TV for senior citizens.
- Shrivastva believes that children despite of their geographical constraints are full of ideas and equally competent to their counterparts in urban areas.
National Innovation Foundation – India
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016 Award
- The National Innovation Foundation- India (NIF) has announced the name of winners of the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016 Award, on his 85th birthday.
- Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE competition is organized by NIF in association with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Honey Bee Network, and other partners.
- A number of other State Educational Boards viz. Board of School Education Haryana, Nagaland Board of School Education, Directorate of Higher Education, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, Lok Sikshan Sanchalanalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission, Dept. of School Education, Govt. of Chhattisgarh and Mizoram Board of School Education also actively promoted the IGNITE campaign.
