BALASORE: A 12-year-old boy from Madhupura in Basta block has been invited for tea by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan for his innovation, which aims to make farming a less tedious task.
Biplab Kumar Ghosh, a Class VII student of Upendra Nath Nodal Upper Primary School at Madhupara, after seeing his father Susanta Kumar Ghosh work in the field under scorching heat, decided to come up with a machine to reduce manual labour, save time and cut down on expenses.
He took the help of a few teachers and classmates to come up with the multi-tasking equipment called ‘Seeds and fertiliser application’ by spending Rs 10,000.
“The machine can perform six different tasks simultaneously, including preparation of land before sowing of seeds, ploughing, sprinkling of water and pesticide, sowing of seeds and applying manure,” he said.
Biplab has exhibited the equipment at the district, State and national level science exhibitions and won medals. He has recently conferred the INSPIRE Award–MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge). Headmaster-in-charge of Biplab’s school Chinmay Kumar Nanda said the machine designed by the youngster was among the seven projects selected for INSPIRE Awards –MANAK”.
Taking note of his innovation, the President’s office invited the boy to attend a tea party in Delhi.
Though the exact date of the event is yet to be fixed, the event is scheduled to be held in March-April, he said.
Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is one of the flagship programmes of the Department of Science & Technology (DST). It aims to motivate students in the age group of 10-15 years and studying from classes VI to X.