UMERKOTE: Odisha girl Banita Dash was awarded the prestigious Prime Minister Rashtriya Bal Puraskar Award for 2022 on Monday at a virtual ceremony in Madhya Pradesh’s Anupur district ahead of the Republic Day celebration. Banita was given the award for excellence in the field of innovation.
The youngster designed an automated sanitising school bag, for which she received global recognition. Studying in Class X at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Anupur, Banita, who hails from Nabarangpur, attended the virtual conference from Anupur district collector’s office. She was awarded a cash prize of `1 lakh and an e-certificate from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Banita had hogged headlines after she discovered a small planet in 2021 during her stint at the Khagolala Asteroid Search Campaign (KASC). As part of the campaign, the children were trained on detection of asteroids. Banita had detected one which later was recognised as a planet by NASA, Hardin-University and the International Astronomical science and named it after her.
Daughter of Bana Bihari Dash and Anita Dash of Gadbaguda street here, Banita, harbours interest in exploring small planets.
Around 300 students from various schools in the district heard Banita’s success story at the programme organised by Nabarangpur district education officer Pradip Kumar Nag on the day. Sharing her experience through virtual mode at the smart classroom of RCD High School Nabarangpur, Banita said, “The road would be visible wherever there is hope.”
“Banita wants to be a space scientist and aspires to work at NASA someday. We are so proud of her,” said father Bana Bihari Dash sharing his pride.
Explosives dump of Maoists unearthed
Malkangiri: In a joint operation, the Border Security Force (BSF) and district police unearthed a Maoist dump at the upper hill ridge near the connecting track of Sadaram-Sanyasiguda and Totagudain Swabhiman Anchal on Monday. Police said the discovery of the explosive dump is significant as it was made a couple of days before the Republic Day celebration. The recovered items include seven IEDs kept in steel containers, optical instruments and other materials which were concealed under a pile of stones. All the IEDs were diffused at the site.