Low-cost instrumentation inventor

Sriram Kumar

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"Measuring slopes, angles and settings are commonplace in the engineering and construction industries in particular. For this purpose large corporates use telescopes and laser instruments and these tend to be priced between Rs.50,000-1 lakh. Masons, carpenters, small time contractors are not trained to use such sophisticated instruments and can’t access them anyway. On the other hand USL is simple to use, doesn’t require electricity, costs only Rs.100 to manufacture and is very user-friendly," says Kumar.

The utility of Kumar’s invention is endorsed by Dr. M.P. Ravindra, a physics alumnus of Mysore University and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and currently vice president of education and research at Infosys Technologies who was on the panel of award judges. "This is a user-friendly, low cost replacement invention for expensive theodolites used by civil engineers to measure horizontal and vertical angles. With a few minor modifications it could prove very useful to small-time contractors, masons and people constructing their own homes," says Ravindra.

Kumar attributes a large measure of his success to the encouragement and guidance he received from his father P. Thangavel, a chemistry teacher and his school teachers, saying his invention was accidental. "During the construction of our home in Coimbatore, I noticed that masons faced considerable difficulty in angling slopes for stairs, approach paths etc. This inspired me to design the low-cost user-friendly USL, which makes life easier for small-time contractors, builders, masons etc," says Kumar.

Not surprisingly given its hand-held size, low cost and sheer utility, USL has already won Kumar the CSIR-DJA (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research Diamond Jubilee Award) in 2003. Moreover in August 2004 he represented India at the Future Creation Fair in Japan.

A great believer in behaviourism which propounds that a supportive environment is a vital prerequisite of high scholastic achievement, Kumar ascribes his success to the supportive and student-centric environment of the G.R.G. Matriculation Higher Secondary School, a private school affiliated to the matriculation board of Tamil Nadu. "Lab facilities in our school are excellent and our computer lab recently won an award from the chief minister for having the second best computer facilities in the state. I received continuous encouragement and support from my school principal and the management who often paid the expenses I incurred to perfect my invention," he says.

A well-informed student of political and social trends within the country, Kumar is painfully aware that the great majority of schools nationally lack electricity, drinking water and toilet facilities, let alone libraries and labs, and is a forceful proponent of a common school system. "A common pan-India school system is vitally necessary. The medium of instruction can vary but the syllabus and examination board should be common to all students. This will ensure that they are tested equally and the best schools become apparent immediately," says Kumar.

The immediate future goal of this talented young inventor is to fine tune and improve USL and concentrate on his class XII board exams. Simulta-neously he will continue to develop user-friendly, low-cost instrumentation for use by farmers, road construction contractors and workers.

Talented environment crusader

Sandesh Kadur (left)

A four year labour of love, Sahyadris: Mountains of the Monsoon which was recently broadcast by television’s Discovery channel, has won a slew of international awards including the prestigious Gold REMI award for creative excellence (Houston World fest 2003), a merit award for cinematography at the International Wildlife Film Festival (2002) and a special jury award for wildlife conservation at the Vatavaran Film Festival held in New Delhi in 2003. Sahyadaris was also nominated for a ‘Green Oscar’ award in 2002.

Kadur’s passion for environmental causes, manifested in this 110-minute documentary on the Western Ghats — which flashes brilliant images of the world-famous Niligir thar, a troupe of rare lion-tailed macaques, a tiger at a waterhole and nesting Great Hornbills — began while he was a biology undergrad at the University of Texas, Brownsville. Located in the Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville straddles the US-Mexico border and is well known for its rich flora and fauna.

"While in college I spent several days trekking, photographing and documenting the cloud forests of Mexico. Aware of my growing interest in nature and conservation, my professor Lawrence Lof asked me to produce a short wildlife documentary as part of my college summer holiday project. I felt that the Western Ghats, where as a teenager I had spent several weeks trekking and exploring was the best location. A four-month summer project transformed into a four-year learning process during which I taught myself to film, photograph, edit, and script documentaries. In the end — thanks to the help and support of my professors — I had a graduate degree and a documentary to my credit," recalls Kadur, whose first attempt to capture his romance with the Western Ghats on film, was financed and supported by the Gorgas Science Foundation (estb.1948), a Brownsville-based education and conservation non-profit organisation.

Familiarity with a designated ‘biodiversity hotspot’ — a region with incredibly high amounts of bio diversity which has lost over 70 percent of its natural habitat — Kadur’s summer project has converted him into a crusader for saving the Western Ghats. "No other mountain range in the world supports as great a human population as the Western Ghats. And yet very few people in India are aware of its importance. The objective of my film is to showcase the beauty of this region and make people aware of the need to preserve it and highlight what would be lost if we don’t," says Kadur.

Ironically this winner of the Infosys-EducationWorld Young Achievers Award 2005 is a class XII dropout from National College, Bangalore whose admission into the University of Texas, Brownsville without a class XII certificate, he credits to a miraculous "technical loophole". "I would have never made it to university if I had remained in India. Our higher education system is too rigorous and rigid. It doesn’t allow for any creativity or innovation; the focus is book knowledge and passing exams. On the other hand in the US, undergrad education is very flexible and allows every student to explore his preferences and develop his talents. India has much to learn from America’s higher education system. Teaching and learning has to be creative, hands-on, flexible and supported by resources to enable students to think out-of-the-box and realise their potential," he says.

Kadur’s advice to India’s 9.28 million tertiary level students shackled by a moribund higher education system is to practice the "three P’s — patience, perseverance and passion". Currently engaged in producing a coffee-table book on the Western Ghats, Kadur is an evangelist for the conservation of India’s vanishing forest cover and diverse flora and fauna who plans to tour schools and colleges across the country with his award-winning documentary. "School and college students must be made aware of the dangers posed to India’s wildlife and environment heritage and should be in the forefront of the movement to preserve it. It’s also high time that environment education is introduced as a formal study subject in school curriculums. Catching ‘em young will make them environment evangelists for life," says Kadur.

Winners as well

Confident child artist

Lakshmishree

"I like to paint happy children, flowers, birds, and wild animals," says this class III student of Bethesda Convent, Bangalore, who received a huge round of applause for her outstanding artistic achievements and supreme confidence as she made her presentation to a packed audience.

Accomplished chess champ

Kruttika Nadig

In her power point presentation to the panel of judges, this class XII student of the upscale Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore, said that excellence in her chosen mind game requires mental as well as physical fitness. "Chess is a very testing game which requires exceptional determination and a killer instinct. To become a world-class chess player one needs to develop patience, stamina and immense concentration. To sit in one place for eight-10 hours at a stretch requires a sound body and mind," she says.

This young achiever’s future moves include attaining the distinction of Grandmaster, World Champion and sustained participation in the European chess circuit.

Multi-skilled small towner

Tanushree

Given her quasi-rural background, Tanushree is a strong advocate of upgradation of the education dispensed in India’s villages and small towns. "If we want young people in small town India to achieve their potential, infrastructure facilities in their schools and colleges must be improved. They should feel encouraged by the education system. I’ve personally had to strive harder than the average city young-ster to achieve what I have," says Tanushree, whose future goal is to study medicine while continuing to pursue her extracurricular activities.

Young business prodigy

Suhas Gopinath

But Gopinath turned down the offer because he wanted "to promote my own website design company in India". He bagged his first major website design contract from a Singapore-based firm, but had to turn it down because Indian law doesn’t permit a 16-year-old to register a company. That’s when he decided to establish Globals Inc in San Jose, USA. In its first two years the company took up small jobs such as website design, hosting, domain registration etc chalking up a modest revenue of Rs.30,000.

But with Gopinath persevering in the pursuit of his dream, by 2004 Globals Inc morphed into a multinational corporate with offices in several countries and 250 employees on its rolls. In the same year Globals Inc also launched three unique software products and the BBC and Washington Post acknowledged him as the ‘world’s youngest CEO’.

Currently the San Jose (USA)-based Globals Inc (annual sales: $2 million) headed by Gopinath has operations in 11 countries including, Singapore, Norway, Switzerland and South Africa and employs more than 400 people aged between 13-22 years. "My role model is Microsoft promoter-chairman Bill Gates. I want my company to become another Microsoft. Attending college and running a company at the same time is not easy. But I’ve learnt to divide and manage my time well," says Gopinath.

Internet access innovator

Anirudh Koul

Based on an algorithm formulated by Koul, the program has received widespread endorsement from academia and the IT industry. In 2004 Koul was awarded the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry)-DST (department of science and technology) Young Innovator Award sponsored by the global IT behemoth IBM. This was followed by the Innovator of the Year award instituted by National Geographic Channel and Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi. Additionally he has won several prizes in technical competitions conducted by IIT-Roorkee.

"I believe in acquiring knowledge not only through classroom learning but also through research and accessing technical papers on the internet. I intend developing and analysing algorithms for computer network-based services so that the vast library that is the internet can be easily accessed by many more people around the world," Koul told the judges.

For those in the audience who following an IT-jargon packed presentation classified him a computer nerd, Koul had a few surprises. "I am also the editor of my college magazine and a accomplished pianist. I’ve performed at several inter-collegiate cultural festivals across the country," he said to cheers from the distinguished assembly.

Youth employment researcher

Sachinanda Satapathy

"Youth unemployment is the biggest problem not only in Orissa but countrywide. By the end of the Tenth Plan (2002-07) the number of unemployed across the country will rise to 45.56 million. Even educated young people can’t find jobs. To find solutions to this dangerous unemployment problem I have prepared two development models. Broadly, they advocate changes in the education system to enable youth to become employment creators rather than job seekers, and the formulation of a national youth policy by the Central government," says Satapathy.

Currently working on three projects — compiling a database of educated self-employed youth in rural India; writing a national youth policy, and a Village Vision 2020 document — Satapathy describes his future objective as "solving problems from which others shy away".