<p>New Delhi: The third Rohini Nayyar award was conferred to Anil Pradhan of the Bhubaneswar-based Young Tinker Foundation. The prize, instituted in 2022 in memory of former economist, bureaucrat and Padma Shri Dr Rohini Nayyar, comes with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, a citation and a trophy. </p><p>Pradhan was given the award at the Capital’s Indian International Centre by chief guest RA Mashelkar, former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, environmentalist Ashok Khoshla as well as economist Deepak Nayyar. </p><p>Every year, the Prize is awarded to an individual under the age of 40 who has made an outstanding contribution in the field of rural development in India. Last year, the award went to Dinanath Rajput of the Chhattisgarh-based Bhumgadi Mahila Krushak Producer Company Limited, and in 2022, the award was given to Nagaland’s Sethrichem Sangtam. </p><p>Through his organisation, Pradhan works on imparting skills and innovation in STEM education to schoolkids through tinkering. Till now, his foundation has taught over 2.5 lakh students in Odisha, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Pradhan, who in 2021, led a team of students from rural India and underserved communities to achieve world rank 3 at the NASA Rover Challenge, said that a chapter will soon be started in Delhi and that the Foundation aims to reach out to 10 lakh students by 2026. </p><p>“The expectation is that a lot of my work deals with science and innovation, but most of my work is with the mindset of the students I teach. When I looked around my village, I felt an absence of innovation labs and I started the Foundation with three students in a tin-shed while I was in college. In two years, it expanded to 200 students, and then we decided, in 2011, that we will showcase our talents at NASA,” Pradhan said while accepting the award. </p><p>He said that most of the students came from impoverished backgrounds. “Someone was a roadside cycle mechanic, some lived in mud houses – these are the children we have involved in the programme,” Pradhan said. Today, Pradhan's Foundation also sends out AI-powered tinker labs -- carts where children can tinker and design. </p><p>Mashelkar, who was the chief guest at the function, said that the spirit of the award was to celebrate the ideas that no one thinks about. “This is what Rohini (Nayyar) did as well – she could see what everyone saw but thought about what no one else did. What is particularly good about the Prize is that it is awarding young individuals below the age of 40. A multidimensional approach to poverty management was a hallmark of Rohini's work – as early as the 1980s, she famously said that poverty cannot be captured in single numbers or in empty pockets, but in hungry bellies,” he said in his address. </p><p>Nayyar, who had served as the former principal adviser at the erstwhile Planning Commission, conceptualised the idea of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005. She passed away in 2021 due to cancer.</p>
<p>New Delhi: The third Rohini Nayyar award was conferred to Anil Pradhan of the Bhubaneswar-based Young Tinker Foundation. The prize, instituted in 2022 in memory of former economist, bureaucrat and Padma Shri Dr Rohini Nayyar, comes with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, a citation and a trophy. </p><p>Pradhan was given the award at the Capital’s Indian International Centre by chief guest RA Mashelkar, former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, environmentalist Ashok Khoshla as well as economist Deepak Nayyar. </p><p>Every year, the Prize is awarded to an individual under the age of 40 who has made an outstanding contribution in the field of rural development in India. Last year, the award went to Dinanath Rajput of the Chhattisgarh-based Bhumgadi Mahila Krushak Producer Company Limited, and in 2022, the award was given to Nagaland’s Sethrichem Sangtam. </p><p>Through his organisation, Pradhan works on imparting skills and innovation in STEM education to schoolkids through tinkering. Till now, his foundation has taught over 2.5 lakh students in Odisha, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Pradhan, who in 2021, led a team of students from rural India and underserved communities to achieve world rank 3 at the NASA Rover Challenge, said that a chapter will soon be started in Delhi and that the Foundation aims to reach out to 10 lakh students by 2026. </p><p>“The expectation is that a lot of my work deals with science and innovation, but most of my work is with the mindset of the students I teach. When I looked around my village, I felt an absence of innovation labs and I started the Foundation with three students in a tin-shed while I was in college. In two years, it expanded to 200 students, and then we decided, in 2011, that we will showcase our talents at NASA,” Pradhan said while accepting the award. </p><p>He said that most of the students came from impoverished backgrounds. “Someone was a roadside cycle mechanic, some lived in mud houses – these are the children we have involved in the programme,” Pradhan said. Today, Pradhan's Foundation also sends out AI-powered tinker labs -- carts where children can tinker and design. </p><p>Mashelkar, who was the chief guest at the function, said that the spirit of the award was to celebrate the ideas that no one thinks about. “This is what Rohini (Nayyar) did as well – she could see what everyone saw but thought about what no one else did. What is particularly good about the Prize is that it is awarding young individuals below the age of 40. A multidimensional approach to poverty management was a hallmark of Rohini's work – as early as the 1980s, she famously said that poverty cannot be captured in single numbers or in empty pockets, but in hungry bellies,” he said in his address. </p><p>Nayyar, who had served as the former principal adviser at the erstwhile Planning Commission, conceptualised the idea of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005. She passed away in 2021 due to cancer.</p>