Jharkhand’s small village of Nagar Utari in Garhwa district eked out a place for itself amongst hundreds of participants for the first time as Prithviraj Singh, a Class XII student won the third prize in the 16-17 age group category of the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) awards at the National Science Exhibition in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi yesterday.

Singh, the youngest son of a truck driver, had put in much effort in conceptualizing, constructing and demonstrating his project that aims to help the visually-impaired. “I had grown up in extreme poverty where daily meals are also not promised. Both of my parents toil very hard to barely make ends meet but they have just inspired both of us –me and my elder brother to complete our education and prioritise education and performing exceptionally well,” said Singh.

Accompanied by his Class Teacher Anand Kumar Sinha on his train journey from New Delhi to Daltonganj, the student dedicated his award to his parents and the blind uncle. “Prithvi’s uncle was trapped alone in a room, once that had caught fire. The project that he has worked on and been awarded for, is the fire safety alarm and an ordinary jacket that helps the visually-impaired to locate themselves using Google Apps and even with directions using sensory vibrators. He drew inspiration for the same from all the blind people in his small village and especially, his dear uncle who was born blind. Since his childhood, Prithvi has always felt the pain for such people with disabilities, the sorrow of not being able to see this beautiful, colourful world and always wanted to do something for their betterment,” said Sinha.

The 17-year-old INSPIRE award winner continued to explain his project further, said, “Though, luckily we were able to save him but that incident really shook me from inside. Since then, I had been planning to make a fire alarm for the safety of these people and also a jacket that can help them with directions. The jacket that I have made looks like any normal jacket that only needs to be redesigned to be radio-sensitive. The blind person can plug in the earpiece fit in their jacket in both their ears and the moment they need to turn left or right, the respective ear receives the vibrations. The Google App also lets them locate their exact location and through remote control system, his family members can keep a track of this. This technology can also be available in belts. So, even if there is a fire in the building, the family can locate them using the remote control system and even the visually-impaired can run towards safety on their won by following the vibrations in their respective ears,” added Singh.

Moreover, the young student seems to have fixed his life’s goal in entering the country’s No.1 institute for engineering. “I am so honoured to have received the award from the Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr Harshwardhan. I am planning to work on such more projects in the future by which I can make the lives better of the under-privileged and disabled. I want to study Mechanical Engineering at the IIT and help our country grow as a scientifically-developed nation that stands out in the entire world. I believe it is the power of science and technology that can bring in social, political, economical changes in the country and the world. Anything is possible in this digital age and we should extract the maximum benefit out of it,” said Prithviraj.

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/ranchi/garhwa-student-bags-inspire-award.html