Bangalore:
Aritra Paul, a third-year student of the RV College of Engineering, will present his idea at the Classmate Ideas for India Challenge, an initiative of ITC, a business conglomerate which is
celebrating its centenary year. The national and final round of the competition will be held on December 14 and 15, in New Delhi.
The Classmate Ideas for India Challenge invited students across the country to put forth an innovative idea whose implementation would make a difference to the nation. Students presented initiatives that would make for greater environment-friendly lifestyles, save energy, make urban transport more efficient, provide security to neighborhoods, and incorporate developments in nanotechnology in everyday life.
Aritra Paul's People Transport Information System, an attempt to make commuting user-friendly, has found favour with the judges. The GPS-based public transport system that Paul developed would enable passengers to know where a bus is at a point of time, and how much longer it will take to arrive at the bus stop at which a passenger might be waiting. "I
developed the system in my college laboratory. I now have a scaled-down model which is functional," said Paul.
Paul has another proposal, 'Roadeo'. A dynamic car-alert system, Roadeo could warn drivers of speed-breakers on the path, about 100 metres before the car actually arrive at the spot. Drivers could be forewarned of sharp U-turns on the route, school zones and silence zones.
An LCD screen in the car could pop up messages, and Radio Frequency Identification tags embedded on the road would help make the reading.
Poornima G, a student from Shimoga, had an idea that did not involve any advanced technology, but could help educate many poor children. "It's a 1 plan,"she says. She has gathered statistics to back her plan. "The total population of Shimoga is 16,42,000. The child population of the district is 3,38,653. There are at least 3,068 children in the school-going age who are out of school."
According to Poornima's plan, if `1 is collected from each person in the district, at least a sum of `10 lakh could be gathered. Estimating that the education of a child would cost `4,000 a year, Poornima said that 250 students could be educated each month.
Syed Sultan Ahmed, managing director, EduMedia, said, "I have noticed that many students from Bangalore have ideas that need sophisticated technology." There will be eleven contestants in the final round of the competition. The winner can expect to bag a prestigious internship programme, and will be sent on an educative tour across the world, besides also winning an attractive cash prize.
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