"He Has Done India Proud": Vice President On Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash

Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash, the 'fastest human calculator' was today praised by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu for winning the first-ever gold medal at the Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad held in London recently. "He has done India proud. My best wishes to him for all future endeavours," the Vice President's office tweeted with the hashtag 'Human Calculator'.  

He has done India proud. My best wishes to him for all future endeavours. #HumanCalculator

— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) August 26, 2020

Many people have been congratulating Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash since he hit headlines. Junior Home Minister G Kishan Reddy wrote on social media, "Hearty congratulations to Mr. Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash from Hyderabad on winning the first-ever gold for India in Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad and becoming the fastest human calculator in the world." 

After winning the competition, the 20-year-old student of Mathematics from Delhi's St Stephen's College said, "Beating 29 competitors from 13 countries, I won the gold medal with a clear margin of 65 points. The judges were spellbound by my speed, they required me to perform more calculations to confirm my accuracy."

The Mind Sport Olympiad was held virtually with 30 participants from the UK, Germany, UAE, France, Greece and Lebanon. The math event was first held in 1998.  

The 'Mathemagician' proudly went on to say that he holds "four world records and 50 Limca records for being the 'fastest human calculator' in the world. My brain calculates quicker than the speed of a calculator. Breaking these records, once held by Math experts like Scott Flansburg and Shakuntala Devi, is a matter of national pride...". 

Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash's dream is to remove the fear of Maths in students. He believes "for any country to develop and thrive globally, numeracy is as important a skill as literacy."