Chitkara University Students win the prestigious National level Innovation Award 2020

Published on August 21, 2020 | 1500 views

Chitkara University students have won the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Award -2020 in the field of Agricultural Innovation, thus becoming the only non IIT, NIT, and IISc institution to make it to the award list.

The prestigious Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) 2020 award was presented to the team MOKSH from Chitkara University for the successful commercialization of the on-field Rice Stubble management machine. The machine has been designed to successfully eradicate the need of burning rice stubble in the field. The machine aims to offer a viable and commercial solution to the farmers, thus preserving soil fertility and counter the elevated pollution levels during the rice stubble burning during September and October.

Team MOKSH comprising of Chitkara University students Varinder Singh, Amrinder Singh and Gurditt Singh from Department of Mechanical Engineering along with the support from Nitika Dhingra from Chitkara University Research and Innovation Network (CURIN) bagged this award under the mentorship of Dr. Nitin K Saluja, Associate Director Research (CURIN).

Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards, instituted by SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions), includes three national awards for innovative student projects in engineering and biotechnology agriculture, pharmacy, material science, and other applied technological domains. These awards celebrate the spirit of student innovation in engineering, science, technology, and design through extremely affordable/ frugal solutions or the ones pushing the technological edge.

Every year, these awards are given during the Festival of Innovation (FOIN) at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in March.

With a focus on (but not restricted to) the innovations impacting communities at grassroots, encouraging co-creation with grassroots innovators, manufacturable technologies for saving or generating energy, sanitation, water purification, saving material consumption, biotechnology and medical devices, diagnostics, and assistive devices for physically challenged, these awards attract entries from the most exceptional innovators across the nation.

The team MOKSH has already brought laurels to Chitkara University and India by receiving appreciations, awards, and a special mention at the global platform as the US Embassy in India tweeted about the product for winning the first-ever title for the country at Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) organized by the American Association for Advancement of Sciences. Earlier the innovation was awarded by Department of Science and Technology (DST) – Lockheed Martin US, Government of India – India Innovation Growth Program. The product has also claimed the first award at global innovation event Ingenuity – 2020 organized in China and a cash reward of ¥ 200K.

Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor of Chitkara University, while congratulating the students shared, “This award is an outcome of Chitkara University’s relentless focus on fostering innovation, and encouraging students to solve real-world problems. Chitkara University’s Research and Innovation Network (CURIN) encourages our students to become innovative leaders and contribute to nation-building by developing indigenous solutions. The success of Team MOKSH is a testimony to the success of our model.”