Amid the controversy over the Centre rejecting Bengal’s tableau for the Republic Day parade, a Class XI student from Hooghly's Chinsurah has been chosen to be among the "distinguished guests" to witness the parade in New Delhi on Friday.
Avigyan Kishor Das, 16, a student of Hooghly Collegiate School, has been invited by the Centre to grace the historic 75th Republic Day celebration as a “distinguished” patent holder, which is a recognition of his “substantial contribution in the field of science and technology” and for raising the “stature of India globally”.
Avigyan, a science student, holds a patent for a touch-free portable automatic hand sanitising system. Approval for patents for eight other inventions of his is pending.
Sources said the teenager received the prestigious National Intellectual Property Award in October last year. It paved the way for his invitation to the historic occasion as one of the youngest dignitaries.
“Being invited to be a distinguished guest by the country’s government is a huge honour. It will be the experience of my lifetime to watch the parade on the 75th Republic Day celebration in New Delhi seated with other dignitaries. This invitation will inspire me to undertake more new endeavours,” Avigyan said.
A communication on invitations to patent holders issued by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, a wing of the Union ministry of commerce and industry, states: “The inventors and patent holders play a very significant role in the economic development of a country. To acknowledge the contribution and ingenuity of Indian inventors, the Government of India has decided to invite to the Republic Day parade the distinguished patent holders."
Avigyan was chosen for the National Intellectual Property award for his work on “the development of a real-time automobile and industrial pollution monitoring and controlling device, as well as for the touch-free sanitizing system in the below 18 years category titled “Top Indian Individual for patents”.
Avigyan's father Anindya Kishor Das is an employee of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. His mother Priyanka Das is a homemaker. Both said their son was "innovative since his childhood".
His father Anindya said: “The central government's invitation to my son to witness the Republic Day parade is a great honour for our family also."
When he was only 11, one of Avigyan's innovations was adjudged the best in a competition organized by the International Science Festival in Calcutta. For the science festival, Avigyan developed a real-time pollution control device that when fitted to the engine of a vehicle can eventually disable its movement permanently once its pollutant capacity rose beyond the permissible level.
In 2019, the then Class VII student developed a device to automatically stop a running train to avert possible accidents in case the driver suffered a cardiac arrest or became unconscious. The young inventor used a pulse oximeter to develop his device. The innovation earned him the first prize in the “Best Innovative Project” category at a competition organised by a private engineering college.
Asked about his future plans, Avigyan said he wanted to do research in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“I want to develop tools and systems using basic science and technology to provide solutions to domestic needs in daily life," said the gifted teen.
