Young minds' solutions for ailing agrarian economy win praises

Several solutions for the ailing Indian economy were proposed by college students at an event, titled ‘A sustainable energy challenge’, hosted by the Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore on Saturday.

The competition, organised to mark the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Development by the SELCO Foundation, aimed at bringing an interesting mix of ideas – ranging from those on improving the Indian agrarian economy with sensory technology in ‘precision and organic farming’ and simple yet highly ambitious models for urban and rural transport using solar power.

Besides, the challenge was to identify the best ideas to benefit rural and urban poor in renewable energy and sustainability. Of the 50 entries from Bangalore and Ujire, 22 teams were shortlisted and only 10 were selected in the final round.

The three winning teams were presented a purse of Rs 20,000 under three different categories. Team Green Distillation from BMS College of Engineering won in the ‘Most Feasible’ category for their work in proposing a viable and affordable means for making clean and safe water.

The ‘Most Innovative’ team was from Dayanand Sagar College for their ‘Black Brightness’ project while the project for proposing the extraction of  ‘domestic fuel from urban waste’ got the students from The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) the ‘Most Holistic’ tag.
The winning teams will be assisted by SELCO to work on their proposed projects.