JOIN USRecently, the ‘Rural IT Quiz ’12’ was organised by the department of IT, BT, science and technology, government of Karnataka. It was held in partnership with Tata Consultancy Services at Chowdiah Memorial Hall.
The highlight of the programme was the presence of the former president of India — A P J Abdul Kalam.
Over 14 lakh students participated in the programme this year; finally, six teams from six different states were selected to battle it out at the national level. The participants were from Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The participants, who were school students, showcased a great level of preparation as they were very quick to press the buzzer and take a stab at the answers. Though the questions were tough, the participants answered them with ease. One of the questions asked was the definition of ‘Stevenotes’ — a participant immediately answered, saying, “The keynote speeches given by Steve Jobs are now widely known as Stevenotes.”
Students were thrilled to have the former president witnessing the quiz. A P J Abdul Kalam was heartened to see the young ignited minds unleash their talent. Addressing the students, he says, “Ignited minds are present on the earth, below the earth and under the earth. Knowledge is not confined to rural or urban India; it is present in one and all.”
He congratulated the organisers for conducting this sort of quiz and added, “There are 6,00,000 villages in India with 700 million Indians living in them. Knowledge is common to everybody. We need to evolve as a ‘knowledge society’. We need to question everything, as questioning is the nutrient for blossoming science.”
Kalam played a quiz with the audience, who more than lived up to his high expectations. Later, he handed over the cash prize and trophies to the winners — Digant Bakari and Harshil Vaidya from Gujarat and the runners up — Abhishek Rao and Swastik Udupa from Karnataka.
Harshil Vaidya says, “We have been dreaming of getting this for a long time. This award is the result of the efforts we have put in during the last three years.”