Celebrating rural entrepreneurs of Telangana. Check out their simple yet effective innovations

Any day is a good day to celebrate rural student entrepreneurs. Youngistaan Foundation, in collaboration with the Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) and Telangana State Police, Women Safety Wing organised Digital Generation, Our Generation. This virtual session conducted over Zoom introduced the audience of about 400 to four young and bustling innovators who, with their simple yet effective solutions, were able to charm many.

Jayanthi Angothu from the Government Boys High School (which is not restricted to boys anymore) in Amberpet grew more and more concerned with the number of people who ditched their helmets, especially when travelling short distances. As she noted that the reason most people did this was because of heat and sweat, the 15-year-old decided to counter both problems with a solar helmet. Called the Solar Cooler Helmet, it is equipped with solar panels, a small fan and even a light to ensure that the helmet is more human-friendly. "While the fan, situated near the forehead, keeps things cool, the light is to ensure that even if street lights or the vehicle's headlights are not functioning, one can still travel safely," says the Class IX student. But all this makes it sound like an awfully heavy helmet, we wonder out loud, and the innovator is quick to point out that this is not the case. This set-up can be done on any helmet and since most of the components are made of plastic, they are lightweight.

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It took a week and all the support from the NGO Inqui-Lab Foundation for Jayanthi to come up with the prototype. While dealing with the circuits was one of the major problems that she faced, she overcame it with a little patience and a lot of guidance. The student hopes that soon, the helmet will actually be used. For now, Jayanthi has a new project in hand. As someone who is interested in electronic engineering and coding, she and a few friends have used Scratch to create a website scratch.mit.edu/projects/467610017 called Math Self-Assessment Rubric. This is a self-assessment tool that helps students solve those tricky Math problems they tend to struggle with. "Students should have a good time while solving Math problems and this website tries to ensure that," she says.

Wastage of any kind should be curbed, even when it's as basic as milk overflowing while being boiled. This happens in almost all households and Roopa Janampalli noted how it happened in her own house too. From the same school as Jayanthi and with the help of the same NGO, she came up with a boiling milk overflow prevention system. "We were introduced to different kinds of sensors at school and it took me about a month to come up with this solution," says the 14-year-old. The system has a sensor, which can be fixed atop the vessel and is powered by a battery connected via wires. There is also a buzzer that goes off as soon as the milk rises and sounds an alert so that the overflow can be prevented.

The innovation might seem simple but imagine how helpful it would be for those mothers who multitask their mornings. Encouraged by the success of the idea, Roopa and her friends are now working on an app for the school, one that will present the school in all its glory including its achievements and other important details. "I actually never thought that I could innovate something like this. It gave me a lot of confidence that I too can change the world," says Roopa. And that's the point of innovations, big or small — they infuse innovators with confidence to dream bigger and even the small ones can act as a stepping stone to something revolutionary.