Indore (Madhya Pradesh): IIM Indore's IPM course participant, Aditya Pratap Singh Chauhan, has been bestowed with Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2023.
Aditya was among the 11 nationwide to receive this prestigious award, presented by the Honorable President Droupadi Murmu at the grand ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan on January 23.
Aditya received the award under the ‘Innovation Category’ for his groundbreaking research project ‘MICROPA: A novel approach for the dye-based detection and algae-driven filtration of microplastics in drinking water’. The award ceremony, which continued till January 26, gave Aditya the opportunity to interact with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Through a press release, IIM Indore said that it is committed to encouraging, motivating, and mentoring its participants and contributing to their overall development. "We are so proud of Aditya for receiving the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2023. He is a true inspiration for all our students who wish to delve deep into research and innovation," said IIM Indore director Prof Himanshu Rai.
IIM Indore focuses on offering the best programmes designed in a way that not only helps our participants to understand the subject well but also enable them to learn implementing the classroom knowledge in real life, he added.
Aditya's journey to this momentous achievement began in grade 9 when the seed of his project was first planted. Over the course of a couple of years, he nurtured and developed his idea, ultimately bringing it to fruition at IIM Indore's IPM programme.
“The detection system I had devised includes a unique biochemical dye to be utilized on a water sample, which is then passed through a computer vision-based algorithm, accurately predicting the number of microplastics present in drinking water. In the second stage, a filter cartridge utilizes microalgae as the filtering agent. The inception of this project occurred in my ninth grade, and its development spanned a couple of years until my admittance to IIM Indore's IPM programme," said Aditya.
"The experience at the award ceremony was otherworldly. It included a plethora of events spanning a few days. I was honored by the President on January 23 and I had the opportunity to converse with Union minister Smriti Irani, discussing the work I had accomplished, followed by media interaction," Aditya reminisced. "I even had the chance to engage with the Prime Minister, who bestowed his blessings upon me and shared words of wisdom to empower me to think better of the future. He advised us to have short-term goals and segmented plans to achieve longer goals more efficiently. It was an honor to interact with him," Aditya added.
“My choice to enroll in the IPM programme was the best decision I made as it only ever increased my interest in research methodology. This course has exposed me to multiple fields, allowing me to decide on future endeavors," Aditya said.
