Curious Tourist

In a remote village situated on the banks of the Yamuna, a young boy named Raju from a Pachayat School was persuading his community members not to defecate in the open. He had a spark in his eyes, a constant smile on his face and an indomitable desire to bring about a meaningful change in his village. The above story is one among many others that are transforming and reimagining India. The honourable Prime Minister has given a vision for creating a New India by 2022 when India would complete 75 years of its independence. In this context, Niti Aayog- the premier think tank of the country, has come up with the Strategy for New India. The success of this strategy is incumbent upon the active participation of fellow citizens in socio-economic development and also upon their pro-activeness in upholding the constitutional ideals especially the Fundamental duties as enshrined in Article 51A of the Indian Constitution. In this essay, we will understand the nature and definition of New

My letter to Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission Dear Sir, Hope you are doing good.  I am a Mentor in a school in Delhi. I have written many articles, held conferences on the success of ATL model and how it's helping foster entrepreneurship and innovation among school children. However in the last 6 months, many Delhi schools have faced a lot of problems. Most of the issues are arising due to severe paucity of funds and its becoming difficult to conduct workshops and procuring equipment for labs. Please consider following issues- 1. An amount of Rs. 2 lakhs is expected each year for an ATL school but my school did not receive this grant in 2018 and 2019(currrent year) 2. There is a technical glitch in BharatKosh portal- school has deposited the interest but the amount is still showing in PFMS account even though school has no funds left. Hence school auditor is unable to audit the second financial year(2018) and PFMS uploading can't be done.  3. School ATL Incharges

A Journey Towards Change! Atal Tinkering Fest at School   I have been mentoring students of Ryan International School, Mayur Vihar since 6 months. It has been an overwhelming yet enriching experience for me to see the budding innovators tweaking, failing, learning and finally succeeding at their prototypes. I have realized that my primary role in this journey is to inculcate in them the values and life skills required to become a successful entrepreneur. I facilitate the sessions in Q&A dialogue form so that they think independently and come up with solutions themselves. I have been able to nurture in them many useful traits such as compassion, perseverance, courage, critical thinking etc. My students have surprised me with their talent, curiosity and never-give-up attitude. They have in fact made me a better human being. We are using Design Thinking(DT) approach (5 stages of design thinking- Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test) . DT was adapted for busi

A revolutionary innovation event called 'Tinkering Fest' is happening in many schools all across India. It is a brainchild of Atal Innovation Mission(AIM), NITI Aayog,  Government of India. Atal Tinkering Labs have been set up under AIM in more than 2000 schools that aim to foster creativity and technological innovation among students using design thinking(DT) approach.  DT was adapted for business purposes by David M Kelley, a professor at Stanford University, who also founded the design consultancy IDEO   in 1991. IDEO further popularized the DT concept for solving specific business problems. A design mindset is not problem-focused, it is solution focused and action oriented towards creating a preferred future.  Students actively involved in the Atal Tinkering Lab(ATL) at Ryan International School(RIS), Delhi were given a summer assignment in which they had to think about and reflect upon the general problems in society that bother them. Many students used to vi

I was never sure about what I really wanted from life and what my true purpose was, so I started to explore myself and the world around me. One thing that I was sure of was my innate curiosity to learn just about anything new that came my way. Another thing that I knew I had was the ability to work hard and get my hands dirty. So it was hardly surprisingly that I was good or rather excellent in whatever I did. This made the search for my purpose even harder as I lost myself in the inebriation of curiosity, trying one thing after another and then another. My ravenous mind was never at peace with one thing and it always wanted exciting adventures to embark on, new paths to trek on and a new summit to climb on. I threw myself in all kinds of jobs, internships, fellowships and what not! Before graduating as an engineer, I had already worked as a researcher, a writer, a marketing intern as well as an analyst. My stints in all these roles definitely piqued my interest but the problem was

I usually get up early in the morning on Independence Day to catch the special Independence day speech of India’s Prime Minister live from the hallowed grounds of the Red Fort. This time I decided to do something out of the ordinary and paid a visit to Hajratpur Primary School, a low income government school in Noida that is supported by Samsung’s CSR initiatives. I was delighted when I got the offer from Samsung Noida’s CSR team to visit the school. After all, there is no better way to celebrate the spirit of freedom than to be with little kids who are the future of our country. Little ones dancing on a patriotic song After struggling a bit to find the exact location of the school, I finally managed to reach on time. I knew I had reached the right location when I saw my friends standing in the prayer ground along with so many smiling children. Some children were wearing magnificent tri-color paint on their cheeks and foreheads while others were waving the flags with boisterous

I was thinking about the recent initiatives taken by the Indian government and citizens collectively towards transforming our country. Promises have been made in so many diverse fields ranging from cleanliness and education to clean energy and digitization. The important thing now is to not renege on these promises and work towards their successful completion. New programs, policies, movements, fellowships in both public and private sectors are showing the way in this regard. Full fledged plans have been made and the work is also under way- a reinvigorated Plan to clean all our rivers, an innovative Swachh Bharat Fellowship program to nip corruption in its bud, Niti Ayog's 'Mentor Of Change' scheme to educate young innovators in classrooms and many such well meaning projects have come up. A change in government policy that is giving a fillip to electric cars and promoting clean energy sources such as nuclear, solar, wind and hydro is also welcome as it would help in redu