Name : Nikhilesh Das and Debanjan Mukherjee
District & State : Kamrup, Assam
Category : Ecofriendly Green/Energy conservation
Award : Student
Award Function : 5th National Grassroots Innovation Awards
Award Year : 2009
Innovation Description
Water pollution has become one of the biggest issues of the modern era and the most hazardous of all the water pollutants is oil. The pollution due to oil effluents not only destroy the aquatic life but also make the water completely unsuitable for irrigation. Debanjan Mukherjee (20) and Nikhilesh Das (19) from Guwahati were in class nine when they devised a simple set up to combat oil pollution of water bodies and submitted their entry to NIF.
The Young Enthusiasts
Debanjan is presently studying in 1st semester (electrical) at Assam engineering college. His father is a mechanical engineer, working in the railways and his mother is a housewife. Being the only child of his parent he got enough freedom to explore his talents. From childhood, he has taken part in co-curricular activities such as debates, speech competitions, seminars etc. He is a die-hard fan of sports; the favorites being cricket, football, volley ball, and chess.
Nikhilesh’s father is a business man and mother is a school teacher. He has been a good student throughout his school years. He represented his school at various science exhibitions, debate, quiz and speech competitions; and won many prizes at state level. He has had a keen interest in science since his early childhood. When he was just in class six he made a herbal repellant for cockroaches and rats, which was very effective. When he was eleven years old he underwent a bone grafting operation in his left leg and was bedridden for three months. For another four months he could only move using a walker. His friends and relatives feared that he would never be able to stand and walk. But it was his immense mental strength that he overcame the odds and now has recovered fully.
His dream is to become a nuclear scientist and find a solution to the never ending energy crisis of the world.
Nikhilesh and Debanjan devised the project titled “water pollution and some easy and inexpensive ways to control it”when they were in class nine. They put forwarded their views and ideas to their parents and teachers who acknowledged the novelty and encouraged them to go forward with their ideas. The only hardships then were the lack of experience and proper time management. But with proper guidance and motivation they succeeded in their project. They participated in the regional level science fair and got selected for the eastern India science fair. They got the “best state exhibit” award and a fair amount of recognition.