Fifty-seven-year-old school drop-out Karuna Kanta Nath, who has been providing employment generation scope with his innovative tools, has won the Dinanath Pandey Smart Idea Innovation Award at Regional Science Centre in Guwahati on Sunday.
Nath has been chosen among 20-odd participants who displayed different innovative tools in the two-day ‘Innovative Festival’ at the premises of Regional Science Centre in Guwahati.
“I’m happy to be here. I have been trying to innovating something or the other to help the people in their day-to-day activities or other works since 1990s. It feels good to get recognized. I enjoy trying to make something new. So far, I have innovated as many as 28 such tools which have been recognized by the institutes,” said an elated Nath who hails from Barabari village in Darrang district of Assam.
In the exhibition, Nath displayed a set of four machines to make incense sticks. “I have bamboo slicing machine, bamboo bit machine, bamboo stick machine and incense stick polish. Using these machines, we can generate 20 kilograms of incense sticks in less than an hour. That way it has been a great help,” Nath added.
The set of four machines cost around Rs 1 lakh. Already, several machines have been bought by entrepreneurs in various locations of the state.
The award has been instituted by the family of Dinanath Pandey who was a master innovator and tried to change the way of life by his innovations.
“I’m glad to give this award to the innovator whose tools have helped many in their daily life and also helped in creating livelihood,” said Putu Devi, wife of Dinanath Pandey.
The ‘Innovation Festival’ which has been organized by Indian Council for Science Museum in collaboration with National Innovation Foundation (NFI) provides a common platform to the people of all the states in the northeast region working in different fields like innovators, artists, performers, crafters and science-demonstrators among others showcasing their creativity.
