Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday praised and motivated the Tripura girl Puhabi Chakraborti for her innovations and also for her involvement in the sports.
The Prime Minister was interacting with the recipients of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP). During the interaction with the Prime Minister Puhabi was accompanied by her parents Dr Prasun Chakraborti, professor of NIT Agartala and Sutapa Chakraborti and officer with Industries department, District Magistrate of West Tripura D Bardhan and last year’s recipient and chess prodigy Arshiya Das. The video conference was conducted from the DM’s office. When she apprised him of her innovation- an AI based application ‘AthleteX:- for the Atmanirbhar Athlete’ the Prime Minister asked questions relating to the apps and also suggested that she should take support from the government sponsored schemes relating to it and go ahead with the start up. He also sought to know whether the apps would help the common man to which Puhabi answered in affirmative. The Prime Minister seemed pleasantly surprised that Puhabi being a sportsperson also could innovate apps and he asked who did support her. To which Puhabi gave credit to her parents as well as school teachers and friends.
She was also the recipient of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for this year. The puruskar that is given to children above the age of five and not exceeding the age of 15 with exceptional abilities and outstanding achievement in fields of innovation, sports, arts and culture, social service, scholastic achievements, and bravery.
They are handed over a cash prize of one lakh rupees, a medal, and a certificate. The awardees will also take part in the Republic Day parade on Wednesday.
Soon after her interactions with the Prime Minister Puhabi announced that she would donate money and she will give 50% of her prize money which she would get from the Bal Shakti Puraskar to the Prime Minister’s Relief Care .
The 15-year-old student of class 10 KV NIT Agartala Puhabi is an AI app developer, Patent holder, Kickboxer and a Black belt from the State of Tripura who won two golds and 1 bronze medal for India in the Wako International Kickboxing championship.
She told the Prime Minister that her involvement in the sports field actually prompted her to develop an AI based application ‘AthleteX:- for the Atmanirbhar Athlete’ an app which would make athletes perform better physically and mentally by performing injury detection scans to accurately detect injuries and performs mental health scanning using deep learning, AI, Artificial-Neural-Networks, and other Machine learning tools. She also told as to how the apps would help the Covid patients.
Her project was one of the top 20 winners for Intel AI for youth program for the year 2021. Puhabi is currently an Intern in SSU, California USA under Prof. Farhamand where she is developing software to control a spirometer which helps in providing adequate amount of oxygen and gas mixtures to COVID patients and eases their difficulty in breathing. She is also an intern at the University at Buffalo, New York, USA working on machine learning based cyber security under Prof. Ziming Zhao. Puhabi published her first patent at the age of 13 for ‘Device for alkaline water purification through banana stem filter’ and hopes to invent many more systems for the betterment of her country and it’s people.
Puhabi is inspired by Indian Nobel Laureates like SN Bose and CV Ramen also hopes to become a professor so she could impart her knowledge in science to the younger generations.
The Prime Minister in his speech said programmes and initiatives like Startup India, StandUp India, Digital India and Make in India are all led by young people and will take the country to newer heights. He said, all feel proud when the youth of country is innovating and taking the nation forward. Interacting with, Modi said this award also comes with a huge responsibility.
Prime Minister urged all young people to come forward and make vocal for local a success. Modi gave a lot of credit for the success of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to the children of the country. He said by becoming Bal Sainik, they have inspired their family towards Cleanliness.
Prime Minister said the country is currently celebrating 75 years of its independence and all those received this award in this important period for their extraordinary achievements in various fields.
Modi said all feel proud seeing the CEOs of all the big companies of the world are young Indians.
Prime Minister also conferred digital certificates to Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) awardees for the years 2022 and 2021 using blockchain technology, via video conferencing.
