Gandhinagar, Jan 27: Three grassroots innovators, who were spotted and supported by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, have been honoured with the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards of the country.
About the innovators
The innovators are Jagdish Prasad Parikh, Uddhab Kumar Bharali and Vallabhbhai Vasrambhai Marvaniya.
Jagdish Prasad Parikh has been recognized with the Padma Awards under the Others – Agriculture category. Parikh is a recipient of the 1st National Grassroots Innovation Awards (2001) for his innovation “Ajitgarh Selection – a new Cauliflower variety”. The NIF has conducted validation of the variety at Jaipur. The NIF has submitted the application for registration of the variety under PPV&FR Act 2001 and also conducted on farm trials at farmers’ field of Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh.
Uddhab Kumar Bharali has been recognized with the Padma Awards under the Science and Engineering — Grassroots Innovation category. Bharali is also a recipient of the fifth National Grassroots Innovation Awards (2009) for his innovations “Pomegranate deseeder, Arecanut peeler and Bamboo splitting machine”. NIF has provided support in terms of value addition, business development and dissemination activities and also filed patent for his various technologies in the name of the innovator. MVIF (Micro Venture Innovation Fund) support was also extended to the innovator for commercialization, product development, trial marketing and market research support.
Vallabhbhai Vasrambhai Marvaniya has been recognised with the Padma Awards under the Others – Agriculture category. Marvaniya is a recipient of the ninth National Grassroots Innovation Awards (2017) for his innovation “Madhuvan Gajar – Improved Carrot Variety”. NIF has conducted validation of the variety at Durgapura and also carried out biochemical profiling at Anand. Multilocation trials at Farmers field were carried out in five states. For cultivation, seed production and marketing of the variety a financial support was extended under the Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF) scheme.
About NIF
The National Innovation Foundation has been actively engaged in promoting creativity and innovation in India. It has taken major initiatives to serve the knowledge-rich common man of the country. It aims at making India innovative by documenting, adding value, protecting the intellectual property rights (IPR) of the contemporary unaided technological innovators as well as of outstanding traditional knowledge-holders and disseminating their innovations on commercial and non-commercial basis.
