The IET Scholarship Award was formulated with an idea to reward and celebrate individual excellence and innovation among undergraduate engineering students. Not only does it supplement the growth and development of engineers, it provides an opportunity to showcase their skills.
There are two separate categories created for this award — general and women — to enable engineering students especially women engineers to pursue careers in engineering. All second and third-year engineering students pursuing studies from AICTE/UGC-approved institutions are eligible to apply for the scholarship. The award is in its first year wherein the winners are given an annual grant with a combined prize of Rs. 8 lakh each.
With its focus on quality beyond academic performance, the students were judged on academic excellence, creativity, innovation and leadership qualities. They were tested for their vision and originality of engineering solutions to solve problems impacting society. The IET India Scholarship award is prestigious because two winners emerged out of nearly 5,000 applicants from all over India.
Suhas Vidhate, IIT Bombay, Winner – General Category, IET India Scholarship Award
While applying for this scholarship award, I had not expected to win. When I got selected for the online test, which was the second level for this competition, it motivated me to prepare and work hard.
For the next round, I had to present my own ideas on the given topic —‘Technological Solution for Effective Water Management’— which was an interesting and practical one, too. I started gathering information, analysed problems that the country is facing and found out corresponding available solutions.
I researched a lot on this topic and presented my solutions to solve the problems. It was a great moment when my ideas were accepted and I won at the regional level. As the topic remained the same at the National Level, I put in all my efforts and won it, too.
A lot of hard work and dedication went into winning this award, from taking online tests to revising all that I had learnt. I also researched online to keep up with the rest of the world. Having explored the field enough, I then tried to give my own ideas to solve this problem and developed the ideas according to practical application, feasibility and its economic aspect.
Finally I made the CAD Designs of the Models based on these ideas, simulated the working conditions and analysed the results. I presented my ideas to my friends to get a handle on presentation skills, which helped me boost my confidence about my ideas by convincing them.
I believe that my research for finding solutions to current problems, originality of ideas, modelling of the ideas, simulation and analysis of the results, gave me an edge.
Siddha Ganju, NIT Hamirpur, Winner – Women’s Category, IET India Scholarship Award
I had a lot of help while I was starting off. Initially I started it as a Windows 8 app, but I faced difficulty in procuring the hardware. However with some effort I was able to counter this. After we received the topics for the presentation: ‘Inclusive Growth using Technology,’ I started searching for material.
I looked up newspaper articles, research articles and publications of the UN and the Government of India.
As I searched, I became more and more infused with the topic at hand. I had to present my vision for inclusive growth and technology. For this I presented an app: ‘EducateAll.’ It provides a sustainable solution to inclusive growth.
It is scalable, innovative and addresses the needs of the public. I was propelled in this direction while watching news of the Uttarakhand floods. Currently, it supports a few videos and slides. It works using a cloud-based site which will contain all the content and database of the students and the schools.
With further development it will be possible to connect a student to a school using this app. The student will be able to continue with their studies, attending a school virtually. Currently it is a Windows Phone app.
I feel ecstatic after winning the scholarship. I will further develop this application and utilise the insight provided by the judges during the national round.
