A deadly inferno on the Samruddhi Expressway that claimed 25 bus passengers in 2023 left 11-year-old Avanish Bavaskar traumatised, like many others. The tragedy, however, became a turning point that pushed him towards innovation.
The Amravati-based schoolboy, now 15, has designed a four-chamber fuel tank for vehicles equipped with an inbuilt fire-fighting system that activates upon detecting fumes. His design has earned him a UK patent, while his application for an Indian patent is in an advanced stage of consideration.
Avanish was among several schoolchildren who presented their ideas at the Viksit Bharat Start-Up event held in the city, organised by the Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council, start-up mentoring firm Lemon Ideas, and Nagpur University.
“The fuel tank has four inter-connected chambers, which helps in dividing the load while ensuring continuous flow,” he says, flipping through the pages of his file, which he carries like a school assignment.
“My design uses three layers. The first is made of common metal, followed by silica and a high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Finally, a sensor activates the fire-fighting system, which douses the blaze in the tank and prevents an accident,” he explains.
Avanish has already developed a prototype and a working model and is now seeking funds to take the innovation further. “I have shown it to many automobile engineers, and they say this can work,” he says with the enthusiasm of a young innovator.
Six-year-old Abeer Chaddha from Mumbai, who walked onto the stage with his mother, says he dreams of becoming a footballer. The simple sketches that children usually draw at his age — often cherished as memories by parents — have been transformed into a brand by his family.
A giraffe he quickly sketches with a pen, or Elmer the elephant — a cartoon character he reimagines in his own abstract style — now feature as prints across a wide range of merchandise. Within a year, his artwork has generated ₹2 lakh, as the family plans to build a dedicated shopping platform for Abeer’s creations.
Meanwhile, a trio of 16-year-olds from Pune has developed a firewall capable of detecting whether AI apps are being misused to cheat in exams or used genuinely for learning. The system can assess if a user is seeking a direct answer to a single question; in such cases, it provides a simplified explanation to aid understanding rather than solving the problem outright, said Avyaaya Rathi, one of the founders of the start-up.
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