Bengal school student wins prestigious NASA prize

Amik Mandal, a Class-VIII student of a school in Durgapur has won the third prize in his category at "NASA Space Settlement Contest" organised jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of USA and AMES Research Centre in California.
NASA invited papers in support of this project from students from Class-VII to class-XII all over the world for the contest, which is organised since 1994.
In response, NASA received nearly 600 papers from students worldwide this year.
Among the participants from India, were many groups from different schools, besides several students in individual category.
"Altogether ten school teams and six individual participants from India won this year in different categories," Youth Affairs Minister Aroop Biswas said.

Amik, now a student of Class-IX of Hemshila Model School, Durgapur has been adjudged the third prize winner in the Class-VIII individual category.

Amik, who came to know about this competition from internet, had submitted a 16-page paper before the last date of March 15 this year.
Congratulating Amik for his success in the global contest, Biswas today gave him a cheque of Rs one lakh to receive his award at this year's International Space Development Contest to be held in San Diego from May 23 to 27.
Amik told the minister that he wished to become a scientist and would never forget the cooperation he received from West Bengal government.