President honours Sainik School students with top CSIR award

Two students from Sainik School Satara in Maharashtra were honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind for winning the top award of the public sector research body the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Atharva Avinash Dhebe and Pavan Shankar Ingale of Sainik School Satara received the CSIR Innovation Award for School Children-2017 for developing an artificial gill system for divers and commandos, School Principal Group Captain Manisha Misra said.
Dhebe, a student of ninth class and Ingale, who studies in eighth class, were honoured by the President in Delhi yesterday on the occasion of the CSIR foundation day which also marked conclusion of its platinum jubilee year.

The duo have "proposed a device to breathe under water using artificial gills. The device comprises of two compartments, one extracts oxygen from sea water using high oxygen affinity chemical and the other dissociates this oxygen using catalyst or reducing agent," a CSIR citation said.
"This oxygen is carried to mouth piece by a rubber pipe for breathing," it said.
School Administration Officer Lt Col Ranjitsingh Nalawade said it was a matter of pride for the school, set up in 1960, to see its students being felicitated by the President.
The other awardees were A Siva Bharathi of NSN Matriculation Higher Senior Secondary School, Nehru Nagar, Chennai; Tanmayi Appasaheb Kokare and Tanishka Appasaheb Kokare of MES Waghire High School, Saswad in Pune district and S Mukkani of Panchayat Union Middle School, Narthangudi, Valangaiman Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu.