Mysuru: A 13-year-old class 8 student from Karvel village near Uppinangadi in Dakshina Kannada district, who is the son of a farmer, received the Karnataka young scientist award instituted by Vignana Parishat, at the valedictory of the three-day state level conference of National Children’s Science Congress, on Friday. He presented a paper related to preservation of food grains using traditional organic ways.
Adarsh A.S. is the eldest son of Anand Poojari, an agriculturalist and Shobha A.V., a lecturer in political science and a student of Indraprastha Vidyalaya, Uppinangadi, Puttur taluk, Dakshina Kannada. He was among 1700 young scientists who participated and contested in the junior (10-14) rural category. His research paper was titled, “Anamirta Cocculas-an effective remedy for pulse beetle rice weevil infestation”- usage of traditional organic way to preserve food grains using herbs including Fish berry, Kokum and Champak without hampering their nutritional value and the basic texture for atleast an year.
Adarsh said, “Food grains including rice, wheat and others are easily susceptible to worm infestation, due to uncertain climatic conditions or storage debris with inappropriate facilities. When a survey was conducted among 100 people, 75 percent knew the traditional way of preserving food grains but they did not practise it. Atleast 95 percent shop keepers complained that the food grains get infested in just a month. Usage of chemicals for preservation of food grains, impacts health and leads to even illnesses. But the traditional way of conserving food grains is promising and safe. These herbs can be packed and inserted in boxes and are even edible,” he said.
“I like Albert Einstein, former President Abdul Kalam is my role model and I want to become an astronaut,” added Adarsh.
Minister for primary and secondary education Mr Tanveer Sait said that the department will henceforth host the conference. Taking objection to litterateurs opposing the use of NCERT textbooks in government schools, he said, “the measure is to ensure our government school students do not lag behind those who study in private schools.”
