The Gandhian Challenge | 03 Oct 2019

On the 150th birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog’s Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) India has launched ‘the Gandhian Challenge’.

  • This innovation challenge provides a platform for every child across India to ideate innovative solutions for a sustainable India of their dreams, using Gandhi’s principles.
  • The contest – open for every child in India from 2 October to 20 October – also celebrates 70 years of partnership between the Government of India and UNICEF India to enable Every Right for Every Child.
  • The most innovative, sustainable solutions/ideas will be showcased as a symbol of a larger movement by children taking root in every district of India.
  • Ideas and solutions to the Gandhian Challenge may be expressed through broad categories: Art & Innovation (Letters, poems, painting, videos, and photos, among others) and Science, Technology & Innovation (Robotics, IoT, sensors and 3D printers, among others).

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

  • AIM is the NITI Ayog’s initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
  • Six major initiatives of AIM:
    • Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL)- Creating a problem-solving mindset across schools in India.
    • Atal Incubation Centers- Fostering world-class start-ups and adding a new dimension to the incubator model.
    • Atal New India Challenges- Fostering product innovations and aligning them to the needs of various sectors/ministries.
    • Mentor India Campaign- A national Mentor network in collaboration with the public sector, corporates, and institutions, to support all the initiatives of the mission.
    • Atal Community Innovation Center- To stimulate community-centric innovation and ideas in the unserved /underserved regions of the country including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
    • ARISE- To stimulate innovation and research in the MSME industry.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

  • UNICEF is an integral part of the United Nations, which works with governments, communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, and other partners worldwide to advance children’s rights, and is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
  • Generation Unlimited is a new UNICEF-led global partnership that aims to ensure that every young person age 10-24 is in some form of school, learning, training, self-employment, or age-appropriate employment by 2030.
    • It aims to co-create and scale up proven solutions related to secondary age-education, skills for learning, employability and decent work, and empowerment, with a focus on girls.

Source: PIB