Date:22/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/22/stories/2008012250540200.htm

New Delhi

Children shape the nation’s future

Madhur Tankha

Class XI students form design models of Indian cities in 2020

Felicitation: Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal giving away the trophy to the winners of ‘Future Cities India 2020: Student Design Competition’.

NEW DELHI: Using their design skills along with an innovative software, Class XI students from ten schools of Delhi and the National Capital Region have prepared futuristic models of Indian cities.

Unveiled at “Future Cities India 2020: Student Design Competition” here over the weekend, the models by the school teams were prepared keeping in mind the fact that over 50 per cent of the citizens will live in the largest cities of the country in 2020. The programme, launched in 2006 by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology and Bentley Systems, is a partnership among the Government, universities and the business community.

Presiding over the award ceremony, Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said: “For the second straight year we have made students aware of the enormous infrastructure challenges facing this country. At the same time, we have planted the engineering seed in the minds of our nation’s youth with the hope that they will one day determine the infrastructure future of this great nation.”

All submissions provided a plan for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 comprising temporary structures ranging from media centres, entertainment facilities and practice grounds to a commercial centre and transportation system that will be dismantled at the end of the Games.

Teachers and industry mentors guided each team in designing the plan. Using the software, students designed an innovative functional use for the site while keeping in mind the concerns of the neighbouring residential community and environmental issues.

Sharing the experience of Apeejay School, Noida, which won the first prize, team leader Ajaypat Jain said: “It gave us a chance to serve our country in a special way. We are truly fortunate to be part of this initiative as it has given us practical experience for our future endeavours.”

Stating that envisioning what the country would look like 12 years from now was a challenging task, Ajaypat said: “With the help of our teachers and mentors, and working with state-of-the-art modelling software, we were able to produce a winning design.”

The other members of school team were Anshul Singh, E.R. Subramanian and Gagan Anand.

Second position went to DAV Public School, Gurgaon. Experts from the infrastructure community judged the project presentations based on five criteria -- project design solution report, computer model, expenditure summary report, physical model and team presentation.