"Bravo Vinisha!": Anand Mahindra promises to support 14-year-old environmentalist's projects

Mahindra and Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra recently shared a video of an eco-friendly project designed by Vinisha Umashankar on Twitter. He has also announced support for the 14-year-old Vinisha in all her future projects under Mahindra Research Valley.

He wrote, "Bravo Vinisha! Your project: a. addresses a serious environmental problem, b. helps the self-employed and c. apart from being environment friendly, the mobile cart enhances revenue potential. @Velu_Mahindra can we give her the support of Mahindra Research Valley in all her future projects?"

Vinisha, who is studying at a private school in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvannamalai, designed a solar-powered clothing iron cart which uses solar panels to power a steam box. In the absence of sunlight, this can be powered using pre-charged batteries, electricity or diesel-powered generator.

The ironing cart can also be fitted with a coin-operated GSM PCO, USB charging points and mobile recharging. The USP of this cart is that it completely eliminates the need to utilise coal for ironing clothes.

"One day when I was walking home from school, I noticed one of the ironing men in my street using charcoal. Charcoal contributes to air pollution and creates more toxic air pollutants. So I researched for a viable solution to prevent air pollution and increase air quality," says Umashankar in the video shared by Mahindra.

Umashankar was conferred with the 2020 Children's Climate Prize for Clean Air, a Swedish award that recognises climate champions globally. She won Rs 8.46 lakh in prize money. This, however, is not the first time that Umashankar was felicitated for this environment-friendly innovation. In the year 2019, she was conferred with the Indian National Innovation Foundation's Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE award in the engineering category.

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