Mother’s struggle inspires Class 8 student to design a paddy filling machine that won accolades at national competition

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. But for Marripalli Abhishek, a Class 8 student, his mother was the reason behind an invention. Unable to see his mother struggle to fill gunny bags with paddy day in and day out, Abhishek designed a device to make this easy. The boy, who studies in Zilla Parishad High School and lives in Hanmajipet village in Vemulawada mandal, Telangana, has won a national-level prize for his machine.

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Abhishek’s mother, Rajavva, often struggled to fill paddy in gunny bags during the course of her work. With his father away in the Middle East in search of a job and his mother’s always at work, Abhishek got an idea on how he could help – with a paddy filling machine. The boy shared his idea with his guide, Venkatesham, who helped him make the machine.

His machine can do work of three persons, and costs between Rs 5,000 and 7,000. As per Telangana Today, the machine was made from two wheels, an iron sheet, a few iron pipe rods, and weighing and stitching machines. The machine can also be used to fill maize and wheat in gunny bags.

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Abhishek’s invention earned him an award at the National Level Inspire Science Exhibition held at IIT-Delhi on February 14 and 15. He was awarded third place with a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and a laptop. The competition wasn’t easy as the national-level exhibition had 622 exhibits from across India.

However, the young lad’s enterprise and innovation amazed many visitors - and the judges - at the exhibition. That’s not all. Abhishek’s prototype will be adopted on a pilot basis by the Civil Supplies Department at its Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs).

If the machine works well, it will be later installed across the state, according to Civil Supplies Commissioner Akun Sabharwal who named the machine ‘Vari Abhishekam’, reports The Hindu.

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Sabharwal has even directed his officials to obtain a patent on behalf of the Telangana government. Speaking to The Hindu, he said the machine, with the help of a few changes, would be of great help to the farmers. Its capacity needs to be increased from 20 kg to 40/45 kg by increasing its width, he said.

And all because a young boy wanted to make his mother’s life easier!

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