The weekend at JRU saw an innovative, entrepreneurial & passionate exchange among students across India’s leading academic institutions. The subject of the brainstorming centered on a very pertinent & grossly neglected issue of Tribal Empowerment. What could be better than the youth of today to come out with their BIG Innovative Ideas in the finale of “Idea Pitching Contest” organised by Institution Innovation Council, Jharkhand Rai University in association with Tribal Welfare & Entrepreneurship Council, Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WICCI). The virtual event saw an enthusiastic participation of 15 shortlisted teams who presented their BIG ideas among a panel of esteemed jury & Industry experts.

The event kick-started with the teams highlighting the tribal community that comprises of 8.6% of Indian population and continues to be marginalized due to illiteracy, poor health, unemployment, migration and other social issues prevalent among them. We try to give you a sneak preview of the ideas discussed at the event.

The team from IMS Ranchi represented by Snaya Vohra presented her big idea in using tribal art to create unique & customised mobile covers for a thriving youth market.

As Technology continues to rule the way we consume across categories, many innovations were driven by the same. Team from JRU, Ranchi talked of “Van Bhandar” wherein tribal women with their inherent knowledge and skills of forest products can reach to a global market directly.

Taking a cue from our Honorable Prime Minister’s “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”mission, the team from MVJ College of Engineering, Bangalore, presented “Connect Tech”- software developed indigenously by them connecting the tribal community to the ecosystem of retailers, distributors, exporters and advisors.

Moving over to Traditional handicrafts of the tribes of India which are generally prepared out of resources available in their immediate ecology, where they inhabit has a major potential. Recognizing this opportunity, the team from B.M.S College of Engineering, Bengaluru presented a concept of “Live Tribal Museum” giving an opportunity for the visitors to experience the rich cultural heritage of Indian tribes.

“Riding to the Future” was the focus of the innovation presented by the duo from XISS College who came up with the usage of bamboo in creating a lightweight & durable bamboo cycle which is affordable, provides employment opportunity and is highly sustainable.

The tribal life revolves around farming which is somewhat not fully explored in the state of Jharkhand leading to huge wastage due to lack of processing and storage facilities. Seeing the potential, the team from JRU, came up with an interesting concept of “Chopper’s Board” wherein they propose to sell ready to cook cut vegetables customised for creating dishes.

As the health industry is undergoing a massive impact due to the pandemic, the impact was also felt as innovative concepts to market and promote medicinal and wellness products from the forests to reach the modern consumer were presented by the teams.

While the efforts of each team were truly appreciated by the jury, they had to choose the best from the lot, which they did.

Our heartiest congratulations to the winners of the contest- which goes to the team of Ekta Kumari & Baibhavi Pramanik from Jharkhand Rai University whose winning idea was as unique as their product aptly called “Keeda Jadi”- a unique kind of mushroom grown in forests and extremely high-valued for its rare medicinal qualities. Their winning idea is to grow this locally empowering the tribal community and market it as a miracle health product worldwide.

The Runners up award went to the team of Tahsin Afroz & Ashutosh Narayan who impressed the judges with “We Care- an eco-friendly Oral Care Start-up”. With the worldwide focus on plastic ban, it is the usage of sustainable products – that is the need of the hour. Leveraging the vast tribal knowledge of forest products the idea aims to create and market a range of eco-friendly oral care products.

Our note of gratitude to the eminent panel of judges comprising of Harpreet Singh Ahluwalia, Avijit Ghosh, Sanjay S.,Kamakshi Raman, ED-HRD SAIL and Prof. Savita Sengar, VC Jharkhand Rai University who showed the way to the budding entrepreneurs with their valuable suggestions and advise.

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