UpbeatA Surat student's groundwater predictor won India's vivo Ignite 2026 — chosen from 6,100 ideas
Dheyay Shah, a student at RMG Maheshwari English School in Surat, Gujarat, asked a question every Indian farmer and city planner shares: how much groundwater is left beneath us? His answer, JALAAKAR — 'The Shape of Water' — uses machine learning on historical groundwater data to estimate availability and flag trouble early: predict, alert, act. At the vivo Ignite 2026 national finale at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, JALAAKAR was named the winning innovation — first among more than 6,100 student ideas submitted by over 38,000 registered students from 12,000 schools across 705 districts. The top ten projects, spanning water safety, road safety, assistive technology and women's online safety, share scholarships and rewards worth up to ₹35 lakh (about $37,000), and ten teachers were honoured alongside the students under a National Teacher Innovation Fellowship.
SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: institutional program