Tata Building India School Essay Competition 2023: President felicitates Udupi girl for winning contest

Udupi: Avantika V Rao, a class IX student of Anandathirtha Vidyalaya, Pajaka, got an opportunity to speak before President Droupadi Murmu on Monday, after bagging the first prize in the Tata Building India School Essay Competition on ‘Clean and healthy India for the year 2020-21’.
This essay competition is a key initiative of Tata Group, to instill a sense of pride and spirit of nation-building in India’s youth. Over 30 million students participated in the competition and 29 emerged as winners, said Geetha Kotian, principal of Anandathirtha Vidyalaya.
Avantika, along with other winners from across the country, participated in the national-level felicitation ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Avantika and Kushi Prajapathi from Nagaur, Rajasthan, got the opportunity to speak in front of the President. Avantika’s picture was also tweeted on the President’s Twitter handle, with details of the event, Geetha said.
The President congratulated the winners of the competition and appreciated the organisers for providing this platform for the young minds to showcase their ideas in writing on a specific topic of national importance or on social issues. She said that it is a good initiative for igniting the imagination of the young, and instilling a sense of pride and spirit of nation-building in the youth. She expressed confidence that when India will celebrate its 100 years of Independence, the contribution of these young minds will be for the betterment of the country as a whole. She urged children to dream big and try hard to realise their dreams. She said that her message to children is that they should do good for others.
Avantika in her speech stressed doing small things to keep the surroundings clean, avoid plastic, switch to e-vehicles, plant a tree every Sunday, and reduce, reuse and recycle. She is the daughter of Vijay P Rao, principal, Anandathirtha PU College, and Katyayani Rao.