9th Mile, Khanapara, Ri Bhoi, June 30, 2022: The University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) has won several awards in the “1st Green Innovation Pitch” competition organised by NERAMAC (North East Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd.) yesterday at Krishi Niwas, Directorate of Agriculture, Guwahati. Participants in this innovation contest were from IIM Shillong, Royal Global University, Assam Down Town University, North East Regional Institute of Management and few other institutions. The awards were handed over by Mr Manoj Kumar Das, MD, NERAMAC in the presence of Triranga Bharatiya Borah, Director, Horticulture and Food Processing and other delegates.

Three students’ groups from USTM have received Green Innovation Pitch Award, a first of

 its kind start-up competition to encourage Agri-Horti early-stage innovations from the student’s fraternity of the region to showcase and present the right model and prototype which thereby gets recognised and rewarded, further gets linkages & handholding support to scale up.

On the other hand, USTM earned glory by receiving the Best Institution award under the category “Green Innovation Ecosystem Award” while three of its faculty members received Best Mentor Award. The teachers are: Dr. Mautushi Das, Dr. Saiyyad Alamdar Husain and Dr. Deboja Sharma.

Arif Billah & Raihaan Akhtar Ahmed Rizvi who were mentored by Dr. S A Husain received 2nd position with the project titled “Development & Standardization of Fortified Cookies”. Jilimoni Nath & Srijana Jalshi with mentor Mr. Satyakam Agarwala received the 4th Position with their project titled “Herbal chocolate”. The 5th Position was earned by S Dhole Key & Miniswrang Basumatary who were mentored by Dr. S A Husain with their project titled “Value Added Products from Underutilized Fruits in North East India”. 

NERAMAC is an organization under the administrative control of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Government of India, New Delhi, with its registered office at Guwahati. Event was organised to participate and support the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG2) -“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” and to encourage Green Innovations amongst the student community, Mentors/Teachers and educational institutions.