PNS/DEHRADUN
A mentored student of the project Devbhoomi Udhyamata Yojana (DUY) has received Rs five lakh for her startup in Uttishtha 2025, organised by IIM Kashipur. This funding is intended for her startup, Eco Nexus Innovation, which focuses on sustainable material innovation by converting pine needles into non-resilient fibre (NRF) boards. These boards can be utilised in furniture, cabinetry and shelving. Siddiqui is a student at Government Postgraduate College, New Tehri.
Regarding this, Health minister Dhan Singh Rawat congratulated Siddiqui on her achievement. He said, “This is the result of the positive efforts of the Higher Education department, enabling our girl students to establish their identities on national platforms. The growing participation of girl students in entrepreneurship is commendable. The government is committed to realising the prime minister’s vision of developing India and will provide all possible assistance to such initiatives.”
Additionally, the secretary of the Higher Education department Ranjit Kumar Sinha highlighted that the government is actively working to create an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in line with the National Education Policy (NEP). He said that through the DUY, a new generation of student entrepreneurs is being nurtured, with the funding received by Siddiqui serving as a testament to this effort. Sinha emphasised that the entrepreneurship ecosystem created by the DUY has not only fostered entrepreneurship in the State but has also improved the state’s startup ranking.
Further, the nodal officer of the DUY Deepak Kumar Pandey expressed gratitude to IIM for offering opportunities to students from remote and underserved areas.
