Mahua flowers have many medicinal properties and are also used tomake pickles, jams, and now ice creams as well. Lipsa has suggested amanual device like a lawn mower, which can collect Mahua flowers,which are otherwise picked up by hands, which is a time consuming andtiring process.

Lipsa lives in a remote village of western Odisha with her parents, a brother and a sister. There are manyMahua trees in her village and she used to watch her mother and other women in the village pick up fallen Mahua flowers on the ground under the trees. Mahua flowers have many medicinal properties and these delicious flowers are also used to make pickles, jams, ice creams and Indian desserts.

Lipsa used to observe that the women had to stay bent down for a long time to collect a decent amount of flowers.This made her think of a device that could eliminate the time-consuming and tiring process.

The device, which looks like a lawn mower, has a handle to help pick up the flowers."My science teacher helped me a lot in collecting the raw materials for the device," saysLipsa, who secures above 95 per cent in all her exams and wants to become a doctor to help people living in villages.

She looks up to her school headmaster for inspiration."She is very inspiring in whatever she says and does,"says Lipsa, who likes to sing and paint.Her favourite pastime is to observe the surroundings in her village, its trees and ponds.