15-year-old student innovator is India's batonbearer at 16th official Queen's Baton Relay

Vinisha Umashankar, a student innovator, has been selected as India's batonbearer at the ongoing 16th official Queen's Baton relay (January 12-15, 2022). The 15-year-old is a student innovator turned environmentalist from Tairuvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu. 

Vinisha Umashankar had inspired the world with her solar ironing cart, which uses solar panels to power a steam iron box. She won Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Award instituted by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India for her invention. NIF is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology under the central government. 

She has been selected as a changemaker and is now India’s Batonbearer at the ongoing 16th official Queen’s Baton Relay, which started at the Buckingham Palace in London on October 7, 2021. It is scheduled to conclude on July 28, 2022 at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games after travelling across 72 Commonwealth nations and territories for 294 days.

India is the 27th nation en route to Birmingham in the United Kingdom. The Queen's Baton Relay will continue in India from January 12th-15th, 2022. 

16th official Queen's Baton Relay in India

Vinisha Umashankar marked the arrival of the Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay in India by presenting the Queen’s Baton to UK Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan. The 15-year-old was the Birmingham University's batonbearer in India. The University is an official partner of the Queen’s Baton Relay.

British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis had welcomed guests to the British High Commission in New Delhi to mark the arrival of the Queen's baton in India, during which Vinisha presented the Queen’s Baton to the visiting Secretary of State. The Queens Baton for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games arrived in India on January 10th. 

Speaking on the honour, Vinisha said “Being the University of Birmingham’s Batonbearer in India is fantastic and I’d like to thank the University for this awesome opportunity."

Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Ravi Dahiya kicked off the Queen's Baton Relay in India with a symbolic run in Delhi on January 12, 2022. This year, the Queen's Baton relay is being held as a symbolic event due to the pandemic unlike the other editions of the Games. The Queen's Baton Relay will next be held in Bengaluru on January 14 and Bhubaneswar on January 15. It was also scheduled to be held in Ahmedabad on January 13 but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Birmingham, UK from July 28 to August 8. The Queen's Baton carries a message from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

More about Vinisha 

Vinisha Umashankar had become an inspiration for the world after her speech at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2021 at Glasgow, Scotland. She has also been shortlisted for the Earthshot prize for her solar ironing cart invention.

Her solar ironing cart eliminates the need for coal for ironing, enabling a shift towards clean energy and solving one of the key problems that face the world today. It is an ingeniously developed solar-powered alternative for the millions of charcoal-burning ironing carts that can benefit the ironing workers and their families. The ironing device can also be powered using pre-charged batteries or electricity or even a diesel-powered generator in the absence of sunlight.