Lok Sabha Question No. 2423 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-16
Subject: Atal Tinkering Labs
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2423

TO BE ANSWERED 16.03.2022

## ATAL TINKERING LABS

## 2423. SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) set up, including the adopted labs, and the people benefitted till date from such labs;
- (b) the number of ATLs set up in Odisha and the people benefitted till date;
- (c) the details of the grants given by the Government in setting the labs across the country including Odisha;
- (d) the  numbers  of  applications  filed,  accepted  and  rejected  by  schools  to  get  ATLs  in Odisha; and
- (e) the details and the list of awardees for the awards given by the Government for ATLs innovations, discoveries and student achievers?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) Government  has  set  up  the  Atal  Innovation  Mission  (AIM)  at  NITI  Aayog.  In Schools, AIM facilitates to set up network of Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL) in India with a vision to 'Cultivate 1 million children in India as Neoteric Innovators' . Till  date,  the  number  of  ATLs  set  up  across  the  country  is  9,606.  The  objective  of ATLs is to foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in students and inculcate skills such as design mind-set, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing,  rapid  calculations,  measurements  etc.  More  than  75  lakhs  students  are actively engaged in ATLs, as per latest dashboard reported data.
- (b) The  number  of  ATLs  set  up  in  Odisha  state  till  date  is  318.  As  per  latest  ATL dashboard reported data, more than 3 lakhs student beneficiaries are actively engaged in ATLs from Odisha.
- (c) Each  school  is  sanctioned  Grant  in  Aid  of  Rs.  20,00,000/-  (Rupees  Twenty  Lakhs Only) over a period of five years as establishment and operational  cost. Out of the total amount, grant in aid of Rs. 12,00,000/- (Rupees Twelve Lakhs Only) is given as the first tranche as establishment and operational cost, strictly subject to fulfilling the compliance process. Subsequent tranches of INR 2 lakhs each is given in next four years as operations and maintenance cost.

Funds of Rs. 12,00,000 as first tranche have been disbursed to a total of 9,606 schools till date for setting up of Atal Tinkering Labs, amounting to INR 1152.72 crores, out of  which  INR  38.16  crores  have  been  disbursed  for  Atal  Tinkering  Lab  in  Odisha state for 318 schools.

Funds of Rs. 2,00,000 as subsequent tranche have been disbursed to a total of 978 schools  till  date,  amounting  to  INR  19.56  crores,  out  of  which  INR  52  lakhs  have been disbursed for Atal Tinkering Lab in Odisha state for 26 schools.

- (d) The total number of applications from schools selected for setting up Atal Tinkering Labs across the country is 14,916, out of which 571 are from Odisha state. Out of 571 selected applications from Odisha, 318 have been funded for setting up

ATLs till date.

- (e) Atal  Innovation  Mission  conducts  various  contests  and  competitions  like  ATL Marathon, Tinkerpreneur, Community Day and Space Challenge during the year to engage with the students from the ATLs and communities. All relevant information about  the competition, events, and  winners  is  available  on  the  AIM  website (https://aim.gov.in/).  For  e.g.  The  top  teams  of  ATL  marathon,  are  captured  in publications till date as below:

Let's Tinker Top 30 - https://aim.gov.in/pdf/top30final-low.pdf Ingenious 50 - https://www.aim.gov.in/pdf/Coffee\_Table\_Book\_Final.pdf Ingenious tinkerers - https://aim.gov.in/pdf/ingenious-tinkerers.pdf

These students are provided various opportunities such as the Student Entrepreneurship Program with Atal Incubation Centres, Student Internship programs with corporate partners for further learning and enhancement of their innovations on an annual basis.

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