MAGOKIN, and a model for orbit
The government's account names the first project directly: Magnetically operated Kinetic Car, abbreviated to MAGOKIN. The second is a mathematical model for managing space debris, the accumulating field of spent hardware and fragments in orbit that threatens working satellites.
The two sit at opposite ends of engineering. One is a machine that can be built and pushed across a floor; the other is an abstraction whose subject is hundreds of kilometres overhead and cannot be touched at all. The official record names both and describes neither in technical terms, so this page does the same.
The ceremony
The Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar was conferred by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on 22 January 2019, where twenty-six children were honoured.
Each received a medal, a cash prize of one lakh rupees, book vouchers worth ten thousand rupees, a certificate and a citation. The Press Information Bureau lists him as Master Aswath Suryanarayanan, in the innovation category, from Tamil Nadu.
Twenty-six from 783
The Ministry of Women and Child Development selected the 26 Bal Shakti Puraskar recipients from 783 applications. The categories run across innovation, scholastic achievement, sports, art and culture, social service and bravery, so the innovation winners are a subset of an already small list.
A separate arm of the award, the Bal Kalyan Puraskar, recognises adults and institutions working for children; in 2019 it went to two individuals and three institutions. The two arms are announced together and conferred at the same ceremony, which is why accounts of the event carry both sets of names. The government publishes the categories and the totals, and that transparency is what makes a citation like this one checkable.
Meeting the Prime Minister
On 24 January 2019, two days after the ceremony, the winners met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the awards offer an opportunity for recognition of talented children, and serve as inspiration for others like them, and he encouraged the children to stay connected with nature.
The Prime Minister's Office published a description of each child's work alongside its account of the meeting. That account is the source of the MAGOKIN name and of the space-debris model, and it is the fullest public description of either project.
What is documented - and what is not
Two Government of India publications carry this page: the Press Information Bureau release on the ceremony and the Prime Minister's Office record of the meeting. They establish the award, the category, the state, the date, the prize and the names of the two projects.
They do not give a birth year, an age, a school, a town within Tamil Nadu, a photograph or a quotation from him. Nothing in the sources used here says whether either project was developed further. Those are gaps in the public record rather than facts about the person, and this page leaves them as gaps.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rajveer Meena | India | Reciting 70,000 decimal places of pi blindfolded | Age 0 |
| Rishi Shiv Prasanna | India | Winning the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in 2023 at eight, for… | Age 0 |
| Ishita Katyal | India | Becoming the youngest Indian speaker at TEDYouth in New York at 10 (2015) | Age 10 |
| Nandini Agrawal | India | All India Rank 1 in the 2021 CA Final at 19 years and 330 days | Age 19 |
| Aswath Suryanarayanan | India | Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2019, innovation | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in the innovation category, Tamil Nadu, 2019 (Press Information Bureau)
- The Prime Minister's Office records a Magnetically operated Kinetic Car (MAGOKIN) and a mathematical model for managing space debris
- Twenty-six children were honoured at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 22 January 2019
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No published birth year, age, school or town within Tamil Nadu
- No technical description of MAGOKIN or of the space-debris model
- No information about either project or about him after 2019
Questions people ask about Aswath Suryanarayanan
What is Aswath Suryanarayanan known for?
Winning India's Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for innovation in 2019, for a magnetically operated kinetic car called MAGOKIN and a mathematical model for managing space debris.
What is MAGOKIN?
The abbreviation the government's account gives for his Magnetically operated Kinetic Car. No technical description appears in the sources used here.
What is space debris?
The spent hardware and fragments left in orbit, which his second project addressed through a mathematical model for managing it.
How old is Aswath Suryanarayanan?
No source used here gives an age or birth year.
Where is he from?
The Press Information Bureau lists him under Tamil Nadu. No town or school is named in the sources used here.
How many children won the award that year?
Twenty-six, chosen from 783 applications by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Is Aswath Suryanarayanan on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article on him was found. The record rests on two Government of India publications.
What happened to his projects?
Nothing in the sources used here documents what became of MAGOKIN or the space-debris model after 2019.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Aswath’s story?
What does MAGOKIN stand for?
Which state is Aswath Suryanarayanan from?
How many children received the award in 2019?
Sources
- President of India confers 'Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar' today in New Delhi — Press Information Bureau, Government of India, 2019-01-22
- PM interacts with winners of Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2019 — Prime Minister's Office of India, 2019-01-24
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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