Budgam, Aug 18: In a small village, Wanihama in Budgam’s Beerwah tehsil, a class 12 student has spent the last few years designing solutions to two very different problems: one born out of concern for the security forces guarding Kashmir, the other out of what he saw missing in the region’s hospital wards.
Abid Hussain Mir, a student of Boys Higher Secondary School Beerwah, first turned his attention to a problem he had been observing closely: incidents in which security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir had their weapons snatched. That concern led him to design what he calls a “Gun Locking System”, a mechanism aimed at preventing unauthorised use of a firearm if it falls into the wrong hands.
“If guns protect us, why shouldn’t we protect them, so that no innocent life is lost?” Mir said, explaining the thinking behind the idea.
Abid submitted the concept through Toycathon, and it eventually earned him a design registration from the Design Office under the Patent Office, Government of India. According to the certificate, Design No. 403548-001, dated December 31, 2023, was registered in his name under Class 21-01 for a “Toy Gun with Trigger Lock.” The entire cost of developing the concept, which he estimated at between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000, was borne by his father, Mohammad Qasim Mir, and his teacher, Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, who was awarded the state-level Best Teacher Award last year.
Abid’s second and current project takes him into an entirely different space: hospital care. He is developing what he calls a “Multipurpose Bed for Bedridden Patients”, designed to address a problem he says is common in Jammu and Kashmir’s hospitals: a lack of space for attendants and difficulty moving critically ill patients who cannot easily be shifted.
“I have kept the trolley inbuilt, and space for an attendant inbuilt as well, since in most of our hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir, there isn’t dedicated space available for that,” he said.
Mir said the bed also has an inbuilt toilet for patients in critical condition who cannot be moved, and an inbuilt trolley that can be used to shift a patient when required.
The idea has already moved through multiple stages of a government science exhibition programme, from the school level to the zonal, district and now divisional level. A certificate issued by the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Beerwah, Budgam, confirms that Abid, representing Boys Higher Secondary School Beerwah, participated in the District Level Competition under the RSBVP Programme 2025-26 Model Exhibition on May 12, 2026. He is scheduled to present the project at the divisional level on August 21, 2026, representing his education zone, Beerwah.
Abid said the model’s prototype has been shaped but is not yet functional, and that he hopes a national-level platform, rather than the state-level exposure he received for his first idea, would help this second concept gain the support it needs to move from design to implementation. “If I get a national-level platform, I am hundred per cent confident I would be able to present it better, and it would get a better boost, and it wouldn’t take as long to implement on the ground,” he said.
Reflecting on what has changed for students like him, the student said he believes government schools in Jammu and Kashmir are increasingly producing young talent and innovative ideas, something he linked to the Prime Minister’s vision of a Viksit Bharat and Atmanirbhar Bharat by 2047. “There has never been a shortage of talent among children here. They have represented India not just at the national level, but at the international level too, and brought India great honours,” he said.
Abid expressed hope that Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will take note of the security situation in the country, and in Jammu and Kashmir in particular, and consider the need for his gun-locking system. For his second idea, he said, “I hope Union Health Minister JP Nadda will look into the concept and its need, and support its implementation on the ground.”
Abid also appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the Director General of Police, the Northern Command’s Corps Commander, and Health & Medical Education Minister Sakina Itoo to look at both his ideas – the gun-locking system already registered, and the multipurpose bed still under development – and support their implementation on the ground.
