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Category SIXTH Biennial AWARDS (NIF)
 
Title President Pratibha Devisingh Patil honours grassroots innovators
 
Details Lifetime achievement award Pulley with stopper, tilting bullock cart and others Amrutbhai Agrawat Gujarat Amrutbhai Agrawat has solved numerous problems faced by farmers, women and labourers essentially through his own life experience. He is popularly called Bapu since he is also a priest in a temple. He has innovated as many as seven different useful farm implements such as a tilting bullock cart, a groundnut digger, a multipurpose agricultural toolbar, a wheat-sowing box, etc. Apart from working on his own innovations, he spreads around the Honey Bee Network philosophy by organizing shodhsankals, participating in shodhyatras and scouting innovators. He has already discovered more than fifty innovators from the Saurashtra region. He is one of the very few colleagues who have attended all the shodhyatras except one. Not only that, he brings the most yatris from his region for walking in shodhyatras twice a year. National Awards (First) Rapid compost maker Gurmail Singh Dhonsi Rajasthan The fertility value of thoroughly decomposed compost is well known. Decomposition can be thorough only if it is achieved when the biomass is aerated, humidified and properly mixed. Dhonsi’s machine is a tractor PTO (power take-off) driven machine, which can thoroughly mix and moisten the bio-waste, reducing the time of decomposition from three to four months to between 20-45 days. The machine can turn and pulverize a row of biomass of 400 tons in an hour, consuming 3.5-4.0 litres of diesel per hour. The compost has better fertility value as compared to FYM and vermicompost. Tractor operated pruner Tree pruning is mostly done manually using knives/machetes. Tractor powered machines though available abroad, are not affordable to middle-income farmers. This machine is a low cost alternative and can do top dressing as well. The machine can prune trees of height 6 m (top-down) while keeping blades vertical and can top dress the plants of height 3.5-4.5 m. It can cover trees in a circle of 3 m diameter from a point where the tractor stands. It can prune 600 m long rows of trees at a spacing of 5-6 m on both the sides of a road or in a plantation in one hour. The tractor consumes 3.5-4.0 litres of diesel per hour. Low cost windmill Mohammad Mehtar Hussain and Mushtaq Ahmad Assam Looking at its potential in Gujarat, Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network - West (GIAN –W) has installed forty units in the salt farming area of Kutch in Gujarat for pumping up brine water and also for simple farm irrigation purposes. The designs have been considerably improved with the help of innovators and other experts. It is an excellent example of transfer of technology from the North East to the western part of the country. Balwan pyaj - an improved onion variety Balwan Singh Haryana Balwan Singh (50) is an innovative and progressive farmer from Bhiwani, Haryana. He has developed a high yielding improved variety of onion with good keeping quality. Its yield is about 350 q/ha. Good thickness of rings, tolerance to Stemphylium blight and moderate pungency are the other features, which distinguish this variety. HAU, Hisar found its performance better than the variety released by the university. Its storability is also better than that of the existing varieties. National Awards (Second) Paddy Thresher Md. Fazlul Hoque Assam Fazlul noticed time consuming and laborious conventional method of paddy threshing, which involved either manually beating the paddy against stone or using a draught animal. After some trials he developed a thresher which can thresh without chopping the straw of the moist crop. The thresher can be operated by a 5 hp electric motor or tractor PTO. It has an average feed rate of 600 kg/h, however it can support feed up to 900 kg/h and has 96.56% threshing efficiency, 89.06% cleaning efficiency, 0.632% broken grain proportion, 0.283 % spilled grain percentage, 0.359% blown grain percentage and 1.627% unthreshed grain percentage. Efficient coconut shell / wood stove V Jayprakash Kerala Jayprakash has incorporated a secondary burning chamber in the stove to allow maximum combustion of the hydrocarbons, released by the burning of biomass. He has developed several models of this. The combustion efficiency is in the range of 37.67% when wood is used as a fuel and 29.48% when coconut shell is used. ‘Pepper Thekken’, a new high yielding variety of Pepper T.T. Thomas Kerala T.T. Thomas (71), a farmer from Idukki, has developed ‘Pepper Thekken’, a high yield variety of pepper, which gives a yield of more than 1000 pepper balls in one pepper bunch. The speciality of this variety is that its spikes are fully branched while other pepper varieties are single spiked without branches. The Indian Institute of Spice Research (IISR), Calicut has recognized this variety as a unique high yielding variety and remarked that this variety has a characteristic branching of spike, which is a rare feature in black pepper. National Awards (Third) Herbal medication for skin diseases: Community Award Ramaji Bhemaji Parmar Community representative Gujarat Ramaji Bhemaji Parmar (49) is renowned in his area for his expertise in many human and veterinary health related herbal practices. One of the herbal practices he shared with SRISTI was related to a skin disease. While pursuing research at Sadbhav SRISTI Sanshodhan Laboratory, it was found that adding certain other common ingredients increased the efficacy of this formulation. The toxicological tests conducted at Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), found the formulations to be non-toxic. The results of the limited user trials were very encouraging and a product, ‘Zematic’ was commercially launched by SRISTI. The benefits so obtained are shared with Ramajibhai and his community besides other communities which have used the same plant for skin diseases. The Community of Gautambhai Parmar, Ahmedabad district is also being recognized for sharing this knowledge. Herbal medication for ephemeral fever: Community Award Naval Kishore Singh, Community representative Bihar Naval Kishore Singh (59) is a farmer having a rich store of traditional knowledge and administering a very effective herbal medicine (Patent App No 2243/CHE/2008) for curing ephemeral fever in animals. Clinical trials were undertaken and the results were found to be satisfactory. The results clearly indicated that major liver enzymes were not affected by the administration of the herbal formulation. The protein metabolism was normal and the liver was in healthy condition. The College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Parbhani, Maharashtra has also undertaken research to study the efficacy of the formulation. An oral herbal medication has been developed based on this practice. Modification in auto engine for increasing mileage Sib Sankar Mandal Assam Sib Sankar has modified the engine, transmission system and wheels of the auto-rickshaw to make it more efficient (Pat App No 1811/KOL/2008). The intake air and charge are preheated using the exhaust gas. The gear ratios and wheel size have also been changed to improve the efficiency of the vehicle. Facilitated by NIF, IIT Guwahati has tested the modified engine and has confirmed that it gives around 35 per cent higher mileage than the conventional engines. He was also invited to make a presentation at a workshop organized by IIMA at TATA Innovation Awards. Sib Shankar, with the help of his brother, Jai Shankar has also developed a helical spring shock absorber for rickshaws and a noodle making machine. Kit for enhancing mileage in automobiles Har Narayan Prajapat Rajasthan Hari Narayan has developed a small kit (Patent App No: 1410/DEL/2009) comprising a piston and a calibrated nozzle, which can be fitted in the fuel line between the carburettor and the entry to the cylinder head. The attachment introduces additional air before the charge (mixture of air and atomized fuel) is compressed. This results in increased combustion efficiency, thereby increasing the mileage of vehicle. It has been tried in four stroke engines. NIF has extended support for trial marketing under its MVIF scheme. The trial results have shown promise. Automatic cooking machine Abhishek Bhagat Bihar Abhishek Bhagat (19) is a young student. When he was still in tenth class, he developed a machine, which could cook food automatically. In this electricity operated machine (Pat. App. No 729/KOL/2010) the ingredients are loaded in boxes, which are released in the main cooking vessel at pre-defined timings. The cooking is completed according to the recipe card being used. Abhishek got an award in IGNITE 09 at the hands of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at IIMA, and also displayed his innovation at the Innovations’ Exhibition at President House in 2011. Electric painting brush Jahangir Ahmad Jammu & Kashmir Electrical painting brush is an automatic gadget for painting walls. This brushing system has a low powered motor that pumps paint through a plastic pipe into a specially designed painting brush used by the painter. It increases the output and the quality of painting as well. Since the brush is not required to be dipped in the paint drum, wastage of paint is also prevented. Jahangir developed a proof of concept after getting support from NIF/GIAN Cell J&K. An improved cardamom variety ‘Elarajan’ KJ Benny Kerala The most significant feature of this Vazhukka type variety is its characteristic uniform extra bold capsules of 8-9 mm (80-90 % bearing efficiency) with higher yield, which fetches a high market price as compared to other popular varieties. Spices Board has recognized this variety and is testing it for Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) for possible protection under PPVFRA. (www.spicesboard.in/office/Monthly-Report/Octo%202011.doc) downloaded March 1, 2012) ‘Thiruthali’, an improved variety of cardamom T.P.Joseph Kerala Well known for his innovative experiments in cardamom and pepper, Joseph has developed ‘Thiruthali’, an improved variety of cardamom. This variety is a prolific yielder with the dry yield being 4-6 kg per plant. The capsules are parrot green coloured which fetch good market price. This variety is also resistant to root grub, stem borer and instances of decaying. Herbal formulation for controlling aphid, white fly and Heliothis: Community Award Arkhiben Mithabhai Vanakar Community representative Gujarat Farmers in many districts of Gujarat use different herbs for pest control in crops. Sadbhav SRISTI Sanshodhan natural products lab has pooled the practices (Pat. App. No: 1827/MUM/2006) and added value to develop a product, SRISTI Drop, which is significantly more effective than individual practices. Arkhiben Mithabhai Vanakar is the community representative. The benefits will be shared with the communities whose knowledge has been pooled to develop this innovative product. State Awards Herbal medication to cure retention of placenta in cattle Biren Kalita Assam Biren Kalita has developed a novel formulation to cure retention of placenta in cattle. Being a milkman, Biren’s father knew a lot about diseases in cattle and the use of various herbs in treating those. He inherited this knowledge from his father and improved upon it with his experience. People located far away also visit him for medicines. Cotton boll picking machine Nattubhai Vadher Gujarat Nattubhai got an idea in 1982 for designing mechanical picking of dry land cotton variety 797 in which the bolls do not open naturally. It took him much longer to make it operational. He wished to make a machine that would not only pluck cotton bolls but also separate the cotton later, so that the labour cost could be saved. It cost him around Rs 30,000/- to prepare the first working model. The device is attached in the front of a tractor. The device (Pat. App. No.1576/MUM/2010) moves over the rows of cotton plants and the cotton bolls are pulled off the plant and stored in a chamber having two rolling rubber belts. A lot remains to be done to make this more effective and GIAN and NIF have been supporting the development. However, the concept has worked reasonably well in the existing version of the machine. Kakching mat making machine Y Mangi Singh Manipur Kouna is synonymous with the exotic craft tradition of Manipur. This manual machine, which can even be operated by a low skilled worker or a physically challenged person, can weave two mats per day whereas a skilled traditional mat weaver can make only one mat in four days, including frill tying. The quality of the mats produced is better than of those produced by traditional methods. Improved iron cutter Abdul Rahman Sheikh Jammu & Kashmir Abdul Rahman Sheikh, a mechanic aged 50 years has developed an iron cutter capable of performing four kinds of motions and cutting iron precisely from different angles. Its cutting range varies between one to eight inch (pipe, guarder etc.) and it can cut flat sheets of any length. He was discovered during the shodhyatra in Anantnag in June 2007. Foot pedal operated drill Vikas Shinde Maharashtra This foot operated drill is fitted with a drill bit, used for drilling holes in various materials. The drill bit is gripped by a chuck at one end and rotated while cycling the device. The plate is attached with a handle for raising or lowering the position of a job. He has made this device using old gear and spare iron parts. It is used to drill larger pieces of material made of metal, wood, PVC etc. It could be very useful in those areas where electricity is irregular or insufficient. It costs about Rs 2000. Jewellery (chain) making machine Madan Mohan Verma Delhi The innovator has ingeniously developed an automatic jewellery making machine that can make chains weighing from 4g to 30g in different designs. The machine can perform sixteen operations at a time and complete a chain in three to four minutes. Apart from this, he has also developed a few other smaller machines to smoothen his jewellery making process. He was awarded SRISTI Samman in 2009. He had made these improvements decades ago and thus some of his machines today are obsolete but his experimental and innovative ethics are worth emulating. Flameless seal maker and others K Masha Nazeem Tamil Nadu The traditional way of sealing covers or boxes is using lac heated at a very high temperature. Although the process is hazardous, it has been followed in India since the Mughal era. The flameless seal maker eliminates the use of fire to melt lac and also ensures uniform treatment or seal imprint. The device is filled with lac and switched on. One can then control the flow of the lac with a piston. The machine reduces the chance of getting burns. Masha is a serial innovator and has a number of innovative projects to her credit. She won the IGNITE award twice in 2009 and 2010 for her flameless seal maker and mechanical porter. Consolation Awards Modification in Hadamba Thresher for Threshing Castor Jagmal Singh Haryana Eight years ago farmers of Jagmal’s region grew castor, but the breakage was around 50 % in threshing. Jagmal modified the hadamba thresher in 2005 through hit and trial. He covered two third portion of the existing concave to give proper clearance between the beaters and the concave; and also restricted the spread of the grains, reduced speed of beaters to 150 rpm and replaced the existing feeding chute and conveyor belt by an inclined tray type hopper. This modification resulted in seed breakage below 5 per cent. The modification costs about Rs 6000 and it can be done in merely three hours. The innovator has modified the threshers of about 100 farmers in nearby villages during the last five years. Parboiled paddy spreader Ranjeet Gorai West Bengal Generally the spreading of hot parboiled paddy is done manually using a tray. The process makes labourers prone to burns and blisters often. In order to solve this problem, Ranjeet developed this simple but effective solution: a trolley having a sluice gate kind of opening at the bottom where the size of the opening can be adjusted. It can spread about 150 kg paddy per minute. It can also be used for spreading cow dung compost in the farm field, and there is no need of hiring any labour for this purpose. He was scouted during shodhyatra in Puruliya and Bankura in 2008. Parboiled Paddy and Oil Seed Turner R Ravi Tamil Nadu Generally, parboiled paddy and oil seeds are spread on the floor for sun drying. A large number of workers are needed for turning these frequently. Ravi observed the problems faced by the workers. He developed the present engine operated paddy turner having rotary tyres with rubber coating in 2005. It can cover three ft width of 10-15 cm thick bed of paddy or oil seeds consuming 0.5 litre of fuel per hour. Sago Rice Roasting Machine V Krishnan Tamil Nadu After harvesting cassava tubers are hygienically cleaned in water. The milk is allowed to settle in a tank for 7-8 hours. From the settled milk cake, a globule is made by a very special and unique system on an indigenous machine. Then it is roasted on hot plates and dried under direct sunlight in big platforms. The traditional process of sizing and roasting requires a total of 16 people and this is not economically viable for small scale farmers. The acute labour problem in the villages caused by migration, too resulted in motivation for the innovation. Coconut tree climber DN Venkat Tamil Nadu Venkat observed the difficulties faced by tree climbers used in coconut/palm gardens. Working on the problem, he came up with a safe and functional model in 2008. The device has a seat so that the climber can climb in a sitting posture. Using the up and down movement of the upper and lower frame by the hands and legs respectively, the user can climb easily on the tree. The seating arrangement and locking system enables the climber to climb up or down without fear. Stencil cutter Sheikh Nazim Gujarat Conventionally, stencils are prepared by punching papers using needles, which is a very cumbersome and tedious task. Nazim has developed a small innovative punching device (Pat. App. No: 676/MUM/2011) which applies designs on butter paper to facilitate imprinting on the cloth. Using this device, the time required to punch complex prints has been reduced considerably. Penao N Jilatombi Singh, Bhagat Singh, S Kennedy Singh Manipur Pena is one of the most popular musical instruments of the Meitei community and is used in a variety of social and cultural events. The uniqueness of Pena lies in its distinctive sound, which is quite different from any other fiddle and string instrument. The innovators have modified the original pena into penao, changing the number of bundle strings and modifying the bridge arrangement. This arrangement allows the Penao to play a wide range of musical notes, without losing the original and distinctive sound of the traditional Pena. Pedal operated drilling /wood working machine Ghonakonta Gogoi Assam Small carpentry workshops have difficulty in purchasing and using multiple machines due to high initial costs, space constraints and maintenance considerations. This multipurpose machine, with minimal cost footprint, is built to address all major workshop needs, allowing completing the sequence of wood-working operations in one place, and facilitating better finishing of the product. Modified Kerosene stove Ghulam Mohd. Sheikh Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh has designed a modified kerosene stove using pipes, arranged in such a way that there is no need for an additional fuel tank. It is believed that the stove has higher thermal efficiency due to preheating of kerosene (stored in the pipes) and less chances of explosion due to distribution of pressure in a larger volume. Pounded Chilly Sorter Nazeer Ahmad Andhra Pradesh Nazeer runs a small chilli powder making unit at his home. In order to provide better quality chilly powder, he and his wife used to sieve manually. This is a cumbersome job resulting in a burning sensation, sneezing caused by the pungent smell and pain in the hands. To overcome this drudgery, he developed the chilly sorter. It is an extension of the mechanism of the already existing motor operated chilli pounder for giving oscillating motion to sieves from the camshaft. The pounded chilli is filled in the sorter in batches of 1.5-2 kg and can be sieved with the efficiency of 95-98% without much human intervention. Key with light, shaving brush and razor with light and other innovations Ashish Sadiya Gujarat Ashish has developed many small, simple but practical gadgets, which include a key with a light so that one can see the keyhole while unlocking at night and a brush and razor with light, to help people shave in dark. He has numerous other ideas to his credit as well. NMS2 paddy variety MK Shankara Guru Karnataka This variety developed through systematic recurrent selection gives fine brick red rice, has high yield and is resistant to several biotic and abiotic stresses. There are no shattering losses and it also gives good quality fodder. Pest control in crops using Anethum spp Bhikhabhai Becharbhai Suthariya Ahmadbhai Daudbhai Ganchi Gujarat Both the farmers have been using a non-expensive solution for pest control in crops using suva, a winter crop having an insect repelling odour. Bhikhabhai uses the same for his cotton crop while Ahmedbhai uses it for sorghum crop. The lab trials at SRISTI have shown suitability of this plant for pest control even when sprayed in the extract form. Control of insect pests in agricultural crops Rahul Patel Bihar Along with the studies, Rahul used to take care of the fields in absence of his father. While working in the field, he used to see different types of insects that damaged the crops. He experimented with different kinds of herbs and stumbled upon this particular practice involving the use of herbal extracts for pest control. For verification, field experiment was facilitated by NIF at the Regional Research Station (ICAR) Madhopur, West Champaran and in vitro experiments were conducted at National Center for Integrated pest Management (ICAR) New Delhi, both of which gave good results. T- shirt with movement based animation Shailendra Rakhecha West Bengal Shailendra has conceptualized a system in t-shirts wherein the part of the cartoon/illustration on the front can be animated while walking using the movements of the hands. He does this by making the cartoons/illustrations in two parts as per the requirement and not stitching the part to be moved completely with the t-shirt. This part is connected through a thick thread with the t-shirt’s arm. The to and fro movement of the arms while walking pulls the thread, which in turn moves that part of the cartoon to which the thread is attached, thereby achieving animation in the object. This system can be combined in a variety of ways for various illustrations. Herbal medication for treating fracture in animals Mogjibhai Damor Gujarat Mogjibhai, a herbal healer popularly known as ‘Sadhu Vedik’, has been serving the community for the last twenty five years. He has very good knowledge of herbs and their uses for human and animal treatments. He uses a local herb to treat fractures in animals. The efficacy of the plant extract was tested on three cell lines viz., human osteoblast like cell line MG-63 & SA-OS2 as well as osteoblast cells isolated from femur of rats. The osteoblast proliferative potential of the drug was found comparable to drug Alendronate, used to treat osteoporosis. Herbal Medication for curing bacterial mastitis in animals Boya Pedda Rajanna Andhra Pradesh Hailing from a small village in Anantpur district, Pedda Rajanna is an herbal healer expert in treating animal diseases. Mastitis is a serious problem in milking animals and causes a great loss to the dairy industry every year. Pedda Rajanna has developed an herbal formulation to treat mastitis effectively. Efficient wood stove C. Senthil Kumar Tamil Nadu The walls of this stove have been insulated using bricks made from special clay that reduce heat loss. Different variants of the same have been developed for household and commercial use. Although he has sold over 15000 units of different versions of these stoves,yet there is a scope for further value addition and improvement in terms of efficiency. Diffusion Award Stick for helping visually challenged Wazeer H Karnataka Over two decades ago (1988), Wazeer noticed a visually challenged person slipping and falling into a pothole while crossing the road. He could not help him as he was on the other side of the road, but this incident propelled him to develop something to help the visually impaired. The walking stick (Patent App No 2244/ CHE/2008) developed by Wazeer gives an audio alert when the visually challenged person presses a switch, like ‘excuse me, side please’, and also alert the user of the presence of water or mud by making appropriate announcements. It can also inform of the obstacles in the path by generating audio alerts or vibrations. He manufactures three variants: a basic version with audio alarm that can be triggered by the user. There two advanced versions, one having a mud or water alarm and the other having an additional feature of an obstacle alarm. He has sold over 1000 sticks through Indian Red Cross Society, Women & Children’s Welfare Dept., Karnataka State Physically Handicapped Welfare Association, Rotary Club, Lions Club and Innarva Club. Wazeer is also exporting the sticks abroad. Award for Idea Windmill with different design of blades T Boomiahchary Andhra Pradesh The innovator has conceived the idea of developing a windmill with blades (Patent App. No.1137/CHE/2011) shaped as flaps of curtain blinds which open due to the pressure of air and help in fetching maximum energy from the air. Flaps that have the wind behind them close and the ones facing the wind open allowing the windmill to be in motion irrespective of the wind direction. Only as many flaps of the blind-like vertical span open as the pressure of wind dictates. The only alternatives available are conventional horizontal axis or vertical axis windmills with sheet spans. His design is different from both of them and appears to utilize the air pressure more efficiently. However, this needs to be confirmed after standard tests. The prototype developed is awaiting formal trials. Appreciation Digital Starch Measuring Scale for Cassava S. Rajamani Tamil Nadu Rajamani lives in the tapioca belt of South India. Sago is made from tapioca (cassava). The price of the tapioca crop is dependent on the starch content and the traditional manual process of determining the starch content is inaccurate and causes the farmers to lose money. This provided the motivation for innovation. Rajamani converted the conventional method of balancing of weight to digital scale. He claims a difference of 1.5-2% starch content when measured by conventional analogous and new digital scale. Amphibious car PS Vinod Kerala P. S. Vinod (32), a car mechanic cum electronic operator from Kerala has modified a Maruti 800 car and adapted it to move on land as well as water. The vehicle is completely water proof and can accommodate two passengers. It can travel at the maximum speed of 140 km/h on road and 20 km/h in water. Just a matriculate, Vinod could successfully complete his amphibious vehicle in 2003. This vehicle may have applications in defence, aqua tourism, water sports, hunting and fishing and may find relevance during rescue and relief operations during floods. Student Award Rain protector and other ideas Harkesh Kataria Haryana This is a motor driven and moisture sensor based system which withdraws the clothesline into shade when it starts to rain, thereby preventing the clothes from getting wet. Apart from the rain protector, Harkesh also made more than a dozen technological innovations and developed ideas. The list includes a cellphone operated home lighting system, a sensor system in any vehicle, sensor alarm, clap switch, water engine, dancing car, musical fountain, day night switch, sensor gun, water over-flow controller, and an electric crane.
 
Volume No. Honey Bee 22(4) & 23(1) 19-30, 2012

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