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FINE 2023 (part-I) |
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The Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu honoured 50 grassroots innovators at the 11th National Biennial Grassroots Innovations and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge Awards for their innovations in farming, herbal solutions, machinery, and agro-processing. FINE organized by NIF between April 10th-13th, 2023, gave over 100 innovators, including student awardees of INSPIRE, an opportunity to exhibit their innovations, receive feedback and queries from a wide and diverse audience, and share their knowledge at a national platform |
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"Apart from this year’s awardees, celebrated grassroots innovators and past awardees such as Mansukhbhai Prajapati, Mushtaq Ahmad Dar, Dharamveer Kambhoj, C. Mallesham, Subhash Ola and Gopalbhai Suratiya showcased some of their innovations, which have been covered in previous issues. The Festival had many innovators from the Northeast region presenting their exceptional innovations, including Ramdinmawia of Lunglei (Mizoram), L. Lanu Jamir (Nagaland), and Lalpiangliano Sailo (Mizoram).
The were many former awardees and other innovators from around the country who presented their machines and products, such as Jogendra Patra (Odisha), DN Venkat (Tamil Nadu), CV Raju (Andhra Pradesh), G. Chandrashekhar (Andhra Pradesh), Ishwar Singh Kundu (Haryana), Deepak Bharali (Assam), Shrawan Kumar Bajya (Rajasthan), and Arvind Kiyada (Gujarat).
In the first part of this series, we bring you the profiles of 24 innovators honoured this year.
National First
Shola Wood Sheet Making Machine Dipak Sardar (27)
South 24 Parganas, West Bengal
Artisans in West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar create religious
and ornamental handicrafts from white Shola piths, using knives to peel out thin sheets from the wood. Dipak Sardar’s machine is
a faster, less risky and easier alternative. A motorized slider-crank mechanism pushes a sharp blade to cut strips from 10-15 cm-long logs, resulting in well- finished, uniform sheets of wood. It has four feeders, producing 400 sheets in an hour, against 17 done by hand in an hour. It took him three months to build his first prototype. Almost two years later, in 2018, he built his current model. He said, “For so long there were no machines to make such sheets. I could not have done this without my uncle and the team at NIF.” Though it is still in the prototype stage, Deepak estimates that the machine could sell for Rs. 30,000 when it goes into production. He has taken feedback from artisans, and is in the process of making the blade’s movement more precise. He had made several parts by hand, and is now looking to produce standardized parts at a low cost.
Tractor Operated Groundnut Decorticator cum Grader
Kishan Lal Suthar (40)
Bikaner, Rajasthan
Most groundnut
farmers separate seeds by hand; few use machines. Kishanbhai’ s tractor PTO- powered innovation distinguishes itself by automating the
entire process. All a farmer must do is load groundnuts into a hopper, which are carried up by an “elevator system”. Some shells break as they fall into a decorticator unit. Complete decortication happens in a large shaking sieve. The sieve holes are of three different apertures, sorting the seeds by size and specific gravity. The machine can process eight to ten tons of groundnut pods an hour, consuming about four to five litres of fuel. It has shown 98% efficiency in decortication, and about 90% in cleaning the seeds. It enables farmers to save their own dry groundnut seeds, when earlier they would buy wet ones from the market which are harder to cultivate and prone to damage.
Kishanbhai, along with his father and brothers, spent about four years making smaller machines. He recalled that “the farmers asked me to make a larger machine, so I immediately went to work.” It took him a year to build his current tractor-operated version. So far, he has sold about 700 machines in all, of which
150 are tractor-mounted. The smaller motor-operated machines cost Rs. 70,000, and the tractor-mounted costs Rs. 3 lakhs.
G-Vilas Pasand Guavas Ram Vilas Maurya (69)
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Farmer Ram Vilas Maurya has been lauded for developing the G-Vilas Pasand variety, unique in bearing guavas throughout the year.
He described the fruits as “jumbo-sized”, weighing an average of 300 – 400 grams, though some have even weighed 900 grams! After five years, a single tree gives 50 – 60 kg of fruit annually. The fruits are juicy, with softer seeds. They sell well, giving additional income in the off-season.
Asked about how it has affected farming income, he said, “this plant has provided a livelihood to over one lakh farmers - earlier, they could not get Rs. 200 in the market, now they can earn Rs. 2,000- 2,500.” Ram Vilasbhai provides seeds to farmers around the country, and assists with planting and growing them. He estimates that about two lakh trees of this variety have been planted.
Innovative Multiple Rooting Propagation Method for Cashew
Aniyamma Baby (55)
Kannur, Kerala
Aniyamma Baby found adventitious roots sprouting from low branches of old cashew trees, inspiring her to develop two methods to grow new plants.
These involve placing small bundles of potting soil mixture at the nodes of low- lying branches, where new roots will grow within a year. One method is to channel new roots through a soil-filled areca tree stem to a different area on the soil, enhancing the tree’s root system and yield. Alternatively, the branch could be weighed down with stones. New cashew trees will bloom from the nodes, still attached to the branch of the mother tree.
The new trees are resistant to boring pests, can withstand cyclones and strong winds, and are an organic way to rejuvenate old cashew plantations.
Aniyamma has been freely sharing her knowledge with local farmers, especially since Cyclone Tauktae hit Kerala in 2021. She and her husband, Jacob said, “We would like to do our bit for the country, and teach this method to as many farmers as we can”, by travelling to other states, or hosting workshops.
National Second
Six-Axis Rotating Head Golden Embossing Machine
Ravindra Ganpat Chopade (46)
Mumbai, Maharashtra
R a v i n d r a ’ s machine automates embossing, done simply by giving the ‘Print’ command on a Word document from a connected device. The CNC machine is a complex
system with six axes, each running on an independent motor. Its components include a foil roll, a moving bed, and the printing head containing the alphabet wheel. He made the wheel from scratch after being unable to source uppercase and lowercase alphabet stamps in one uniform size. “My friends helped index the alphabets through C programming. With a simple command, we can print the entire page in just three minutes,” he added. In all, it took him about six years of tinkering and trials to create his current model. It is the first such printer in India. It lowers the cost of printing, is more precise, and suits a range of materials including rexine, leather, plastic and fabric. Ravindra estimates that he incurs a cost of Rs. 50, on average, per printed document. The price of the entire machine is Rs. 5.5 lakhs. He is running a promotional offer where he includes 2000 hard bound rexine covers with the purchase of this printer.
His father worked as a security guard at IIT-Bombay, and Ravindra grew up on the campus. Here he opened a small printing-photocopying shop, which doubled up as a workshop to build and tweak his machines. His first innovation was a golden embossing machine based on a dot matrix printer. He has made other models based on inkjet and laser printers.
He registered I-MBOSS Pvt. Ltd. in 2015 with the help of a team at IIT-B. He is serving as a Director. Their website is currently under construction, which will help him reach more people.
Ravindra hopes to make his machines accessible, and plans to train and employ young people who share his passion for science. He has also been exploring expanding his market into goods such as wedding cards, certificates, greeting cards, etc.
Manual Paddy Transplanter Sadasibo Majhi (43)
Koraput, Odisha
Sadasibo’s device cuts down the time taken to transplant paddy seedlings from nurseries to fields. Four spiral conveyors move
seedling bundles towards four pairs of rubber rollers. Then, metal pincers pluck the bundles, pierce the soil, and release the seedlings at adjustable width and depth. The chain and sprocket mechanism of its two wheels move the gear, and paddles on their spokes help it wade through waterlogged fields.It covers 0.16 hectares in an hour.
Since these movements depend on a single sealed gearbox, Sadasibo had to measure and configure all parts very precisely. An error of a few millimetres would throw off the coordination. After much trial and error, and many years, this is his seventh and final model.
“I have no land of my own. The idea formed over tea with my farmer friends. Every year they faced the same struggle - either sowing would be delayed, or their yield would be low,” he responded, when asked about his inspiration. It is lightweight, and only 3 feet wide. Two people are needed to operate the machine. It is currently priced at Rs. 35,000, but Sadasibo wants to make it more affordable to farmers. He hopes that with assistance from NIF, the cost can be reduced to Rs. 20,000-25,000.
Tree Root Puller
Indrajit Singh Khass (47)
Aurangabad, Maharashtra
Uprooting leftover stumps using c o m m e r c i a l m a c h i n e s (commonly referred to as “JCBs”, after the machines manufacturer) is expensive. Indrajit’s
tractor-powered tree root puller does this at one-fourth the cost. His attachment has two arms which hold on to the stump. One arm stays fixed, while the other is moved by a hydraulic double-acting cylinder linked to the hydraulic hose of a 30HP or higher tractor. It pulls roots from a depth up to eight inches, and can cover an acre of land in about ten hours using around
3.5 L of diesel.
The idea came to him when he learnt that his friend had received a quotation of Rs. 2 lakhs to rent a JCB. “That is why I wanted to make him this machine,” he explained. “I got it right on the very first prototype. This was a one-stroke success!” This model weighs roughly 175 kg, and he sells it at Rs. 80,000, including GST. The machine has mainly been used on paper wood trees such as eucalyptus and subabul (river tamarind), but he is certain it will work on other trees such as poplar (Populus deltoides L.) which is used for plywood and pencils. He encourages farmers to build their own version at home using the hydraulic cylinder of a reversible plough.
He is a serial innovator of agrimachinery. In 2019, he was a part of the 6th batch of the Innovation Scholars In-Residence programme at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
SK-4: Improved High Yielding Turmeric Variety
Sachin Kamlakar Karekar (43)
Ratnagiri, Maharashtra
Sachin Karmakar developed SK-4 over twenty six years through clonal selection of Kadappa buds. It yields about 450 quintals per hectare,
matures quickly - within 160-170 days, and is resistant to leaf rot and rhizome rot. The name honours four important “SK”s: his name, Sangli district’s Kadappa seeds gifted by his mentor, Senge kaka, and his hope that it will be considered a “specialty of the Konkan region”.
The crops have yielded bigger rhizomes every year. This year, his heaviest rhizome weighed eight kg. He claims that new plants grow as well from the fingers as they do from the mother rhizome He successfully increased yields using the pro-tray seedling method, with the assistance of Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli. He recommends this method of growing to the 100 or so farmers who use his seeds. Having sold about one lakhs seeds within Maharashtra in 2021, he was helped by NIF to apply for PPV&FR registration. He said, “More than growing it myself, I am happy that farmers around Ratnagiri and the Konkan region are benefitting from growing it.”
Sachin has a knack for business, and completed the agripreneurship course offered by Shriram Gramin Sanshodhan Va Vikas. He invested Rs. 5 lakhs to transform his four acre land in Abloli into an agritourism hub, called “Garva Agritourism”. Visitors learn about cultivating coconut, mangos, jackfruit, cashew, pineapple and many varieties of flowering plants. He hopes to inspire other young traditional farmers to innovate ways to ensure food security, and livelihood security in agriculture.
Herbal Medication to Hasten the Process of Expulsion of Placenta and Involution of Uterus
Shishpal Singh (44)
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
Bovine placenta retention may lead to fever, weight loss, infection, and mastitis. feeds his cows a particular grass to effectively induce the
dropping of the placenta within two to four hours, with no side effects seen. After taking the medicine, the cow’s uterus returns to its pre-pregnancy state (uterine involution) within 30-32 days. Shishpalbhai learnt of the remedy from his father. He has used it for over 20 years, and has shared the knowledge with farmers.
National Third
Portable Coconut Breaking and Water Collecting Device
Biju Narayanan (51)
Idukki, Kerala
(see HB Vol 34 (1):16, 2023)
Herbal Medication for Treatment of Mastitis in Cows
Vishnu Kumar Sharma (50)
Jaipur, Rajasthan
A cocktail of antibiotics is usually given to cure bovine mastitis. Alternatively, farmers allow the disease to take its course while helping the animal manage
pain and inflammation. The former raises concerns about microbial resistance, and the latter prolongs the animal’s suffering. Vishnubhai and his wife, Subhadra devi, developed a topical solution when their cow contracted mastitis. Being wary of antibiotics, they heated the leaves of a local herb which they call “vishanyam”, and mixed it with coconut oil. Rubbing this on the udders reduced inflammation. Testing shows that five days after treatment, the animal’s health improves considerably.
He lost his parents to terminal illnesses, and it sparked his interest in helping to cure disease. “I have no agenda, my only goal is to make my country prosperous. It is unfortunate that we have a plethora of knowledge but it is slowly disappearing,” he said. He is a serial innovator, with about 32 innovations under his belt; 26 are herbal remedies. He has innovated appliances including an air cooling system for which NIF helped him get a patent, and a seven-minute cooling refrigerator which he is currently improving.
Sonali-45: Improved Variety of
Cauliflower
Mukesh Kumar Singh (39) and Rajmani Singh (45)
Vaishali, Bihar
Sonali-45 cauliflower is a high yielding, disease and pest-resistant dwarf variety. Maturing within just 75 days, Sonali-45 curds are of good quality, above-average weight and taste sweet. They have about
16 leaves. Yields vary between 60-110 quintals per acre. It was developed over a decade of selective cultivation by the Singh brothers. At first, the brothers had been intuitively selecting the variety. As a matter of chance, they received a visit from a professor of agriculture who was passing through their village and asked to study their seeds. He shared his findings with them, leading the brothers to select seeds in a more scientific manner. They have since collaborated with KVKs and university-affiliated labs to improve their propagation methods and test the crop.
Cauliflower is a family affair - their late father was a traditional cauliflower farmer, and they have named their variety after Rajmani’s daughter. They are proud of the variety and its impact, saying, “The demand for the cauliflower is good, it tastes good, and the farmers benefit. Both sellers and buyers are happy with it.” The brothers still sell their harvest as well, maintaining a certain nutrient balance while minimizing their use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. They sell the seeds through their company, Ramayan Seeds. Their seeds are popular outside Bihar as well, in states like Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
State Awards Innovative Handloom
V. Karappan (71)
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (State Award)
T r a d i t i o n a l handloom weaving is physically d e m a n d i n g .
V. Karappan’s machine assumes the more strenuous tasks involved. It is manually powered
by a foot pedal which can be pushed by one leg. The pedal causes a wooden frame to oscillate. This frame transfers energy to a roller that moves the heddles affixed with yarn for weaving. The woven cloth is high quality, with a neat finish, fetching a good price for weavers. What earlier took eighteen hours now only takes eight. A six metre Kancheepuram saree can be woven in twelve hours.
He then demonstrated how to use the machine, stating, “Anyone can use it - ladies, elders, and those with disabilities. And they can weave any kind of yarn into saris, bedsheets, or any kind of cloth.” He has been modifying and improving this machine since 2014, and still sees scope to increase its efficiency. Karappan is behind many innovations for handlooms and has made machines which can be operated by elderly and disabled persons.
Clove Bud Separator Shine Joseph (40)
Kozhikode, Kerala (State Award)
Manual separation of clove buds is tedious and could result in damage and contamination. One worker could harvest 15 kg of buds per day, and charged Rs.
30 per kg of harvest. Shine and other small farmers found clove cultivation unsustainable due to the high labour cost. Around 2018, he thought of designing a machine to automate the process. His separator machine spins bud clusters in a drum with three rotating spiral blades, powered on a 1 HP motor. Buds are separated through abrasion. “What we could not achieve in a month can now be done in a day at one-tenth of the cost!”, he exclaimed. The machine can process 400 kgs of bud clusters in an hour – which would otherwise require over 30 labourers to do in one day.
It costs about Rs. 40,000, and works with an efficiency of 99 percent. The buds can be cleaned further in salt water.
Iron Bar Cutting and Bending Machine
Jalendra Kumar (32)
Nawada, Bihar (State Award)
As a welder, Jalendra was fed-up working only with traditional tools, such as chisels and hammers. “Kuch kar ke dikhawe (I will do it)!”, was his mantra while fabricating a machine for precise and cost-
effective cutting, bending, drilling and modelling. It can reduce the time and effort of construction workers, mechanics, other fabricators, and others working with metals. The model he exhibited at the Festival runs on a 1 HP motor, and takes only five seconds to cut rods of up to 10 mm in diameter. The machine does the work of four people. It took him about a month to build the machine, which he is pricing at Rs. 60,000.
He has three other models which can cut rods of up to 25 mm diameter, and drill holes of the same diameter. His machines can also be fitted with dyes to create about 75 different “fancy” designs for iron grills, and also mould shapes such as a 90 degree cone. The machines are not very noisy.
Walnut Peeling Machine
Mohd. Shafi Ahanger (42)
Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir (State Award)
Mohd. Shafi is a
serial innovator
whose machine automates the process of peeling green walnuts. Manually peeling walnuts is time- intensive, and
causes skin damage. The machine’s 1 HP motor powers a horizontal conveyor with three parallel channels mounted on shredder plates. Perpendicular compression springs in the plates apply a force based on the size of the walnut. Channels are slanted and inclined downwards, to increase friction through rotation and gravity. Walnuts are peeled due to the impact and shredding forces as they travel through the channels. As the shells fall away, walnut kernels can be collected from the outlet. It can peel 500-600 kg in an hour with an efficiency of 98%.
Mohd. Shafi faced challenges while designing the machine. Walnuts are only harvested during August-September. He said, “I started with a simple box and imagined how the machine would look. Since walnuts are in season for only two months, I only had a short period of time to test it in a year, but I finally made it.” During those two months, he experimented with different walnut sizes to optimize the machine. Despite this obstacle and financial constraints, he built the machine in four years. He sells this machine for Rs. 50,000, and has also developed smaller machines priced at Rs. 25,000 for small farmers.
Pineapple Peeling Machine and Shredding cum Peeling Machine
Imkongsunep (47)
Mokokchung, Nagaland (State Award)
I m k o n g s u n e p is a pastor at a community church. Horticulture is practiced widely around Nagaland, and many families process their harvest manually at home,
or at a very small scale for selling. His peeling machine is one innovation that could help them do so efficiently.
Once a whole pineapple is affixed to a lathe-like rod parallel to the base of the machine, the fruit is rotated while a sharp blade runs across, taking the peel off. The blade and lathe have adjustable components for pineapples of different sizes and to peel the fruit at different depths. Imkongsunep used a Maruti steering box in the body of the machine, and an airgun piece in place of a lathe. It is powered by a 0.5 HP motor. He developed it in three months, having faced initial difficulties with the blade. He also made it lighter and more compact.
His first innovation was a shredder for tapioca (cassava). It has a hopper at the top through which a peeled cassava tuber is fed to the shredder below. He had to adjust the angle of the shredding blades several times to prevent the cassava from getting stuck in the machine. He placed it in a wooden encasement for aesthetic reasons. It is a multipurpose machine, with a peeler attached to one side, for fruits like apples and pears. This machine is also powered by a 0.5 HP motor.
His machines reduce labour, time and help generate income and employment within the community. “Young people often migrate for work,” he told us, “but I hope this can be a good opportunity for those interested in running a small- scale business like juice vending.” It is his only model and he has yet to make it commercially available.
Laddu Making Machine and Large- Scale Spindle Making Machine
Chhuanmawia (58)
Lunglei, Mizoram (State Award)
Hot sugar used in laddu dough can burn one’s hands while rolling them into a ball
shape. Chhuanmawia’s machine protects the laddu-maker, saving them time and effort. The hot dough made of flour or besan, sugars and oil is poured into a hopper atop the
machine, which automatically rolls them into a sphere. The portable machine has a processing capacity of 50 kg of dough in an hour. It has four different speeds, making about two laddus in a minute. It only uses a DC current of 24 V.
Speaking of his initial designs, he said, “I made it initially to roll out small, marble- sized sesame balls. Then, I improved the machine to roll out a bigger shape like laddus.” At present he has only one model, which cost him about Rs. 30,000 to make. He hopes that commercializing it will allow him to produce and sell it at a much lower price. He will also make it more portable and efficient.
Another innovation is his spindle machine, which can loom 20 bobbins simultaneously, at three different speeds. He is a longtime serial innovator with many diverse innovations such as a three- way telephone created in 1998, and a rice processor in 2016.
Tractor Operated Taro Harvester with Washer
Yanglem Brajamani Singh (36)
Bishnupur, Manipur (State Award)
Taro farmers in Yanglem’s native village of Keinou would have to hire many labourers for several days to harvest taro manually with a
spade. His affordable tractor-mounted PTO-driven harvester hacks the soil with a steel blade that digs out taro corms. The corms are propelled behind the tractor. A week’s work can now be done in a day. The machine covers one hectare in ten hours with just three people working, including the tractor driver.
“Farmers work very hard, and we have to put in so much labour. I wanted to help farmers and make things a bit easier for them,” he said. He hopes to improve the machine, which he has yet to commercialize. He will modify it a bit before taking it to market.
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Honey Bee, 34(2)16-22 , 2023 |
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