The India of Ideas

2nd prize in Mechanical and Electronics category

A Muruganantham’s innovation was inspired by something unusual — watching his wife go to the toilet with a cloth in her hand. Today,he has installed 80 sanitary napkin-producing machines that churn out a set of 10 napkins at Rs 10,making them affordable for women from the middle and lower income groups. The Coimbatore native lost his father early and discontinued formal education to work as a part-time technician, yarn-salesman,an insurance agent and a farm labourer. After seeing his wife entering the toilet with cotton,he started making napkins with cotton. “It took me 18 months to find out that multinationals were using wood-pulp,” he says. “That’s why they worked better than my cotton napkins.” He then built the machine. After years of tinkering ,the semi-automatic sanitary napkin-producing machine,complete with a UV sterilisation unit,was born in 2004. The machine can produce 900 napkins per day and needs a maximum of three people to operate. By 2008 he replicated an ATM to make a napkin dispenser that can hold 25 napkins.

Laxmi Asu machine

1st prize in Mechanical and Electronics category

Chintakindi Mallesham,a weaver from Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh who has studied till Class X,made history 10 years ago when he invented and perfected a machine that could weave the traditional tie-and-dye silk saree of the Pochampalli variety. The idea germinated in his mind in 1992. Reason: his mother’s tired arms. The traditional sarees require handwoven yarn,which takes at least four-five hours to make enough for one saree,plus up to 9,000 strokes of one arm. Mallesham’s invention brought the time requirement down to one-and-a-half hours and the daily production up to six sarees. His first prototype was followed by financial constraints,discouraging taunts from neighbours,locking up the incomplete gadget and migration to various cities as a daily-wage labourer and finally,after seven years,a morning’s observation in a machine shop that gave him that perfecting insight. “The first customers gave feedback that there should be some technical modifications,and I worked on that too,” says Mallesham. He has sold about 500 Laxmi Asu machines,named after the inspiration behind the idea,his mother.

Pedal-less bicycle

3rd prize in Transport category

Kanak Gogoi,a college dropout from Guwahati,sold milk,worked in a workshop,painted signboards,ran a taxi,became bankrupt,sold all his possessions,supplied goods to government departments,got married,divorced,married again,and one fine day,built a cycle without pedals. Gogoi is a serial innovator,but one of his most outstanding contraptions is a cycle that runs solely on gravity,with some help from a spring under the seat coupled with the rider’s weight. “I came up with this six-seven years ago,when there were many discussions about global warming and climate change,” Gogoi said. “I thought we were spending so much gravitational energy when we ride bicycles,so why not make one that used this force more effectively and was more relaxing for the rider.” This cycle and many more of his innovations — from a hovercraft to a solar car,from powered hang-gliders to an amphibian boat — have landed him in places from Delhi to Chicago,attending conferences and receiving awards.

Z-drive gearbox for fishing boats

2nd prize in Transport category

B Mohanlal,52,from Thrissur in Kerala who had studied till Class X,was many things before he became a boat mechanic — a dyeing unit employee,a migrant worker in the Gulf,a mechanic,a workshop owner by 1987. A boom in his business saw him buy a kerosene-engine powered fishing boat,but low mileage and high fuel costs gave him only marginal profits. He thought about a diesel engine,but the gearless engines had poor manoeuverability. He decided to combine cheap fuel with an agile engine and built a gearbox for a diesel engine. He also reduced the weight by using aluminum alloys instead of steel,and made the engine in such a way that it could be tilted at 90 degree during landing,avoiding damage. The diesel-powered engine with gearbox cuts down the fuel cost by one-third,compared to the petrol engines. With NIF’s assistance,Mohanlal signed an agreement with the Kerala State Co-operative Federation for Fisheries Development Limited for its commercial production.

Wilt-resistant groundnut variety – Dhiraj 101

2nd prize in Plant Variety category

Dhirajlal Thummar,a farmer from Amreli district,Gujarat,gave competition to the country’s agricultural scientists by observing,transplanting,selecting and repeating this process over three consecutive years — and finally developing a wilt-resistant groundnut variety. In 2004,he and other farmers like him had planted a groundnut variety called GG-20. The crop was hit by Sukado,a plant disease the makes crops wilt,and almost completely failed. Dhirajlal identified a few crops that did not and,planting these separately and observing them over time (“I looked at the crop everyday,to see how it was reacting to the things I was feeding it”),Dhiraj 101 was born,with higher yields,more oil content and less water requirement compared to the original GG-20 variety.

With NIF’s help,the new variety underwent field trials at the Oil Seed Research Station,Junagadh. The report certifies Dhiraj 101 as wilt-resistant and with 1.5 times higher yield compared to GG-20.

Improved varieties of wheat,paddy,pea

Joint 1st prize in Plant Variety category

Jay Prakash Singh,a farmer near Varanasi who dropped out of school after failing his Class X exams,has 17 improved varieties of paddy,wheat,pigeon pea and mustard named after him. All of them were developed,starting in 1991,as he patiently selected better crops from seed varieties distributed by the state’s agriculture department. As a result,farmers from Maharashtra,Bihar,Haryana,MP, UP,Uttarakhand plant his wheat and paddy varieties on their farms. The wheat varieties named after him are JP 33,JP 52,JP 61,JP 64,JP 81 and JP Karishma 100. The paddy varieties include JP 51,JP 71,JP 72,JP 80 and JP 115,while his pigeon pea varieties include perennial JP 5,JP 6,and annual JP 7,JP 9 and ICPL 87. He has developed a variety of mustard called JP Vishwajit. However,his has not been a life without trouble,he said. Sometimes his seeds have been stolen by others. And animals have entered into his farm and trampled on his crops,he says,because he couldn’t afford a boundary wall.

Biomass-based gasifier

2nd prize in Energy and Environment category

Rai Singh Dahiya never went to school. But from teaching himself how to read and write and listening to science programmes on radio,this 46-year-old from Thaldka in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district,has gone on to receive an award from the District Collector for building a unique biomass gasifier that is used to operate modified diesel engines. When in 1991 he set up a workshop to repair tractors and farm machines,Dahiya noticed that there was a great demand for diesel,which was getting increasingly expensive. He then built a biomass gasifier which,though not unique in itself,attained ingenuity as the gasifier is surrounded by a water jacket with the arrangement of two-stage filters. Replacing diesel injector set-up with a spark plug and a fuel pump with a distributor set-up modified the conventional diesel engine. This biomass-based gasifier can process 20 kg of bio-waste to run an engine of 30 HP for one hour. The NIF has filed a patent for this innovation in his name. Dahiya has built and sold over 50 gasifiers in and around his village.

Bamboo processing machine

3rd prize in Mechanical and Electronics category

Imli Toshi Namo (28),a serial innovator mainly dealing with bamboo products,hails from Mokokchung,Nagaland,and has no formal employment except for his continuous work in innovation and invention. Coming from the Northeast,which accounts for two-thirds of all of India’s bamboo,he saw a chance for innovation a field that has lacked it for years and came up with a machine to help the processing of bamboo. While most people working with bamboo use their hands or,at best,crude tools,Namo invented a 75-kg,electric-powered,4x2x12 ft machine that first removes the outer green covering of the bamboo,then the knots,and finally smoothens the surface. Precision in cutting and carving is done through a four-way joystick. After all the cutting and carving,Namo noticed a lot of waste material and put that to use as well — he used locally available resin to glue them together and,combining it with a Chinese-made hydro-generator,came up with a portable hydro-generator. Namo’s machines have been purchased by the Nagaland Bamboo Mission.

Generator exhaust for cleaner exhaust and less noise

2nd prize in Energy and Environment category

Virendra Kumar Sinha,58,from East Champaran,Bihar,failed his Class XII exams,enrolled at an ITI and dropped out before completing the course to earn a living for his family that included six siblings. He was involved first in contracting road construction works,then opened his own fabricating unit,Kaajal Steel,named after his daughter, fabricating grills and gates in a congested lane opposite a stall. With the constant noise and diesel exhaust from the generators (electricity supply was unsteady),he was unpopular in the locality,and neighbours took him to court. The court ordered him to either reduce the noise and pollution or close shop. It was then that he began building a chamber that would cut the noise using an iron drum,perforated iron pipes,steel channels,baffles and soot collecting tray. This prototype lessened air pollution too,collecting exhaust in the form of soot. The noise was reduced to such an extent,he said,that neighbours started asking if all was well in his workshop.

When BIT Mesra,Ranchi,tested the device,it reported that there was up to 30 per cent reduction in emissions of CO and CO2.

Herbal formulation for treating bloat in animals

3rd prize in Animal Health category

The veterinary medications formulated by an 80-year-old,illiterate,tribal farmer and a 60-year-old housewife who has never attended school have made it to the labs of two government pharmaceutical units. The formulations have been developed further and are currently undergoing a technology licencing process. Both Sakrabhai Bhariya and Kapuriben Baraiya live in Dahod,a tribal dominated district of Gujarat bordering Madhya Pradesh. Both are locally known as experts in herbal medication and the treatment of animals and possess a formulation that effectively treats bloat in animals.

Bloat is a medical condition in which the stomach becomes overstretched by excessive gas content,which,if untreated,is fatal. Finding no mention of the local herb the duo used in patent literature,the NIF took samples to the Bombay Veterinary College where the dosage standardisation was also carried out. Subsequently,a product was developed under the brand name Blotomin. The details have been shared with Karnataka Antibiotics,a Government of India agency for which technology licensing is being discussed.

Clay fridge

3rd prize in Energy and Environment category

Rajkot native Mansukbhai Prajapati’s innovation was inspired by an unlikely combination of four things — clay,a picture,its caption and an earthquake. Clay craftsman Prajapati,44,and his family were displaced by the collapse of the Machhu dam at Morbi in 1979. He worked in a roof-top tile manufacturing unit,quit and sold tea for sometime,trained in pottery until he started his own pottery enterprise. Then,the Bhuj earthquake struck in 2001. That’s when he saw a picture of a broken water filter with the caption,“the broken fridge of the poor”. After four years of experimenting,he came up with a fridge made of clay which did not require electricity. He called it “Mitticool”. He soon came up with a new,better version,and with the help of GIAN,NIF’s sister organisation,got it tested at Krishi Vigyan Kendra,Bharuch. The natural cooling process inside the refrigerator can keep vegetables and fruits fresh for six to seven days,while milk can be preserved for three days. With some improvement work at the National Institute of Design,“Mitticool” became a success. It was displayed at an event at the University of Cambridge,UK,in May,2009.

Multiple innovations

1st prize in Student category

Meraj Ahmed (23) is a serial innovator from Pashchimi Champaran (Bihar) who will be receiving the top prize in the student category for multiple innovations. Dropping out of college due to financial difficulties,Ahmed gives private tuitions to earn a living. Some of his innovations in the NIF’s database include an electronic mousetrap fitted with an alarm,a picture charger for black and white TV sets,a magnetic weighing device operating on the repulsion of like poles,a mobilephone charger that operates on both AC and DC power,a mobile holder for two-wheelers and an energy efficient chulha. His picture charger idea came up when his black and white TV set got damaged in 2005. Using electrical wires and other material available,he tried repairing it himself,as he was undergoing financial constraints at the time,and succeeded. He says his TV is still working.