Rural Innovators: Closer to the Ground

Nitin Rao — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:31:42 -0400

I take pleasure in introducing three gentlemen who exemplify the spirit of innovation in rural India. These innovators demonstrated their ideas at the Rural Innovators event at Engineer 2007 - the national level symposium of NITK Surathkal.

Annasaheb Udgavi is a farmer from Sadalga village in Karnataka. Aged 80, he hasn't received any formal education and yet has a good grasp of basic science and engineering. He is highly enthusiastic and enjoys helping solve people's problems through his ideas. His Chandraprabha Water Gun (Rain gun) is an innovative sprinkler, which washes away white flies and Aphids from the tobacco plant. The sprinkler system is also useful in irrigating sugarcane.

Narasimha Bhandari, has only passed the SSLC exam (equivalent of X grade) and has worked in a hardware shop for several years. He now owns a small engineering outfit. His innovations include an areca nut dehusking machine, a tiller generator and an innovative wheel barrow for farmers. The innovator's automatic areca nut dehusking machine is four times as efficient as proficient labor.

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Rural Innovators: Closer to the Ground