July-Dec 2007

Transcription

July-Dec 2007

Seeing Beyond the Visible
Contents
Creativity Unconstrained: Walking
Through the Chinars in Kashmir
(Part II) ........................................................ 5
Mehtar Hussain: A Man Who
Tamed the Wind ............. ...........................8
Ideas Sprout in Young Minds ................. 10
Sattvik 2007-The Fifth Traditional
Food Festival, December 1-4, 2007 ......... 11
The Honey Bee Collaborators Interact 17
The Nut Crackers .................................... 20
T
wo men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was
allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid
from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had
to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes,
their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.
And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass
the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would
be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The
window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water
while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers
of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of
the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side
of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon
the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t
hear the band - he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window
portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed.
Puzzles in Paddy: Possibilities from
Africa ......................................................... 22
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the
lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was
saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
Enabling the Blind to Cook,
Moving the Songs by Foot: China... ...... 31
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the
window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was
comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow
to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for
himself.
Budding Bureaucrats Imagine
Solutions... ................................................ 35
20th Shodhyatra:
West Bengal .............................................. 40
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had
described such wonderful things outside this window.
Honey Bee Hums .......................................................... 2 6
News and Views ............................................................ 3 9
Dear Readers, What do you think was her answer? Should we be the blind person who
sometimes is unable to share the realistic situation about the prospect of a given
innovation in the market place with the innovators? Will the reality outside the
window be different some day will what we say and what we see then match more?
Dialogue ........................................................................ 4 4
Source:www.mindspring.com/~totalhue/compassioninaction.htm
Editor
Anil K Gupta
Editorial Advisors
Riya Sinha, Vijaya Sherry Chand
Honey Bee Regional Collaborators
Editorial Associates
Vibha Mehta
Editorial Support Team
Somya Tyagi, Kirit K Patel, Jyoti Capoor, Hema Patel, Ramesh
Patel, Mahesh Patel, Deepa Moni Gogoi Tripathi, T J James,
Vipin Kumar, Nitin Maurya, Vivek Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Ashish
Kanwal, Rakesh Kumar Maheshwari, Arati Karmakar
Graphics and Design
Unnikrishnan, Goraiya Shailendra
Illustration
Palash Graphics, Devendra Parmar,Praveen Mishra
Administrative Team
R P S Yadav, R Baskaran, Balaganapathy Mudaliar, Nisha
Binoy, Bhoomi Shah, Daksha Makwana, Devshi Desai
Editorial Address
Honey Bee, c/o Prof. Anil K Gupta
Indian Institute of Management
Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380015, Gujarat, India
Phone: 91-79-66324927; Fax: 91-79-26307341
Email: [email protected]
http://www.sristi.org
Aama Akha Pakha (Oriya)
Dr Balaram Sahu
Keshari Enclave B- Block,
Flat No-401 Nayapalli
Bhubaneswar-12 Orissa
[email protected]
Hittalagida (Kannada)
Dr T N Prakash
Department of Agricultural Economics
University of Agricultural Science
GKVK, Bangalore - 560065
[email protected]
Ini Karshakan Samsarikkatte (Malayalam)
Fr Hubby Mathew & T J James
Peermade Development Society
Peermade, Idduki - 685531 Kerala
[email protected]
Loksarvani (Gujarati) and
Sujh-Bujh Aas Paas ki (Hindi)
SRISTI, P O Box No. 15050 Ambawadi,
Ahmedabad - 380015
[email protected], [email protected]
Num Vali Velanmai (Tamil)
Mr P Vivekanandan
Coordinator HB Network
45 T P M Nagar, Virattipathu - 625010
Tamil Nadu. [email protected]
Palle Srujana (Telugu)
Brig. Pogula Ganesham VSM (Retd)
Flat No. 303, Angeerasa Apartments
Keemti Colony, Tarnaka
Hyderabad - 500015 Andhra Pradesh
[email protected]
Mr Sundaram Verma
Danta (Village & Post), Sikar - 322 702
Rajasthan, [email protected]
Mr Kamal Jeet
675/25 Patel Nagar, Rohtak - 124001
Haryana. [email protected]
Mrs Anita Mahajan
Anurama, 13 B, Vivekananda
Nagar near Yashwant Nagar
Jalgaon Maharashtra
Honey Bee Vol 18(3) & 18(4) July - December 2007
2
Published by Riya Sinha on behalf of Sristi Innovations, Gujarat University Boys Hostel Campus, Near University Library, Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad-380009.
Printed at M/s Bansidhar Offset, Ahmedabad
EDITORIAL
Conundrum of Consent: Defining and Defending Knowledge Rights of People
W
idespread existence of creative and innovative people at
grassroots in India is now accepted as a cultural trait of our
society. Honey Bee Network has made a small contribution
towards creating this confidence. While accessing the knowledge,
innovations and practices of the people (individuals or communities),
the network realized the need for seeking informed consent of knowledge
providers. Over last two decades, it has been found that most people
share their ideas easily, though some are quite understandably, secretive
and hesitant. Those who are secretive, fear that knowledge might lose
its effectiveness if told to others. Some believe that it can be shared
only with the competent and committed learners who can do justice to
its evolution and application. Still others feel that this is the only
source of power they are left with, should they give up even this one.
There is a small minority, which believes that they need to have
protection of their intellectual property rights in their knowledge. While
majority of the knowledge holders trust the members of the Network
and share their knowledge, some rightly would like to know the possible
consequences of sharing their knowledge. When the Network members
begin their dialogue by first sharing the knowledge of other innovative
people with the prospective providers, some hesitance is overcome.
Obtaining PIC from generally illiterate people is fraught with risks. We
have to ask ourselves whether the knowledge providers really understood
the implications of different choices offered to them? But the question
remains, do people fully realize what their privileges are and whether
they can ensure compliance of their rights by every knowledge seeker.
Nobody had ever asked them for their permission. Given the tradition
of generosity, they shared their knowledge often without any restriction.
As has been discussed in these columns earlier, the outsiders, whether
with commercial or noncommercial motive, documented the local
knowledge and often published it. Neither attribution was made, nor
reciprocity was required. This led to the dilemma as to whether the
current norms of seeking and sharing knowledge provides sufficient
incentive for communities to maintain the knowledge, transfer it to the
children and feel rewarded when it was used by others. Convention on
Biological Diversity and Desert Convention reiterated the need for
involving knowledge holders and taking their approval while accessing
and utilizing their knowledge. The Honey Bee Network was concerned
not just with raising the question but also finding viable answers. The
norms of acknowledgment were evolved in the beginning so that the
convention of making knowledge holders anonymous did not continue
unquestioned. And yet, people continue to have doubts about the way
it should be shared with third parties. The rights to knowledge that
people produce by modifying Traditional Knowledge or developing
new innovations has been debated at various fora around the world.
The concept of PIC for innovations as distinct from Traditional
Knowledge and from individuals as well as groups or communities has
evolved gradually over last two decades. Most journals and publications
around the world do not insist that the PIC be obtained from the
knowledge providers before publishing the findings of the third party
‘authors’. Leaving aside the majority of the transactions on peoples
knowledge, which are not governed by PIC, even the ones, which are
governed are not free from complexities. Should the process of taking
consent of illiterate people be videographed to avoid any misunderstanding
subsequently? After all, why is the consent being taken? It could be
for value addition or publishing, or negotiating licensing of their
technology to third party. It could also be for dissemination. . Intentions
apart, one has to ensure that knowledge providers understand the right
they have, for permitting or denying Network members the privilege to
add value in their knowledge one or the other way. The knowledge
holders and innovators have to deal with several complexities: how
much of what they are sharing is actually theirs? To what extent the
knowledge belongs to the community? And does community imply
only a village bound settlement or people in many villages scattered
over a large area? If the knowledge seeker cannot resolve all the questions
satisfactorily, should a less optimal choice be preferred? Large number
of social activists believe that since it is difficult to find individual
contribution in collective knowledge (leaving aside the clear cases of
contemporary innovations), it is better not to take any permission and
treat the knowledge as public domain. If such is the case, then no
reciprocity is due. There cannot be any biopiracy then, because people’s
knowledge according to this view is in public domain. However, a good
action need not be an accurate one and vice versa. How much trade off
is ethically justified in this regard? If knowledge remains unvalorised,
people may not get any benefit.
The younger generation may not find it worthwhile to pursue this
knowledge and we may lose the knowledge trail. What could we do,
which is just as well as fair: (a) We could check with the community
elders in the case of knowledge being unique as to how much is known
within the community or across the community, (b) We could also
ascertain the extent to which the knowledge provider is actually the
modifier of the traditional knowledge. We may distinguish between
those who are just aware vis-à-vis those who are aware, who practice
(or have practiced in past) and have shared it with the younger people,
(d) We explain the advantage of sharing the knowledge widely without
any restriction and explain that except recognition there may not be any
other form of return in such cases and (e) We may share various options
of keeping the knowledge open- source for personal use of other small
producers but restricting it for those who wish to exploit it commercially
at large scale (we exclude village artisans from this category). The
default condition may be that unless specified, we should assume that
knowledge providers would like to be consulted before sharing their
knowledge. The fact is that the Network members and collaborators
have found it very difficult to obtain PIC from all the knowledge
holders. We have to inform the knowledge and information rights of all
the knowledge providers unilaterally while acknowledging the
contribution of knowledge of innovations by the people. The knowledge
providers should also know about the Prior Art Search we did, to
establish the novelty or distinctiveness of their practice. Likewise, the
results of any validation trials or value addition study should be shared
with them regularly. There are many ways in which knowledge can be
acknowledged. Recently, while licensing several technologies to a private
company for developing agricultural growth promoters and veterinary
medicines by SRISTI and NIF, the company was obliged to share the
advance royalty for each product with the knowledge providing
Will you stand by the IPRs of peasants ?
3
communities and individuals. Not just this. The company
also put the photographs/names of the knowledge
providers (if individuals are involved) on every bottle.
At the same time, an appeal was also printed on each
bottle asking every consumer to be also a potential
provider of knowledge at the toll free number of the
NIF. Even here the sharing of benefits is not simple.
While some people shared their knowledge much earlier,
others did later. Some others who shared later might
have learnt from the early developer of the knowledge.
But some may have developed simultaneously and quite
early, though they were discovered by the Network
much later. Benefits should go to them as well. We have
to make the process as inclusive as possible. If all the
benefits are collective, the entrepreneurial potential of
the society will be masked. But if the gains are only
individual, the community structure, which helped in
conserving the diversity and the knowledge system will
come under strain. We have to balance the both. Many
of these products were developed in the Sadhbhav–
SRISTI Sanshodhan Natural Product Lab by pooling the
best practices of different communities and individuals.
The consent of the provider of each component of the
pooled knowledge was taken earlier. An elaborate benefit
sharing model has been developed after lot of debate in
the SRISTI Board after consulting grassroots innovators.
Shares of different stakeholders in the benefits have
been normatively proposed with the understanding that
innovators/TK holders could modify these in specific
cases (Innovator, 30 %, nature conservation, 5%,
community, 5%, innovation fund to help other not so
lucky innovators, 20%, Reseacrh and field trials, 15%,
institutional overhead expenses, 15%, contingency fund
, 5% and fund to promote innovations by women 5%).
Every knowledge providing community and individual
was given three cheques in the last Traditional Food
Festival in December 2007. One for the individual, second
for the community and third for the nature. This process
has to become more inclusive and benefits have to be
shared with other knowledge providers also who shared
similar knowledge, though some what later.
An important issue, which has emerged in regard to
fulfilling the expectations in the PIC, is the process
through which knowledge networks have to be fostered
among the innovators, and among the innovators and the
mentors, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders. It is being
realized that the Network, which created new benchmarks
in scouting and documenting innovations, may not achieve
the same success in building the value chain. New actors
like scientists, private sector entrepreneurs or companies,
policy makers etc., have to be brought in the Network
for social as well as commercial diffusion. Despite the
possibility that their motivations and expectations may
be different, they have to be persuaded to respect the
norms of PIC to maintain the trust of knowledge
providers. This problem has been tackled so far in three
ways. (a) While dealing with formal institutions belonging
to ICAR or ICMR network, the institutions have been
absolved of any liability on account of mistakes or
conflicts with regard to the obtaining PIC or complying
with the conditions therein. The entire responsibility
lies with NIF and/or the Network
members. This was necessary to avoid
anxiety on the part of the scientists who
obviously have not participated in
obtaining the consent or its
implementation. (b) the Network members
gets PIC only for distinctive technologies
that is the one which are not in public
domain. PIC has a provision that if the
knowledge provided is already in public
domain due to prior research or
publication, then the conditions in the PIC
could not apply. Because in such
conditions, the Network could not have
done anything to prevent third parties
from using public domain knowledge
without sharing any benefits. (c) For all
the cases in which technologies are
transferred to third party entrepreneurs,
with or without value addition on
commercial or non-commercial basis, a
technology transfer agreement or a
licensing agreement is executed involving
the knowledge providers. The idea is that
in the light of new opportunity, knowledge
providers must have a chance to change
conditions they imposed while sharing the
knowledge earlier. In the case of a
technology being available from several
sources in different villages at individual
or community level, the traditional
community leaders or village elders are
being involved in addition to the
Panchayati Raj institutions (decentralised
village councils) for obtaining PIC and
implementing it. There is a considerable
scope to improve the interface with the
communities and we are still learning about
the better ways of achieving accountability
towards knowledge providers. As the
Network starts adding value to traditional
knowledge and sharing the benefits, the
issue of informed consent and its
implementation in consonance with not
just the letter but also the spirit of the
cooperation, becomes pivotal. Future of
the Network and its interface with
knowledge providers will depend upon
the authenticity and transparency with
which the value chain is built and the
material or non material benefits are shared.
One cannot restrict to sharing the benefits
only at the final stage. Even in the
production process, efforts have to be
made for sourcing the materials used for
making products in fair and sustainable
manner. The employment generated in
collecting the material and making the
intermediate products must also be
accounted for while describing the benefits.
The consent may have been obtained only
for knowledge but an effort should be
made to source the raw material also from
the knowledge providing people and
region. There is an implicit consent we
should take from nature itself. All materials
must be harvested in a sustainable manner
so that current and future extraction is
within the carrying capacity of the
ecosystem. This is not easy. We do not
have scientifically developed sustainable
extraction protocols for leaves, branches
and other vegetative materials. This is a
part of learning process. The wisdom of
the local communities will act as the
guiding principle till experimental evidence
can be generated to avoid any harm to the
eco system.
The consent of knowledge providers
conventionally was assumed to follow if
there was silence. In the present context,
such an assumption, though sanctified in
certain local traditions, will not be justified.
The articulation of preferences in a
society, where such choice was never given
to knowledge rich economically poor
people, is an unprecedented experience
for most of the people. Honey Bee
Network is mediating a discourse, which
has received national and international
attention but has not been operationalised
in the context of people’s knowledge as
yet in academic or public or private
institution. We do hope that one day it
will become impossible for any external
agent, private or public, individual or
institutional, national or international to
seek knowledge, innovation and practices
from local people without their consent.
We look forward to hear from the readers
about their experience either as knowledge
provider or as knowledge scout or user in
dealing with PIC. In medical science, this
tradition is much better established,
although we do hear about unauthorized
organ trade or drug trials. But in social
sciences, the government and the academic
councils have not even taken the first
step. The guidelines for research by
University Grants Commission or All India
Council for Technical Education or other
statutory bodies do not deal with the
knowledge rights of the common people
adequately. Democratisation of
knowledge and the right to share it
according to one’s own wish has to become
the basis of an ethical and accountable
knowledge society.
Anil K Gupta
4
A Dialogue on People’s Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation
19 TH
SHODH YATRA
Creativity Unconstrained
Walking Through the Chinars in Kashmir (Part II)
19th Shodh Yatra (June 20-27, 2007) Anantnag District, Jammu & Kashmir
No celebration for fifteen years
T
ime and again, in Sadiwara, Verinag,
Nagam, Batagund, Bragam, Kreri, Lisser
etc., every school where we had a
meeting, interaction with the students revealed one
painful fact. For the last fifteen to twenty years,
no function had taken place. A whole generation
had grown up without knowing what
it meant to celebrate collective joy,
have fun, and display one’s talent. Not
many outsiders seemed to have
visited these schools, even for
ceremonial purposes. This meant a
very rich feast of cultural presentation
by students in every school we went.
The stay at Kreri village from where
most members of the voluntary team
had been mobilized was very eventful.
Three schools had organized a very
rich cultural program for our
welcome in addition to a recipe
competition. The “chutney” of
apricot was a novelty, which most
people had not heard about. It was
also believed to have nutraceutical
properties.
Young learners who just started
walking with us
Spontaneity of the spirit of Shodh
Yatra was captured in a memorable
way by the decision of two young
students who started to walk with us
after interacting with us. Ahmer
Hussain Jan, a student of tenth class
joined us from the first day itself,
when we started the Shodh Yatra
from Quazigund. He had lost his
father, had a younger sister and an
When did you think of a new idea last?
5
elder brother who studied in Srinagar in first year
arts course. He wanted to do an ITI course in
electrical fittings and start a shop of his own. He
had been learning this from his maternal uncle.
The small farm that he shared with his uncle did
in an air tight container), which when
taken with hot water helps clear throat
congestion and is also good for health.
He had brought some other herbs from
which he made a “Churna” (a powder
formed by grinding the dried contents)
for indigestion and another for curing
worms in the stomach. He wanted to
do Ph.D in Botanical sciences and
contribute something useful for the
society. There were two students who
joined us from Kokernag, Syed
Intekhab Firdaus and Saifjan Wani.
They had also helped the scouting team
earlier.
Memories of the neighbours who
might return some day
Aquib Javed
not fetch sufficient income for the family. He gave
an application to the principle for leave and came
with us. When asked if he would not lose out on
studies, he said that he had already learnt what
the teacher was going to teach in that period.
Aquib Javed joined us from Doru. His father
worked as a ranger in the Forest Corporation. He
learnt the herbal preparations from his maternal
grand mother (Nani) who passed away a few
years ago. He used to observe her making various
herbal concoctions and got interested in the same.
He showed us “Gulkand” (a
kind of preparation of rose
petals with sugar after a
few months of
fermentation
While walking to Kokernag, we met
three young people who were curious
to know about our walk. One of them
worked in Police department and the
other two were students. They told us
about the gardens Pundits of the region
had maintained, the ruins of their
houses, temples and the rest. They
recalled how they used to celebrate all
the functions together; join each others’
parties and marriages. They regretted
that the Pundits had migrated and felt
uncertain about their coming back. It
was destiny they felt, which might
decide about the timing of their return.
Earlier when we had passed by
Watishtha Ashram, the young locals
showed us the ruins of the houses of
Pundits. They mentioned how during
the days when they were there, they
would not let any one take bath in the
holy pond. They always wanted to
maintain the sanctity of the stream,
which originated there. Those
norms had weakened in
recent times.
Singing Lantern
Born in a farmers’ family, Ghulam
Mohammed Meer was a naughty
yet studious boy. His interest in
all kinds of mechanical and electronic
devices since his childhood made
him take up an ITI course after
his matric. He wanted to make a
career out of it, but he could never
get a job.
He returned home to take care of
his land but continued experimenting
with all he could do. He claims to
have made a small toy helicopter
many years ago, which flew away
never to return. He also made a
battery charger and modified many
other items of daily use including
the traditional wooden load carrier
by incorporating lights and brakes
in it.
The commonly used lantern
intrigued Meer. He used to think
why it could not be used for some
other purpose as well. A person
walking in the night or working in
the light of the lantern needs some
entertainment. This thought
prompted him to make some
changes in the traditional lantern
and he came out with his ‘Singing
Lantern’.
The innovater has fitted a battery
in kerosene chamber of an existing
lantern. It works for light as well
as radio. The battery can be charged
by solar pannel too.
Locked houses of Kashmiri Pundits in Mattan
6
than 30 years old, the house looked
very new. It was reported to keep
warm in winter and cool in summer.
It was also safe during earthquake.
Later we heard that people felt that
modern architecture involving baked
bricks and concrete walls and floor
was perhaps a reason for people
having frequent back pains.
The mud house of Mohd. Yousuf Khan we saw
on our way to Shangus
The parting of a community, which was woven
together in the mixed (mili-juli sanskriti, tehjeeb)
culture of Kashmir had not brought solace to any
one. It seemed to reverberate in the minds of local
communities almost always with affection and
nostalgia. Those who divided the community
might not realize the scars they have left behind.
But the yatris felt quite optimistic about the
possibility of their coming back.
We moved to Shangus village where we honoured
some of the Traditional Knowledge holders in a
roadside meeting. While
entering
the
village, on
“I want to say
the way,
we saw a
Ram Ram
b
eautiful
to you”
house. The
walls of this
house seemed to be
painted with clay, but had absolutely no mark of
rain or dust. We decided to enter the house and
find out more about the impressive architecture.
What we learnt was quite a revelation. It was a
house of a weaver, made of unbaked clay bricks.
It was plastered with clay mixed with gunny bag
fibre (jute), without any use of concrete. More
While walking towards Deethu –
Reenipora, we saw a row of trees
closely planted. On enquiry, we were
shown an abandoned house of a
Pundit family, for which these trees
acted as a natural curtain and a noiseblock. In Soafsali village, we met a
Mud toys made by Mr Matkoo
called Pandava’s temple made in sixth
or seventh century. It had prayer
rooms for large number of devotees
and stone idols of Ganga, Yamuna and
Saraswati.
Sun temple at Mattan
physically challenged person, Firdoos
Ahmed Matkoo, who had a great gift
of making clay toys and components
resembling the ones made of metal.
The finish was so perfect and the
surface so smooth that it was
difficult to believe that it was a hand
crafted product. In Mattan, we saw
the famous sun temple. A middle aged
Muslim farmer came running on
seeing us. He thought we were the
Pundits who were returning home.
When he came close, he just said, “I
want to say Ram Ram to you”. The
Shodh yatris were deeply struck by
this pure demonstration of love and
respect. The sun temple was also
The yatra officially ended with a
meeting at the Boys' Degree College,
Anantnag. After we introduced
ourselves and explained the purpose
of our yatra, a student asked, when
did you first come to Kashmir? When
we answered that it was 2005, he was
dismayed. Why did we take so long?
Another student commented as to
where were we for last 47 years.
This summed up the situation. Why
had we not engaged with them for so
long?
A thought that has remained with us
since then, unresolved, uneasily but
persistently.
When did you last confess to your children that you did not know the answer to their question?
7
PROFILE
Mehtar Hussain
A Man who Tamed the Wind
This story is part of the research for Be! an ENTREPRENEUR a multi-media project to inspire millions of young people
to choose to become entrepreneurs. Be! is being created by GOING TO SCHOOL, a non-profit trust based in New Delhi
that makes magical media for children. To find out more, please log onto www.goingtoschool.com.(We thank Doel
Trivedi for sharing enlivening experiences of Mehtar Hussain's life). This story has been prepared jointly with NIF.
8
But it wasn’t so easy in the beginning. Mehtar was
teased and laughed at for the contraption he was
building. To avoid all the teasing Mehtar carried the first
prototype into the field in the middle of the night. He
and his family even lied to all the villagers (This is just
our new scarecrow, nothing else!’) fearing more ridicule
from the village if the turbine did not work.
Mushtaq
"A minute of pedaling will be able to generate electricity for
a single household for an hour", so claims Mehtar.
From Assam to Gujarat:
Another feather was added to their cap recently. At the request of GIAN West & NIF, both the brothers installed a windmill
in little Rann of Kutch to pump brine water for making salt. VIKAS & SAVE, an NGO provided the platform for the same. This
windmill is a relief and facility not only for the salt workers but for the wild ass population too, who were earlier disturbed
by the noise of diesel engine. It is an example of low cost, less polluting and easy manageable technology. There are modifications
being made in the windmill by GIAN West team in consultation with SAVE and VIKAS. A detailed note about subsequent adaptive
innovation being tried by user salt workers will be given in the upcoming issue. Mehtar Hussain received consolation award
at fourth National Presidential award function of NIF at Delhi, Feb 2007.
When did you last meet an innovator ?
9
COOL
SKOOL
Ideas Sprout in Young Minds!
It does not matter whether the ideas given here are feasible or not. What matters is that these are ideas, spawned
by young school children who observe problems and want to do something about them, little eyes but big dreams.
Science City Council brings such students every year to IIMA to learn about the Honey Bee Network and get
ideas about creative ways to explore science. Purpose is to kindle curiosity of bright school children of Gujarat
about a career in science.
Air tanks to prevent road accidents
Pranav Singh
Class IX
Maharaja Agrasen
Ahmedabad
Vidyalaya,
Memnagar
Accidents are common
today, especially on the
crowded roads of
metropolises. To escape
this situation, Pranav
suggests that small air
filled tanks be fixed
under the base of car.
The air inside them can
be compressed to such
an extent that a large
volume of gas can be
stored in it. In case of a
collision, the stored gas will be released, and the
Apply breaks without using
your leg
Jay A Patel
Class IX
H B Kapadia New High School,
Ahmedabad-54
Jay thinks
of making
a device in
bikes by
w h i c h
breaks can
be applied
without
putting
down our leg. It would have a
button connected to a spring on
pressing which, the side stand
would come down and the vehicle
would come to a halt. On leaving
the brake, the supporters would
come up and the person can
move further.
glass container, it will exert a huge
amount of pressure on the walls of
the container eventually leading to its
breakage. The mechanical energy
generated in the process can then be
converted into electrical energy. The
car will be heaved upwards due to the force to
save it from the accident.
seeds can later be then given to
farmers and water can be used for
various purposes so that nothing goes
waste.
(In earlier times, gram seeds were
placed in the crevices in the rocks to
break them apart, using the same
principle. Ed)
Road bumps to light houses
There are many bumps or speed
breakers on the roads. We can design
speed breakers that would get pressed
under a vehicle's pressure. The
mechanical energy thus generated
can be converted into electrical
energy and supplied to homes.
( Similar ideas were received by
National Innovation Foundation
nif.org.in, several years ago from many
people. Shri Sham Rao Parhate, in fact
made a prototype using hydraulic
system to amplify the pressure created
by moving vehicles. Why do not we still
have working models of such creative
ideas ? Ask the makers of public roads
and culverts in your region. Ed)
(If it sounds strange then suggest some thing better.
Ed ).
Seeds to generate electricity
Seeds exert a lot of pressure while germinating.
If kept inside a container along with some water
for a few weeks, they can generate force that can
break a thin glass container. If thousands and
thousands of seeds are left to germinate in a large
Contd.. on page 38
10
SATTVIK
Sattvik 2007 - The Fifth Traditional Food Festival
December 1-4, 2007
“If God had intended us to follow recipes,
He wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.”
Linda Henley
Diversity in food cannot be maintained without appreciating and acknowledging the diversity in culture. But how
do we express our cultural preferences and differences? Food is one way. We celebrate these differences every
year through Sattvik Food Festival. Creating market for organic food, fast disappearing grains, recipes and
products from different parts of the country may help us in maintining the cultural, culinary and agricultural
diversity. Most children who visited Sattvik could tell more about the purpose of the Traditional Food Festival,
compared to adults. This is what gives us hope. Ask yourself, what did you consume last week, which connected
you to the roots and the diversity?
the diversity but also associated
knowledge systems.
A new beginning
The Fifth Traditional Food Festival, Sattvik, was
organized by SRISTI at IIMA campus during
December 1-4, 2007 with the support of the
Honey Bee Network, GIAN, NIF and IIMA. The
Director of IIM, Prof Sameer Barua inaugurated
the festival. Shri Ishwar Bhai, Founder Trustee
of Gram Bharati, a Gandhian education institution
at Amrapur and Gujarat Sarvodaya Mandal,
appreciated the rich cultural and crop diversity in
the country. With thousands of varieties of rice
and other crops, it offered a vast range of choices
to people. He commended the effort of organizing
Sattvik, which might help in conserving not just
since most families in the salt
manufacturing region required their
children to monitor the water levels
Shri Sukhdevbhai of Ganatar took
special effort to educate the visitors
through his volunteers about the
initiatives for making children more
responsible, socially conscious and
more inclusive in their outlook.
Ganatar has provided immense
support to the Honey Bee Network
in scouting innovative practices from
Gujarat. Sukhdevbhai's student
Vishnu Bachubhai Dumania is one
such example. Vishnu could not study
When did you consume organic food last?
11
in the water pumping tanks. Vishnu had received
an award from Dr R A Mashelkar, Chairperson,
National Innovation Foundation for his innovative
water level indication system at the 4th biennial
awards at NIF. We hope similar organizations
will help disseminate this message of the Honey
Bee Network so that we can reach out to many
more Vishnus. Ganatar organised street plays and
dances to convey the deeper messages about the
relevant school education during the festival.
Tongue Tied, Recipe Ride!
On the afternoon of 30 th November, 2007 a
contest of lesser known traditional recipes was
held at the IIM campus. Thirty five participants
shared more than 110 recipes. Some of the
uncommon recipes were healthy noodles made
of “Ragi”, sherbet made of “Bili” fruit, Apple
Wood (Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa), nectar of
lemon-guava (Citrus limon L. and Psidium
guajava L.), Shoe-flower (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
L.) juice, “Shankhpushpi” (Evolvulus alsinoides
(Chenopodium album L.) & “Dudhi”
(Leptadenia reticulata Wt. & Arn.)
muthiya, “Bili” (Aegle marmelos (L.)
Correa)juice,“Shankhpushpi”
(Evolvulus alsinoides L.) juice. Ms
Meenaben S. Trivedi received the 2nd
prize for her recipes, "Dodi" muthiya,
juice of ginger (Zingiber officinale
Rosc.), lemon (Citrus limon L.),
“Amla” (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.),
“Pudina” (Mentha arvenses L.), and
“Tulsi” (Ocimum sanctum L.),
chutney of “Amli-khajur” and gur
(jaggery) (Tamarindus indica L. and
Phoenix dactylifera L.) (that can be
stored for one year). Mrs. Ekta
Parekh received the 3rd prize for
stuffed Pancake with “Kang”, Foxtail
millet (Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.) dip
(a low calorie dish). In addition, ten
contestants received consolation
prizes.
Potpourri in Hot Pots!
L.) juice, sweet kachori, stuffed pancake with
"Kang", Foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.)
dip, "Dodi" (Leptadenia reticulata Wt. & Arn.)
mathiya, Jowar (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.)apple pudding, sweet “Shingoda”, Water Chesnut
(Trapa natans L.) and many more.
Prof (Smt) Ambarben Trivedi (Former Head of
the Department, Food and Nutrition, B.D. Home
Science College, Ahmedabad), Prof (Smt)
Rekhaben Mehta (Head Department of Food &
Nutrition) and Dr. Dharmishtha Gandhi (Asst.
Professor, Dental College, Vadodara) evaluated the
recipes.
Ms. Ranjanben Shah received the 1st prize for
her five recipes, healthy noodles, “Jowar”,
(Sorghum bicolor (L.)Moench)raab,“Chil”
Though the participation from Gujarat
was understandably large, people
from far off places like Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Uttar
Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil
Nadu and Kerala had also put up their
stalls. The festival truly maintained
its diversity by offering not just
readymade organic products and
dishes made of them, but also
seedlings of “Ajma pan”,
(Trachyspermum ammi L.), “Brahmi”
(Centella asiatica (L.) urban),
“Mamejavo” (Enicostemma littorale
Bl.), “Dodi” (Leptadenia reticulata
Wt. & Arn.), “Kuvarpathhu” (Aloe
vera L.), “Limbdo” (Azadirachta
indica Nees).
original taste”. According to him their
uniqueness lies in maintaining the age
old process of making the dishes.
People from Chamba and Kangra,
Himachal Pradesh had also put up
their stall (mobilized by two NGOs,
Era and Sewa Himalaya). Dr Arun
Chandan explained that the “Rajma”,
Kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
and “Urd”, Black gram, (Vigna
mungo L.) they had brought along
was grown by the tribals and other
farmers in the middle, upper-middle
and alpine zones. The “Urd”, (Black
gram) according to him not only
takes less time to cook, but is also
incomparable in taste. They had also
brought jams, chutney and sherbet
made of Rhododendron, which they
claimed were highly recommended
for cardiac patients. Rhododendrons
are notable for their flowers lasting
only for fifteen days after which they
wither away. It is indeed a challenging
task for farmers to gather these
flowers within this time period and
process them. Anoopbhai, a farmer
mobilised local women in the area for
picking these flowers and its sherbet
Organic food from Daanta Ramgarh,
Shekhawati and Jodhpur, Rajasthan
mobilized by the HBN innovator Mr
Sundaram Verma was available. “Dal
Baati” “Dahi Bade”, “Baajre ki
Rabri”, choorma made of wheat flour
(helps fight against cold) and onion
kachori were quite popular among the
visitors. One of the stall owners added
that “the urban ways of making Baati
using an oven makes it lose the
12
can opt for a group certification and
practice organic farming.
Sahya, a womens’ association from
Idduki District, Kerala mobilized by
the Peermade Development Society
with active support from NIF also
participated for the first time in the
festival. On display were food
supplements made of jackfruit, and
pickles made of grapes, pineapple and
dates. All the products had their base
in the Traditional Knowledge of
women. Commercialization of their
innovative products has led to the
women earning additional monthly
income of 1000-1500 rupees.
besides plum jam and apple chutney. Despite the
fact that the production was low and the prices
high, most of the products were sold on the first
day itself. Chukh, a variety of pickle made with
citrus juice, chillies, garlic and sugar used as a
natural preservative was another unique item from
Chamba. A special feature of this stall was the
"Makki ka Atta" (Maize floor) they had brought.
A local non-hybrid variety of Maize was ground
by water mill. They had also aimed at a set of
new dishes everyday with eleven recipes to offer.
Notable amongst these was Bichoo booti (Urtica
dioca L.) ka saag, which is good for arthritis and
neurological disorders. They were also very keen
on holding the festival at local level with support
of the HBN.
Sardar Patel farm participates in the festival every
year. They came up with powedered "Chiku",
Sapota ( Achras sapota L.), Amla ( Emblica
officinalis Gaertn.) and lemon that can be used
as instant add-ins for milk shakes and ice creams.
They also offered ice-creams made from these
powders, which attracted a huge crowd. Dr
Dinesh Patel, a cardiologist took a break from his
clinic only to be at the festival. The
switch from being a doctor to a
farmer came easy to him. He said,
“I had created a fence around me
that separated me from nature. I
thought I could not wake up at
seven in the morning to dig soil.
When I put my foot out, I saw
unlimited opportunities”. He touched
upon the importance of certification
in the acceptance of organic
products among the public. “When
we started, I thought if I am
practicing organic farming, I will
need no certification from people for
I know my products are authentic.
But now I have realized that I may
believe in my products, but it is
important for people to see a third
party confirming these products as
genuine” said Dr Patel whose farm
has now obtained certification from
India Organic, and other agencies.
He added that though certification
is a costly affair, small scale farmers
Health drinks like "Sehjan" (Moringa
oleifera Lam.) Soup (helpful in
arthritis) and sherbets made of Cactus
fruit (Opuntia dillenii (Ker-Gawl.)
Haw.), "Tulsi" (Ocimum sanctum
Linn.) and Amla (Emblica officinalis
Gaertn.) were also available apart
from organic herbal tea, barley water,
imported coffee from Philippines
and the traditional "Kahewa", the
Kashmiri tea. The syrup of cactus
fruit was a run away success.
Khedut Haat had farmers from
various regions selling seeds of
cereals, herbs, oils, vegetables,
millets, papad, jaggery and some
herbal medicines.
Women from various districts in
Gujarat, mobilized by Sewa Gram
Mahila Haat also displayed their
products at the Khedut Haat.
Interesting products at their stall were
the Ginger-Amla sherbet from
Deopura village, Anand. All of this was
sold on first day.
Mitticool, Maruti Jhoola and more...
An exhibition of innovations from
different parts of the country was
organized by NIF and GIAN on the
occasion. We had a gas operated
iron from Andhra Pradesh, side stand
gear lock from Kerala, manual milking
machine from Karnataka, Maruti Jhoola,
earthen kitchen product range from
Will you stand by the IPRs of peasants ?
13
….And the little ones
Asjadbhai demonstrating the
functioning of his innovative tricycle
Gujarat among many other things. Earthen product
range like tawas, pots, mugs, fridge (Mitticool)
were displayed by Shri Mansukhbhai Prajapati,
an innovator from Wakaner, Gujarat. Traditionally
made and uniquely designed leather chappals by
Bhaiyaram from Chattisgarh, small toys made
from wires, cards and other stationary items
made from flower pulp were other attractions.
Battery operated tricycle for handicapped
people made by Shri Asjadbhai from Kayalpur,
Banaskantha, Gujarat also received some rave
reviews. It was an outstanding example of how
a son who really cared, designed a tricylcle to
suit various needs of his aged father.
New Products at Display
Clay cooker by Shri Mansukhbhai Prajapati was
launched on the first day along with the mobile
water carrier and dispenser, ‘Ganges Water Wagon”,
from the makers of Natural Water Cooler ‘Unicool’,
M/s Rachna Industries and Shri Arvindbhai Patel,
innovator. NIF-SRISTI also displayed their Shashvat
range of neutraceutical products that included cactus
fruit drink in two flavors, “Moringa” (Moringa
olifera Lam.) based health tonic, “Ragi” (Eleusine
coracana (L.) Gaertn.) and Barley (Hordeum vulgare
L.) enriched food supplements in three flavors,
seven grain biscuits, biscuits to be had during fasting,
“Kodri”, Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.)
biscuits and herbal tea.
Face painting, hand painting
and T-shirt painting were
some of the activities
organized for the children.
Many beautiful and inspiring
songs were sung by ten
girls of Gram Vidyapith,
Amrapur all belonging to
different districts in
Gujarat. A small girl guided her grandfather to the kids area and simply
refused to leave. She was not the only one. Sanskriti, a student of
class VII decided to skip her tuition classes for the festival.
Though waste-bins were placed at regular intervals, their use by small
kids was impressive. We observed a group with a small child near
a food counter. After they had consumed the eatables, the group stood
there for long chatting. A kid who was looking at them for quite
some time took the waste plates from their hand, and despite not
being tall enough to reach the waste bin, lifted himself up and threw
the waste in.
A remarkable feature of
the Fifth Traditional Food
Festival had been a clear
understanding in children
of not only the objectives
of the food festival but
also the implication of
going organic. On being
asked the purpose of the
festival
they
said
unanimously, “it is
organized to bring forth
the traditional food varieties
from different states of India and to promote organic food.” Katha,
of class VII went on to say “we have been adopting food from
different countries. This is an attempt to realize the cultural and culinary
diversity within our own country”.
The Aggrawal family
had visited the festival
for the first time. They
said “our grand
daughter Eli got us
here.She had visited
the festival twice with
her Aunt. A year had
passed but she knew
the way to the festival
and
guided
the
rikshaw driver.”
Once eaten, twice try!
A critical component of the food festival was to
gather feedback from the visitor to constantly improve
the festival. Shri Arun Kumar Agrawal, who had
been to all the earlier festivals, cancelled his trip
to Agra for this food festival. His wife who always
buys organic food for home supported the cause
14
digital display of the food items near
the stalls so that the crowd at the stalls
could be managed more effectively.
of organic farming saying “ye do inch ki jeebh
hoti hai na, yehi faisla karti hai ki andar kya jayega.
Hum sirf swad ke liye khate hain aur galat khana
khake jab bimar hote hain to wohi jeebh kadwi
dawai to jhel jati hai, lekin agar kaho ki neem ka
ras sehat ke liye accha hai to nahi maanti.”
(This tongue no matter how small, decides what
goes in the stomach. We have a habit of eating for
taste. On falling sick after eating improperly the
Rameshbhai and Smt Tarulataben
bought “Singdana”, Groundnut (Arachis
hypogea L.), ‘Nibda” ka gado,”Nagli”
ka aata (Eleusine coracana (L.)
Gaertn.), and “Til” (Sesamum indicum
L.) from the Khedut Haat. Despite
realizing that the price of organic
products was quite high as compared
to the chemical input based products
available in the market, an understanding
of the authenticity of the products was
enough for them to buy so much. They
however felt that the Khedut Haat must
be provided a bigger space and should
be highlighted more.
The aura at the festival was suffused
with mirth, laughter, noise, music,
and voices of the multitudes. Some
who rejoiced the dishes wanted to
change their life styles but for many,
it was just a happy diversion from
every day routine. Children seemed
more interested in persuading their
parents to shift their current
consumption style. Lack of a regular
authenticity can be assured, many
consumers will remain unconvinced.
The Network is pursuing this idea with
its members and hopefully such a
system of inspection will emerge in
due course. Unless we create markets
of some of the fast disappearing
crops and their varieties, their
conservation will indeed become
very difficult. Urban consumers have
to join hands with rural producers and
the Sattvik will continue to provide a
outlet of authentic organic choices
was regretted by everybody. Unless
farmers movement comes forward
to develop a rigorous repeated and
random inspection system so that
platform for dialogue to take place.
Dialogue on diversity has to sustain
the confluence of creativity in
cultural, culinary and consumption
choices of consumers.
same tongue that refuses to understand that Neem
is good for health, takes in doses of bitter medicine)
Amanda from England liked the fact that she could
get organic products in India. She said, “In England,
I only use organic products, but in the last four
months that I have been in India, it has been difficult
for me to find non chemical input based products.
Its encouraging seeing there is a market for organic
products here”. She also suggested some of the
banners be in English also so that people from
other countries can enjoy the fare without having
to deal with the language barrier. She expressed
an interest in visiting the fair next year with a
hope of seeing clothes made of organic fabrics.
Shri M S Sudarshanan and Shri Ajay K Nair from
IIMA said they would like to see more participation
from the Southern states. They also suggested a
15
NATIONAL INNOVATION FOUNDATION, INDIA
The Sixth National Biennial Competition for Scouting Green Grassroots
Unaided Technological Innovations and Traditional Knowledge
Co-sponsors
Honey Bee Network
The Department of Science and Technology
established National Innovation Foundation (NIF)
India on February 2000, with the main goal of
providing institutional support in scouting, spawning,
sustaining and scaling up grassroots green
innovations and helping their transition to selfsupporting activities. The Governing Council of NIF
has several distinguished members and is chaired
by Dr R A Mashelkar, former Director General, CSIR
and President, Global Research Alliance.
National Innovation Foundation, constituted by the
Department of Science and Technology, Government
of India, aims to recognise, respect and reward
grassroots technological innovators and outstanding
traditional knowledge experts.
prizes of Rs 50,000, 25,000 and 15,000 in addition to
consolation prizes of Rs 5,000 each. There are special
prizes for innovations by or dealing with, physically
challenged people.
Students
Young inventors and innovators are invited to send their
ideas or innovations for a special category of awards
for them. These should be unsupervised, an outcome
of their own creativity, without any support from their
teachers or outsiders. There will be prizes worth Rs
15,000, 10,000 and Rs 7,500 for the best three entries
and several consolation prizes of Rs 5,000 each in this
category.
How to participate
CSIR
SRISTI
IIM-A
The competition
The NIF solicits entries of unaided technological
innovations and traditional knowledge developed by
an individual or group comprising farmers, artisans,
fishermen and women, slum dwellers, workshop
mechanics, students, local communities etc., in
managing natural and/or other resources. The
innovations can be in machines, gadgets,
implements, or processes for farm operations,
household utility, transportation for improved efficiency,
energy conservation or generation, and reduction in
drudgery, creative use of biodiversity, plant varieties,
generation of herbal remedies for human or animal
health or developing new or any other low cost
sustainable green technology related to various
aspects of survival in urban and rural areas. Creative
ideas for innovative technologies are also welcome.
Communities developing People’s Biodiversity
Register (PBR) or People’s Knowledge Register
(PKR) are encouraged to register/link their knowledge
base with the National Register at the NIF.
The awards
The best three innovations and traditional knowledge
practices will be awarded Rs 1,00,000, Rs 50,000
and Rs 25,000 each in different categories. In
addition, individuals and/or organizations that make
extraordinary contributions in scouting grassroots
innovations and traditional knowledge may also get
awards worth Rs 50,000, 25, 000 and 15, 000
respectively besides recognition to many others.
There will be several consolation prizes of Rs 10,000
each in different categories depending upon the
number of entries and incremental inventiveness and
potential social and environmental impact. Three
most outstanding innovative ideas may be given
Individuals or groups may send as many entries as
they wish on plain paper providing a) genesis of the
innovation and traditional knowledge b) its background
and c) educational qualification and occupation,
accompanied by photographs and/or videos if possible
and any other information that may help in replicating
the innovations/traditional knowledge. Herbal entries
may be accompanied by dried plant samples to enable
proper identification procedure. The Sixth National
Competition started on February 1, 2007 and entries
would be accepted till December 31, 2008. Every entry
should include the full postal address, as this facilitates
further communication. Please send the entries to:
Where to send entries?
National Coordinator (Scouting & Documentation)
National Innovation Foundation, Bungalow No. 1
Satellite Complex, Premchand Nagar Road,
Ahmedabad 380015 Gujarat
Toll Free No 1800 233 5555
Fax: (079) - 2673 1903
email: [email protected] www.nifindia.org
Our Regional Collaborators: Various organizations and
individuals across the country assist us in recognizing
grassroots innovators and traditional knowledge holders.
Our regional collaborators are P Vivekanandan from
SEVA, Tamil Nadu, T N Prakash from PRITVI, Karnataka,
Balaram Sahu from Innovations Club, Orissa, Father
Hubby Matthew and T J James from PDS, Kerala,
Ranjan Mahapatra from SRISHTI, Orissa, Arun Chandan
from Makhir, Himachal Pradesh, Sundaram Verma from
Rajasthan, Anita Mahajan from Maharashtra, Kamal
Jeet from New Delhi, Sonia from Uttarakhand, Rajeev
Ranjan from Social Upliftment Trust, Jharkhand and
Brajkishore Kumar from Dr Ambedkar Sansthan, Bihar.
16
COLLABORATORS
MEET
The Honey Bee Collaborators Interact
The relationship among institutions, network and individuals (Innovators, volunteers and others) has always been a
delicate one. Institutions try to standardize, network try to differentiate and individuals in social movements try to deviate,
express dissent and diversify. The informal interaction among various Honey Bee Network collaborators during Traditional
Food Festival on December 3, 2007 generated lot of insights about the way forward. The dialogue will continue during
SRISTI Samman (Awards) function and Foundation Day celebration of NIF during February 28-29, 2008.
Reinventing markets for sustainable
production and consumption
T
here is a need to create an entrepreneurial
revolution at the grassroots level by
turning the supply chain upside down.
The challenge, however, still lies in providing an
e-commerce platform, linking the courier and
packaging industries to cater to the consumer
requirements. Idea being that a distant consumer
could order a traditional processed food or some
other such product made by women and men in
various parts of the country. At the same time,
there is a need to customize the goods as per the
consumers’ needs. Rather than just focusing on
vertical markets, an attempt must be made to
provide horizontal/circular market so that goods
from one village can reach another. There is a
need to provide a “signature of source”, so that a
consumer in one country is able to establish the
source of the commodity in another.
Shri Sundaram observed, “even today when a local
vegetable seller with her small basket sits next to
a big vegetable shop, many
consumers prefer to buy locally
grown fresh farm vegetables from
her. Thus, we have to empower small
growers and vendors".
Recollecting the past while moving
forward
Shri Vivekanandan recalled how his
journey with the Honey Bee Network
began seventeen years ago in 1991
when he met Prof Gupta. Within a
few months, he started volunteering
for the Network. He worked with the
insurance sector and a Nationalized
bank but was not satisfied with his
job. He along with Shri Muthu
Velayutham started organizing
biodiversity competitions with school
children in 1991-92 in Tamil Nadu.
He initiated the Tamil version of
Honey Bee during 1992 and has been
publishing it ever since. The Tamil
version of Honey Bee soon paved
way for its publication in other
regional languages with the help of
local collaborators.
Shri Vivekanandan said “despite a
masters’ degree in agricultural
sciences, I had not gathered as much
information on the subject as I did
from field experiences.” Now many
Goshalas are inviting him to share his
experience and also train people on
indigenous herbal healing practices.
He also informed that the ethnoveterinary practices scouted from
Tamil Nadu have been compiled in
the form of a book in Tamil and also
to an extent in Gujarati. Since many
people are interested, a Hindi version
of the same can be worked out by
the team members.
He added that on the one hand,
National level programmes like the
food festival, Shodh Yatras and the
17
award functions are important, efforts at an
individual/local level also need to be strengthened
to provide support to the Network. The language
barrier that often retards growth at this front
needs to be dissolved. Shri Vivekanandan, who
has been continuing as a Honey Bee Network
coordinator for the last five years has opted to
pass on the responsibility to other members.
Father Mathew recalled the important events since
the last Honey Bee meeting. In November 2007,
Regional Research Advisory Committee (RAC)
meeting on mechanical innovations was held at
Idduki where twenty eight innovations were
discussed and expert opinion was sought on
them. Missing details for all the innovations is
being searched. Similarly for agricultural
innovations, an RAC meeting was held in
December,2007.
In May 2007, a training programme on Scouting
and Documentation was held for the science club
coordinators, teachers and students in Kerala. A
competition was also organized among children.
In August 2007, four products, developed using
indigenous knowledge of women, were launched
including two nutrient supplements, an oil and a
fumigant. Twelve other products are currently
under-trial. As a result of these products, four
women earn a regular income of upto Rs 20002500 per month each. Valsamma Thomas, a herbal
healer, earned so much profit from the Rs 25,000
given by NIF to make and market her hair oil that
she bought a car in November. Shri Sundaram
Verma appreciated the efforts of PDS in providing
a stable source of income to women and
hoped that more such attempts would be made
in future. Father Mathew inquired if NIF could
appoint a marketing person to oversee the
marketing of the products developed by SHGs
and help in the development of the supply chain.
sharing model that till now has a place
for the innovator, his community, nature,
and women apart from other
stakeholders can now incorporate a
share for the scout also. They indeed
play a very important role in the chain.
Overcoming challenges and realizing
opportunities
The Network in Kashmir has
progressed considerably with the help
of Mushtaq, Zahoor, Nadeem and
Sabzar apart from other well wishers.
They had also extended immense help
in organizing the 19th Shodh Yatra.
Subsequently, the local team has
organized several workshops and tried
to spread the Network in the region.
Another success of the Network has
been in permeating the realms of the
academic world. While the Honey Bee
Network model continues to be taught
in the universities abroad, we need
to make similar efforts to promote it
at the National and regional levels.
Grassroots to global
Activities of the Network on
international front were discussed.
Important amongst these have been
the online and offline incubation
platform being built for India, Brazil
and China for sharing grassroots
innovations
and
promoting
entrepreneurship. In China, more
than 500 grassroots innovations have
been scouted in a period of one year.
An international conference was
organized last year at Tianjin, China
and worldwide support was
harnessed in support of the Honey
Bee Network. Similarly, the APCTT
workshops have been organized in
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia,
India, Indonesia etc., to build capacity
in these countries in scouting and
documentation The participation of
the local innovators at global forums
continues to increase. Shri Sundaram
represented SRISTI and the Network
along with Prof Gupta at the inaugural
function of the second session of the
Governing Body of the International
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR GB2), 29th October 2007 at Rome. The
21 st Shodh Yatra likely to be
organized in UK in August, 2008 in
collaboration with Professor Katalin
of Cambridge University and other
volunteers in UK including Mark
Shri Yusuf Khan of Rajasthan explained how his
ground nut digger was used by Dr Rammana (an
entrepreneur) to develop a device to clean the
coastal areas from debris in Vishakhapatanam.
The modified sea beach cleaner is still under
development. He has received Rs 1, 55,000 as
down payment up front and would receive a royalty
(4 percent) for the same in future. He has decided
to give ten percent share of it to GIAN-N and
around five percent to his scout, Shri Sundaram
Verma. Shri Sundaram requested the fellow Network
members to discuss the issue openly and advise.
It needs to be seen how and whether the benefit
18
different people in various different
parts of the country in different
languages is an innovation in itself.
Traversing new paths more often than
not happens through a leader, and the
leader in the process gets more
attention than the movement itself.
Through self-critical assessment, he
hoped that the movement will find new
directions.
The relationship between the various
organizations like the NIF, SRISTI,
and GIAN needs to be assessed
carefully. All these organizations
emerge from a movement and in our
attempt to deeply embed the message
of the movement with the help of
creating organizations, we must
ensure that the organizations
synergize with the aspirations of the
movement.
Davis and Ruth Thomson of Kodak. Next summer
Shodh Yatra may be in Eastern UP and Bihar or
in Andhra Pradesh.
The Honey Bee Network in the past few years
through its editorials in Honey Bee newsletter has
made a genuine attempt to critique the existing
public policy, as a duty of a responsible Network
serving the interest of creative communities and
individuals at grassroots. The idea is to enable the
common people to also stand up against any unjust
practice.
It was mentioned that all the versions of Honey
Bee taken together have not directly reached more
than 20, 000 people, a figure that needs to be
improved in the coming year. While the Network
has managed to document a considerable amount
of knowledge, a major challenge still lies in
disseminating it uniformly across the nation and
also abroad.
the products and market them or
license them to other partners sharing
benefits with the knowledge
providers. Rs 10 lac worth of
products have already been sold in
Maharashtra and Gujarat and trials are
on in Delhi, Uttaranchal and Lucknow
(UP). Matrix Biosciences, Hyderabad
has also come forward and helped
SRISTI conduct field trials in India,
Canada and Holland. They have also
started an innovation series beginning
with products based on thirteen
innovations. Every bottle of the
product reads the product name, the
company’s name, a sketch of the
innovator, and a message inviting any
feedback or new idea to NIF's toll
free number. It is an important
development where the consumer
himself becomes the knowledge
provider.
Marketing innovations
Organization as a collective entity
The activities of the SRISTI laboratory were also
discussed. Sadbhav foundation, a trust had
provided SRISTI a sum of Rs 60 lac five years
ago to analyze local technologies, add value to
Dr Sudarshan Iyengar, Vice Chancellor,
Gujarat Vidyapeeth, and a very old
Network member, felt that reaching
Brig Ganesham, Coordinator from
Andhra Pradesh could not attend the
meeting but conveyed his
observations and suggestions. He
suggested the need for higher visibility
for grassroots innovations around the
country. Moreover, he said that the
Network should try to tie up with
the employment guarantee program
of Indian Government so as to
encourage adoption of the rural
innovations by unemployed people
e.g. sanitary napkins making machine.
He has further suggested that
monthly feedback on innovations
should be collected and circulated,
and this be transmitted to other Honey
Bee publishers of various editions and
also the respective contributions in
local language. The collaborators
should be briefed about National and
International events soonest for their
effective involvement.
There were many other suggestions
to make the Network effective and
more vibrant. The new coordinator
must be able to spend enough time in
visiting each region and galvanize the
Network so that connection among
creative people and the Network grows
stronger day by day.
19
NUTCRACKERS
Towards Creative, Compassionate and Collaborative India
Ideas from senior students
As a part of a first year course on Indian Social and Political Environment at IIMA, every student is encouraged to come
up with a new idea (feasible/utopian), product, service or improvement in an existing product or service. Some of the
selected ideas are mentioned here. First seven ideas are from IIM students and last three are from the students of BK
school of Management, Ahmedabad collected during a lecture there. We are sure that every institution of higher
learning in the country has young people who care about the society at large and wish to contribute in solving
problems. Watch out for who will be the next on this page.
Electronic Complaint Board
Vaibhav Verma
An online message board, where people can
anonymously put their complaints for any act of
corruption. The message would be public and can
be read by
everyone. The
fear of getting
the
name
displayed on the
message board
will prevent
people from
indulging in
corruption.
(Care can be taken to avoid
frivolous complaints, through
some user managed scrutiny
system. Ed)
food can be collected from municipal
corporations (in return for cleaning
the city). Mass messages can be
communicated at such buffets
(regarding cleanliness, health
awareness).
(Such efforts have been made worldwide,
so long as dignity is maintained, such
efforts may have relevance; question
off course must be asked as to why high
growth economy of India cannot feed
all its people. Ed)
Let’s walk, my friend…
Vibha Singhal
A buddy system can be encouraged
where young people volunteer to take
their neighborhood elderly people for
a walk. Each volunteer can take the
responsibility of one elderly person.
This will prove to be a mutually
beneficial deal where the elderly can
enjoy the company of the young, can
know more about them, their lifestyle
and their thoughts. The volunteers on
the other hand avail of the vast pool
of experience and knowledge of the
elderly.
Midnight buffet for the poor
(Write to us when you take such a step,
Nayan Karnavat
particularly for a stranger, but any one
would do. Ed)
be directly given to the adopted
person. However, when the system
is in use, he will be connected to a
Below Poverty Line (BPL) person and
this BPL person gets a share of his
income. Of course, the Government.
will need to part with certain funds,
but whatever funds it parts with will
ensure a better livelihood for a BPL
person.
If the person pays very high tax, he
should have the freedom to choose
and be connected with multiple BPL
person. Thus, the Government can
divide taxpayers in various categories
with each category assigned a set
number of BPL people. For instance,
everyone in category A has to adopt
one BPL person, in category B two
BPL person and so on. These
categories A, B, C, D are in order of
increasing tax payments. The
taxpayer may be allowed to set a
restriction on usage of funds, e.g. for
education of children, food and
livelihood, medical, savings for
future use etc.
(Hope the Finan ce Minister is
listening! Ed)
Mobile schools and reverse grading
Akanksha Thakore
Creating a system (especially in
municipal schools in remote villages)
The idea is to collect unserved food from Adopt BPL People and save tax
whereby students grade teachers and
restaurants across city (at a discounted price)
a part of the latters’ pay is associated
every night. Poor people from the neighbouring Abhishek Verma
with this. This will ensure quality,
communities should be mobilized to clean
localities-footpaths, bus stops, railway stations Every tax payer should adopt a person attendance of teachers, and solving
etc., for 10-15 minutes every night and then be below poverty line and a part of the the problem of schools with truant
served food in return. The money required for tax he pays to the government should teachers.
20
Also she thinks of a mobile school that will not be
constrained by any walls. The world would be its
classroom, its playground, its laboratory. A mobile
school will take the students for a live, hands-on
experience. The idea is to draw out learning from
within the students, and show them the world
through new eyes.
blackboard can be cleanly erased by
using the suction force of a vacuum
cleaner connecting a blackboard
eraser to the vacuum cleaner.
Escalators for baggage
Janki P Datta
Application forms in newspapers
Ankur Chandgothia
Every year, a lot of competitive exams in various
faculties of studies like engineering, medical, law
etc. are conducted at regional as well as National
level. The application forms for these exams
should be printed in the newspapers and the people
should be allowed to cut out the form and send it
through post. This will reduce the transaction
costs both for the people conducting the tests as
well as for those appearing in them. It will also
make the information related to exams reach out
to a lot more people.
Improved medical dispensing system
Abhishek Biswas
It has been seen at times that the right medicine is
not provided to the patients, especially to those
from the lower economic strata in Government
hospitals. At times, the wrong medicine is
provided, at other times, incomplete medication
is given. The reason for this is the time constraints
coupled with lack of clarity about proper
medication.
the state transport to perform
efficiently. Tushar thinks that the
cost of such an application may be
high but looking at its scale of
application, it is much desirable and
efficient.
A system and method for notification
of arrival of bus or other vehicle
already exists (US2005258980, 200511-24). Each bus is equipped with a
transmitter, typically radio-frequency
(RF) that broadcasts as the bus
travels. As the bus and transmitter
come within range of corresponding
receivers, the receivers will detect the
transmitter and will indicate that the
bus is approaching.
Automatic blackboard cleaner
Vishal Paremoo
In the classrooms, each time a lecture
ends, the front row students are left
There should be a process where the dosage and
the required medicines are fed into a computer
rather than preparing it before the required time.
A proper mix of pills can then be filled into
individual bottles and kept in a patients’ room with
his name, bed number and room number
beforehand.
RFID in buses
Tushar Patel
Tushar suggests the use of Radio Frequency
Identification Device (RFID) in public transport.
One can put RFID tags in all state transport buses
and their terminals on major bus stands. This will
provide information about the exact position of a
bus. At the same time, this empowerment of the
passenger will lead to a competitive pressure on
As a solution to the problem of coolies
having to carry heavy loads on their
heads at the railway stations, Janki
suggests that we can have some free
space at both ends of the railing of
the stairs. A manual circular machine/
device (as seen in escalators) with
many trolleys attached to it can be
used. We can load our bags in the
trolley for either transporting them to
the top or bringing them down.
A transporter conveyor system,
integrated with an escalator, for the
transportation of pieces of baggage
from one conveying plane to a different
conveying plane (US4179020, 197912-18) exists. Parallel to the escalator
for the transportation of people there
is arranged an endless baggage
conveyor belt which is provided with
balustrades, which conveyor belt is
driven synchronously with the
escalator.
Why waste body heat?
in a cloud of dust resulting from cleaning
the board. Vishal thinks of an automatic
blackboard cleaner, which would clean
the board after every lecture and also
save the people sitting in the front
row from the chalk dust.
Reshma Modan
Reshma thinks of a hair massager
which will work on energy generated
by body movements doing household
work.
Literature points to the existence of a
blackboard eraser using vacuum
cleaner (JP2006341580, 2006-1221). The powder of the chalk is
prevented from flying and a
When did you last meet an innovator?
21
AFRICA
CALLING
Puzzles In Paddy
Possibilities From Africa
Africa Rice Center (WARDA), Benin has been involved in exploring the potential of farmers’ innovations in solving the
problems of paddy cultivators. They have collected many different innovations and traditional knowledge applicable
to crops and also livestock . In this part of the article contributed by Dr. Paul Van Mele, Technology Transfer Agronomist
([email protected]), we learn about many creative ideas of African farmers, some of which might appear quite
familiar to the readers. Africa Rice Center (WARDA) is an autonomous intergovernmental research association of
African member states. It is also one of the 15 international agricultural research Centers supported by the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). It was constituted as the West Africa Rice Development
Association (WARDA) —a name that it carried until 2003 when it was designated as the Africa Rice Center. It is good
that CGIAR institutions are at last waking up to realizing the potential of farmers’ innovations., However, not many
seems to have been subjected to serious institutional research and that is an area where much more action will be
expected in future. It is also hoped that CG institutions will take up practices form Honey Bee Network database for
dissemination among the African farmers. More than two decades ago, Paul Richards had also argued for this cause.
Control of iron toxicity using lime + dry oil
palm tree flower
Musa Jawneh, Gambia, May, 2005
Iron toxicity has been a major problem for rice
farmers in the lowlands especially in the mangrove
and associated mangrove areas. Farmers have used
many coping strategies since ideal solutions are
seldom found.
www.paraquat.com
Musa Jawneh, president of the National Farmer’s
Platform, said he and a couple of farmers tried
Lime + dried flower of oil palm tree + rice husks.
About 7.5 kg of dry flower of oil palm tree is
ground and mixed with 7.5 kg of rice husk and
10 kg of lime. These were thoroughly mixed,
applied and incorporated into the soil before
planting. The plot size measured 10m x 10m. The
combination worked very well as traces of iron
toxicity were minimal and farmers' yields were
increased. In the following year the combination
was replicated and farmers in the particular
lowland observed the performance of the
innovation and were very motivated. Now many
farmers are using the innovation.
A field experiment has revealed that
liming decreased the concentration of
Fe, Al, and Mn in forage. (Effects of
long-term N fertilizer-induced
acidification
and
liming
on
micronutrients in soil and in
bromegrass hay; S. S. Malhi, M.
Nyborg and J. T. Harapiak; Soil and
Tillage Research; Volume 48, Issues
1-2, 1 September 1998, Pages 91-101).
A traditional method for removal of
iron from ground water by using rice
husk ash, and ashes of various other
substances has been systematically
investigated. Ash was found to lead to
enhanced precipitation of iron at high
pH, and the method has been found
suitable. (Removal of iron from
groundwater by ash: A systematic
study of a traditional method; B. Das,
P. Hazarika, G. Saikia, H. Kalita, D.C.
Goswami, H.B. Das, S.N. Dube and R.K.
Dutta; Journal of Hazardous
Materials; Volume 141, Issue 3, 22
March 2007, Pages 834-841)
Control of salinity using lime +
millet husk + dried mango
leaves
Njuma Ceesay, Njonji Drammeh
Gambia, Sally Sanyang
14 March 2006
Salinity according to farmers is a
limiting factor in rice production. For
many years, farmers have been
struggling with the problem and no
solutions were found. Many efforts
such as fertilizer applications proved
futile. Recently, the farmers in Pirang
tried lime mixed with millet husk and
dried mango leaves to control the
problem. This combination, according
to them is applied and incorporated
into the soil before transplanting.
Within the course of the season they
realized that their rice plants were
doing well in terms of good tillering,
growth and flowering. After harvest
their yields were better than before.
Now many farmers in the inland valley
are using the innovation.
A study confirmed the view that
incorporation of organic manure
especially into soil–root zones is an
effective low-input agro-technological
approach to enhancing soil fertility
and minimizing phytotoxicity induced
by secondary salinization. However,
effectiveness of millet husk and dried
mango leaves in the present context is
yet to be verified. (Organic manure
stimulates biological activity and
barley growth in soil subject to
secondary salinization ; Yongchao
Liang, Jin Si, Miroslav Nikolic, Yu
Peng, Wei Chen and Yun Jiang; Soil
Biology and Biochemistry;Volume 37,
Issue 6, June 2005, Pages 1185-1195)
Grass cutter control in the rice
field
Fassou Haba, Guinea
16/03/2006
Fassou Haba is a farmer of Batouata,
a village of the forest region of
22
www.congo-pages.org
As the urine, contained
ammonia, the places
attract those grass
cutters that come to
eat these mixed earths.
Once the grass cutters
ate this earth, they can’t
move. They advance
for few meters and
they fall down. The
following day the
children come to collect
those dead grass
cutters and bury them
to avoid poisoning.
Since then, Fassou and
other peasants use this
method in their fields.
Studies have reported use of urine as quite effective
as a low cost bait for insects in many orchards, the
present use for attracting grasscutter, cane rat needs
further research. MartínAluja and Jaime Piñero,
Florida Entomologist, Volume 87, Issue 1, pp. 41–
50 (March 2004)
Using spiny Cactus lianas in the control of the
termites and nematodes in rices, corns, fonio
crops and orchards
Alhassane Pendessa, Guinea
25 December 2005
Touguikhouré is a small locality situated 25 km
away from the county-seat of the prefecture of
Kindia. It is an important zone of production with
high agricultural potentialities. However, for last
few years, the village has faced a lot of problems
related to the damages caused by the insects notably
the termites and nematodes in rice, corn, fonio
field and in the orchard.
Farmers, with no financial and material means to
use chemical products, decided unanimously to
lead indigenous research in finding local products
to solve the problem they encountered. Tafodé
Camara, farmer in Touguikhoure has succeeded
in developing a solution based on the spiny cactus,
Source: LEISA Magazine 22.3 September 2006
Guinea. He said that in their childhood when he
was living with his uncle, he used to supervise
the fields. When his uncle noted the effects of
the grass cutters, he prepared soil at different
places where he asked the children to urinate. He
mixed the earth with urine and a bark powder of
a very poisonous tree (Erythrophleum guineensis
(Tely in poular, Meli in soussou, Kondo in kissi).
Rose, a project staff member, gathers information about local
innovations.
a toxic and dangerous plant for the
human consumption.
Liana is cut from the forest and one
has to avoid loss of its sap. The liana
is cut in pieces and soaked in
container with a proportional quantity
of water for about 12 to 24 hours
until a concentrated solution is
obtained. This solution is poured in
termites’ holes which were previously
opened with picks. The holes are
finally covered with leaves from a
toxic plant called meli or sosso in local
language (Erythrophleum guineensis).
In using the solution, the users have
to avoid the contact of the product
with skin and the eyes. Its application
has to be done by using a small broom
and/or a sprayer. This innovation
helped Touguikhoure farmers’ to have
very effective results in the region for
the last few years. Currently, this local
innovation is practiced by many
farmers in the prefecture of Kindia.
The toxicity of senita cactus
(Lophocereus schotti), and the
alkaloids derived from it, pilocereine
(I) and lophocereine (II), have been
tested against Drosophila of the
Sonoran Desert. It kills the adults and/
or progeny. Kircher, Henry W,. Heed,
William B ,. Russell, Jean S and Grove,
John (1967). Senita cactus alkaloids:
Their significance to Sonoran Desert
Drosophila ecology, Journal of Insect
Physiology, Volume
13,
Issue
12, Pages 1869-1874
Struggle against the wild rice to
rhizome with salt
Bakary Traoré, Mali
10/10/06
For a long time, farmers in the
Sikasso region could not find a
suitable solution to the damage
caused by the “Diga” in rice cropping
lowlands. During a Participatory
learning and Action research
presentation on weed management,
one farmer named Bakary Traoré told
the WARDA researchers his own
experiences concerning the control
of Diga (a rhizomatous wild rice)
which is a harmful weed in cultivated
rice.
Mr Bakary Traoré, aged 35 years,
became a farmer when he was 20
years old. He is from Molobala, a
small village in the Koutiala zone
situated in Mali’s third region
(Sikasso). He now lives in Zianso
and is secretary of the village
Continued on page 30
Will you stand for the IPRs of peasants?
23
24
Artist: Bhabhi Mahato, Village Akondogora, Block Kashipur, Distt Purulia
I have swept the dust all around,
will you stop for a minute o! traveller
and take a look,
who knows what gets engraved in your heart!
Just the Walls...
Glimpses of 20th Shod
hyatra, West Bengal
20th Shodh Yatra
25
Honey Bee
Cow urine for Cumin and
Cumin for Body Fat
Practices for plant diseases
183401 Cow urine and plant extracts to
treat “Kadiya” in Cumin
“Kadiya” (Charcoal Rot) is a disease of Cumin
where the leaves become black after an outof-season rainfall. The entire crop gets destroyed
in 2-3 days. Shivabhai takes 500 gm leaves of
“Limdo”, Neem, Ratan jyot”, Jatropha (Jatropha
curcas L.), “Bhoiringni”, Thai Egg plant
(Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad. & Wendl.),
“Akda”, Crown flower (Calotropis procera
(Ait.) W. T. Ait.), “Nagod”, Chaste Tree (Vitex
negundo L. ), “Ardusi”, Vasaka (Adathoda
vasica Nees) each and adds six litre cow urine
Loksarvani
(Gujarati version of Honey Bee)
183402 Karanj and Kakria to
increase ginger production
Folk Medicine and Ethnobotany. Deep
Publication, New Delhi.)
Mr Ranjit Sinh suggests a method to
prevent weeds in ginger to increase
its production. The land is first
prepared, followed by the addition of
manure and castor cake. A 6 X 6 cm
distance is maintained while sowing
the seeds. Dried leaves of “Karanj”,
Indian Beech (Pongamia pinnata (L.)
Pierre.) and “Kakria”, Bastard Teak
(Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub.)
are spread between the rows of
rhizomes.
183404 Treating round worm
infection using “Tethvain”
Ranjtsinh Dalpatsinh Chauhan,
Dahod, Gujarat
Scout: Kiransinh Rathod
Pongamia pinnata are useful green
leaf mulch (ICRISAT, 2005, unpublished data; Parmathma et. al. 2004)
The juice of “Tethvain”, Artemisia
(Artemisia absinthium L.) leaves is
given to patients to treat round
worm infection. This is a common
practice in the Anantanag district of
Jammu & Kashmir.
Bioactive compounds are reported to
be present in Artemisia absinthium,
which control intestinal parasite
loads.
Marsha B. Quinlan, Robert J. Quinlan
and Justin M. Nolan;
Journal of
Ethnopharmacology , 80(1): 75-83,
2002
183405 “Kaliyoth” to treat
aching
joints
Practices for human diseases
183403 “Hand” for fractured
bones
and mixes it with10-12 litre water. He keeps
the mixture aside for a month and then boils
it till about 10 litre of it is left. The extract
is sprayed over cumin leaves twice on a three
day interval.
Shivabhai Dhudabhai
Gujarat.
Scout: Haresh Patel
Patel,
A local herb “Kaliyoth”, Self heal
(Prunella vulgaris L.) is crushed
and mixed with salt water and
Mr Wani suggests that leaves of
“Hand”, Dandelion (Taraxacum
officinale L.) when boiled, fried and
eaten, help in healing fractured bones
faster.
Mr Umer Hamid Wani, Quazigund,
Anantanag district, Kashmir
Scouted during the 19th Shodhyatra
organized by SRISTI
Sabarkantha,
Patents (US7235262, US6896907, US6410059)
on
novel
pharmaceutical
compositions
containing cow urine as one of the major
constituents have been reported.
They claim
that cow urine, when present with a drug or
active molecule, enhance its activity and
availability (bioenhancers).
Taraxacum officinale has been
found to demonstrate antiangiogenic,
antiinflammatory and antinociceptive
activities through its inhibition of NO
production and COX-2 expression
and/or its antioxidative activity.
Taraxacum officinale is also reported
for treating bone fracture in folklore.
(Jain S. K. 1991. Dictionary of Indian
boiled. After cooling, the decoction
is used as bath water to cure joint
pains.
Manjoor Ahmed Sheikh, Bidder,
Kokernag, Kashmir
26
Purified preparations of Prunella vulgaris have
been shown to have cartilage protective and
antiinflammatory effect, due to which it relieves
joint pain and improves functionality in
osteoarthritis patients. (Phytomedicine, 18th Oct,
2007)
183406 Cumin to rid body fat
To reduce extra body fat, one tablespoon of
“Shahi Jeera” or “Safed Jeera” (Cuminum
cyminum L.) seeds is boiled in four cups of
water till it reduces to 1/4th of the original
quantity. The mixture is left to cool down. Two
rats for 30 and 60 days induced
infertility (reversible) in males.
Rakesh
Sinha;
Journal
of
Ethnopharmacology 28(2):173-181,
1990
183408 Oil preparation for skin
diseases and body pain
To treat skin diseases, Mr Lailamany
suggests that 21 pieces of bark of
“Muringakka”, Drumstick tree
(Moringa oleifera Lam.) be cut
into an inch long pieces and boiled
in half a kg of Neem oil
(Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) till
they attain a red color. This oil
should then be applied to treat skin
diseases and infections and general
body-ache.
Lailamany Rajan,
Kerala
Scout: Peermade
Society
tablespoon of lemon juice is added to it and
consumed early in the morning.
Areena, Mattan, Kashmir
Hot water infusions of flowers, leaves,
roots, seeds and stalks or bark of
Moringa oleifera were found to
demonstrate antispasmodic and
antiinflammatory
effect
in
experimental models in rats.
Armando Cáceres, Amarillis Saravia,
Sofia Rizzo, Lorena Zabala, Edy De
183407 Kaincha fruits as oral
contraceptives
Oral administration of a 50% ethanol extract of
Abrus precatorius seeds (250 mg/kg) in albino
183409 Polyherbal formulation
to cure swollen tongue and
nostrils
Mr Antaryami Pradhan is a traditional
animal healer from Orissa. He
Development
Surya Dhandapani, Vijayakumar Ramasamy
Subra-manian, Senthilkumar Rajagopal And
Nalini Namasivayam; Pharma-cological Research
46(3):251-255, 2002
Ms Sita Barala, Motari village, Dhenkanal, Orissa
Practices for animal diseases
Karunapuam,
Cuminum cyminum treatment is found to cause a
significant reduction in plasma and tissue
cholesterol, phospholipids, free fatty acids and
triglycerides.
Fruits of “Kaincha”, Crabs’ eye (Abrus precatorius
L.) are dried, powdered and consumed to avoid
pregnancy. Ms Barala has tested it on three
patients. She grows this plant in her backyard
and has been following this and other
similar practices she learnt from her elders.
Ama Akha Pakha
(Oriya version of Honey Bee)
Leon and Federico Nave; Journal of
Ethnopharmacology 36(3):233-237,
1992.
A
therapeutic
composition
containing Moringa oleifera for
treating pains and swellings has also
been suggested. (Pl see Honey Bee,
15(2):13, 2004)
prepares a herbal medicine for
treating “Benga” (glossopharingitis)
characterized by swollen tongue
and nostrils. He uses 50 gm raw
chillies, 50 gm “Rai”, Mustard
(Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.), and
100 gm of a paste made from the
trunk of young banana plant and 50
gm of tender leaves of "Bara",
Banyan (Ficus benghalensis L.).
He grinds all these ingredients
together and adds two spoonful of
warm ghee to it. This herbal
preparation is fed to the animal for
three days. Some of it is also
applied under the tongue of the
animal. By the fourth day, the
animal
gets
cured
of
glossopharingitis and starts eating
food. Mr Pradhan has treated 25
such cases with success so far.
Mr Antaryami Pradhan, Angul, Orissa
Extracts from Brassica juncea
seedlings show varied degree of
immunogenic reactivity along various
27
Gilani, A.H., Jabeen, Q., Ghayur M.N.,
Janbaz K.H. and Akhtar M.S.; Journal
of Ethnopharmocology, 98(1-2):127135, 2005.
plants, yeast, bacteria and animal system.
Renu Deswal and Sudhir K. Sopory;
Phytochemistry 49(8):2245-2253, 1998)
Water extract of the bark of Ficus benghalensis
shows significant antioxidant effect, in addition
to hypolipidaemic effect. Rimi Shukla, Shweta
Gupta, J. K. Gambhir , K. M. Prabhu and P. S.
Murt; Journal of Ethnopharmacology 92(1):4751, 2004.
Mr Chaitanya Charan Das treats animals suffering
from glossopharingitis by feeding them a paste
made of 50 gm of roots and leaves of “Pippal
Mula”, False Kava (Piper chaba Hunter), 100
ml of raw cow’s milk, 10 gm of “Maricha”,
Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.), and 20 gm
of “Adrak” ginger. Glossopharingitis is reportedly
cured after administering 2-3 doses of the
medicine. Mr Das has treated ten such cases.
Mr Chaitanya Charan Das, Dist. Jagatsinghpur,
Orissa.
The methanol extract of the stem bark of Piper
chaba has been reported to have analgesic,
antiinflammatory and anti oxidant effects.Md.
Taufiq-Ur-Rahman, Jamil Ahmad Shilpi,
Muniruddin Ahmed and Chowdhury Faiz Hossain;
Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 99(2):203-209,
2005)
Suchandra Chatterjee, Zareena Niaz, S. Gautam,
Soumyakanti Adhikari, Prasad S. Variyar and
Arun Sharma; Food Chemistry 101(2):515523,2007.
Ginger also has an antiinflammatory property. F.
Aimbire, S.C. Penna, M. Rodrigues, K.C.
Rodrigues, R.A.B. Lopes-Martins and J.A.A. Sertié;
Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty
Acids 77(3-4):129-138, 2007.
Acetone extract of ginger were found
to contain (6)- gingerol and (10)gingerol,
which
are
mainly
responsible for the cholagogic effect
of
ginger.(Journal
of
Ethnopharmacology; Vol 13, Issue 2)
The aqueous extract from Terminalia
chebula inhibits Streptococcus
mutans activity.
A. G. Jagtap and S. G. Karkera;
Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 68(13):299-306, 1999
183411 Herbal
indigestion
cure
for
Animals often suffer from
indigestion due to eating of raw
paddy grains. This is followed by
a loss of appetite. To cure this, Mr
Saroj Kumar Biswal takes 100 gm
of
baking
soda
(Sodium
bicarbonate), dried ginger powder
(50gm), powder of “Juani” (Carum
copticum L.) and common salt (50
gm). He mixes these together in
half a litre of lukewarm water and
feeds it to the animal. This treatment
is given once a day for seven to
eight days. Mr Biswal has treated
Mr Ashish Ku Padhy, Sambalpur district, Orissa
cure
for
Mr Indramani Sahu prepares a
herbal medicine to treat animals
suffering from indigestion. He uses
200 gm of leaves of “Dhanitri”,
Prickly Sesban (Sesbania bispinosa
Wt.), 100 gm of raw turmeric and
one gm of “Maricha”, Black Pepper
(Piper nigrum L.). All the ingredients
are ground together to make a
paste. This paste is mixed in half
a litre of cold water and fed to the
animal for two days. Mr Sahu has
treated 10 cases of indigestion by
following this method
Mr Indramani Sahu, Jagatsinghpur
district, Orissa
183410 “Harida” to cure systemic bacterial
infection
Systemic bacterial infection in animals is
characterized by profuse salivation, painful
swellings in throat, dewlap, brisket, temperature,
depression, discharge from nostril and redness
of eye. Mr Padhy takes one dried fruit of
“Harida”, Myrobalans (Terminalia chebula Retz.)
and grinds it to make a powder. He adds 20
gm of ghee and makes a bolus to feed the
cattle. By the third day, the disease is cured.
Mr Padhi has treated six cases of such
symptoms with success.
183412 Another
indigestion
20 cases of indigestion with success
following this method.
Mr Saroj Kumar Biswal, Bonaigarh,
Orissa
Calcium antagonists in Carum
copticum are believed to account for
its antispasmodic and hepatoprotective activities.
Piperine extracted from Piper nigrum
is believed to increase the
permeability of the intestinal cells.
Rakesh K. Johri, Neelima Thusu,
Annu Khajuria and Usha Zutshi;
Biochemical
Pharmacology
43(7):1401-1407, 1992.
(Piper nigrum has been used in a
herbal composition to cure diarrohea
in animals. (Pl see Honey Bee, 8(2):
9,1997)
Turmeric is used in hyperactive states
of the gut.
28
183416 Kachnar to increase
milk production
Anwarul Hassan Gilani, Abdul Jabbar Shah,
Muhammad Nabeel Ghayur and Kashif Majeed;
Life Sciences; 76(26): 3089-3105, 2005.
183413 Cure for loss of appetite
Mr Chaitanya Charan Sahu of Orissa prepares
a herbal medicine using 20 gm of dried
“Adrak”, Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.), 20
gm of “Chiraita’, Indian Echinacea
(Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees), 20
gm of leaves of “Marichi”, Black Pepper (Piper
nigrum L.) and 5 gm of “Juani” (Carum
copticum L.). The ingredients are mixed with
milk and serves it to the animal for
seven days. This is said to prevent
the animals against shooting
diarrhoea. Mr Pradhan has learnt
this traditional method from his
grand father, late Mr Ananda
Pradhan. He practiced this method
about 50 years back when there
was a massive outbreak of shooting
diarrhoea.
To increase milk production in cows,
Lalitabhai suggests that “Kachnar”,
Variegated Orchid Tree (Bauhinia
variegata L.) should form thirty per
cent of the cattle feed. It has been
observed that milk production
increases up to 1-2 litres. However,
the leaves should only be fed during
Mr Biswanath Pradhan, Bonaigarh,
Orissa
50 gm of common salt and 50 gm of jaggery
and served to the animal daily for three days.
Mr Das has treated 15 such cases of loss of
appetite with success.
Mr Chaitanya Charan Sahu, Jagatsinghpur
district, Orissa.
The diterpenes andrographolide & andrographoside isolated of Andrographis paniculata
were found to have antihepatoxic activities. (Bio
chemical Pharmacology, Vol. 46, issue 1)
Rakshamani Tripathi, H. Mohan and J.P. Kamat;
Food Chemistry, 100(1):81-90, 2007.
Andrographis paniculata has been used in a
herbal composition to cure indigestion in calves.
(Pl see Honey Bee, 10(4): 9, 1999)
While we didn't get avidence about
use of ass milk for virus control, this
needs further investigation. A study
suggests that some bovine milk
proteins, especially lactoferine,
interfere with viral infections.Y. Pan,
A. Lee, J. Wan, M.J. Coventry, W.P.
Michalski, B. Shiell and H. Roginski;
International
Dairy
Journal,
16(11):1252-1261, 2006.
183415 Eggplant for Rinderpest
Mr Madan Mohan Pradhan uses the
roots of a thorny shrub “Ankaranti”,
Eggplant to treat rinderpest in his
cattle. He takes four roots of young
“Ankranti” plants, which have not
flowered or which are in preflowering stage and grinds them with
seven black pepper seeds. This paste
is fed to the animal continuously for
seven days.
183414 Milk to treat rinderpest in
animals
Mr
Madan
Mohan
Pradhan,
Athmallick subdivision, Orissa
Mr Biswanath uses the milk of Ass to prevent
rinderpest (an acute, often fatal, contagious
viral disease, chiefly of cattle, characterized by
ulceration of the alimentary tract and resulting
in diarrhoea) in animals. He takes 250 ml of
The oral administration of methanolic
extract of Solanum xanthocarpum
showed significant antinociceptive
activity in mice. M. Ahmed, M.
Alimuzzaman and J. A. Shilpi;
Fitoterapia 74(1-2):119-121, 2003.
winters and the animal should not be
allowed to stand out in the sun.
Lalitabhai Amrutbhai
Sabarkantha, Gujarat.
Scout: Sangeeta Vankar
Chamar,
Bauhinia sp. is believed to provide
necessary Nitrogen concentration for
proper digestion in the rumen.
Katjiua, M.L.J. and Ward, D. Journal
of Range and Forage Science, 23(1):
59-67(9), 2006.
183417 Saupa to treat FMD
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is
a well known viral disease in cattle.
Mr Brundaban Sahu follows a
traditional method to treat the
affected cows. He takes two
camphor balls, 100 ml turpentine oil
and 10 ml oil obtained from “Saupa”,
Dill Seeds (Anethum graveolens
L.). He mixes all these ingredients
together and applies it on the wounds
and ulcers. The oil heals up the
ulcerative wound in udder, foot and
mouth when applied 2-3 times a
day for five days. Mr Sahu has
treated 100 such cases with
success.
When did you talk to your grandparents last?
29
Mr Brundaban Sahu, Kamakhya-nagar village,
Orissa
...Continued from page 23
Essential oils from Dill herb and seeds have been
found to have genotoxic activity, and may thus
effect the viral proliferation.J. R. Lazutka, J.
Mierauskien, G. Slapyt and V. Dedony; Food and
Chemical Toxicology39(5):485-492, 2001
Engineering practices
183418 Low cost Sugarcane Harvester
Mr Kandaraj owns a small mechanical workshop.
He cultivates sugarcane on his five acre land. In
response to the acute labour shortage during the
harvesting period, he has designed a small
sugarcane harvester. Initially, he fitted the
sugarcane cutter with two wheel mounting
assembly. Not satisfied with its performance, he
decided to use the three wheel mounting assembly.
The cutter consists of three wheels of 12 inch
diameter each. A minimum of one feet width
between sugarcane rows is enough for operating
this machine. By altering the blade, one can use
the machine to harvest paddy, maize, sorghum
etc. The cost of the sugarcane cutter is around
Rs.10, 000.
Mr Kandaraj, Madurai, Tamil Nadu
183419 Shock free electric converter
K. Nicholson Singh from
Imphal, Manipur has a
small workshop where he
repairs electric motors and
other items. Though he
could not study much, with
his hard work, he has been
able to get expertise in his
work.
He has made an innovative shock free electric
converter. The basic function of the device is to
convert a normal electrical current to a shock
free electrical current. The device can be installed
next to the electricity meter so that it is well
connected to the entire household/commercial
establishment. If the device is installed at a
domestic service connection, the subsequent
electrical lines will become shock free. This will
protect the person from getting an electrical shock
upon an accidental touch on naked wires, faulty
appliances and switches and prevent serious injury
or loss of life. However, on touching both wires
women’s association and a
member of the PLAR center of
ZIANSO.
(phase and neutral) together or due
to a problem in the internal wiring,
the device will not work. The cost of
materials for fabrication of a new
machine is around Rs 6000-7000,
depending on its capacity.
Besides the shock free electrical
converter, Mr Singh has also made a
recycled tubelight and a double phase
protector. He has also done lot of
work on wireless system, cordless
phone, etc. With his improvised
handsets, a normal cordless phone
can be used as a mobile phone by
increasing its area of coverage. Such
ingenuity has undoubtedly got him
into trouble with the law enforcing
agencies in the troubled state of
Manipur. At the same time, the same
people also come to him whenever
they have problem with their
communication equipments.
Mr Kshetrimayum Nicholson Singh,
Wangkhei Koijam Leikai, Imphal
Electric shock eliminator (US
2614155, 14.10.1952): available.
Electric Shock Preventing Device And
Power Source Box (JP2007027007,
1.02.07)
Read remaining references in this
regard at www.sristi.org
Have you ever tried to listen to
the wisdom of your grandparents?
If so, share with us something
inspiring, interesting and
intriguing. Selected insights will be
published along with the
photographs
of
your
grandparents. Other ideas are
also welcome. Ed
For several years Mr Traoré used
pesticides and cultural techniques
to control this enemy of crop
production. Unfortunately, all his
efforts remained in vain.
In 1998 he was invited to
participate in a training session on
“Strengthening soils productivity”.
During the training, he was asked
to think of an appropriate means
to control weeds without spending
too much money. To find an
example, he went to see an elderly
villager who advised him on the
method of using salt to control the
Diga.
According to the elder, Diga
control consists of spreading salt
on the Diga-infested area before
ploughing. A solution is made by
adding water to the salt. This
solution infiltrates to the root level
of the Diga. Through the root
absorption system, the Diga are
destroyed. For 1 ha, 25 kg of salt
is spread.
According to the farmer, the effect
of salt on the Diga is comparable
to the effect of petrol on tree
leaves. Since using this method,
he has noticed a decrease in the
Diga population and a higher rice
yield.
Jones described methods of
controlling weeds by using salt as
far back as 1907. BAILEY, L. H.
(Ed). Cyclopedia of American
Agriculture: A Popular Survey of
Agricultural Conditions, Practices
and Ideals in the United States and
Canada (Three Volumes Only).
NY: Macmillan, 1907.
Honey Bee has published many
practicies involving uses of salt in
paddy for disease and weed
control.
30
CHIN-II
Enabling the Blind to Cook, Moving the Songs by Foot...
Team China, working under the enthusiastic leadership of Prof Zhang Liyan and supported by the
Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (TUFE) scouted hundreds of innovations under an
international collaboration between China, India and Brazil as a part of SRISTI’s initiative to create
an online and off line platform for incubating grassroots innovations. The team included teachers:
Bian Cuilan, Zhou Yongjun, Zhang Jiayu, Nv Lei, and students: Yang Peipei, Zhang Xiaoxu, Feng Tian,
Du Wenting and Shang Xuebin. Dr Zhang Wei and other senior officials of TUFE supported this
collaboration which led to the emergence of China Innovation Network (CHIN, a close partner of
Honey Bee Network). We will be sharing a lot more innovations from China as well as other countries
in the coming issues. Honey Bee network is spreading its wings…..
Solar powered mosquito-repellent
Drip-preventing umbrella
WangXiYun
Shan Yan Middle School Jinghai county of Tianjin
Tel: 0861-022-68923097
Water drips from the top of umbrella,
making the ground wet and stained
during rainy days. To solve the
problem, the innovator has attached
The mosquito repelling equipment
developed works with
the help of solar
energy stored in the
batteries. As a result,
even without sunlight,
the device can repel
the pests for eight hours with the stored energy.
An insect repellent light system (JP2003284482,
2003-10-07) constituted by connecting an insect
repellent light equipped with many yellow LEDs
with a solar cell electricity-generating device
equipped with solar cells and a battery.
can hold on the ruptured blade, so
the saw can still be used.
A different apparatus for joining
broken hack saw blades (RU2055705,
1996-03-10) is available
A battery box without poles
The battery box made by the innovator
is unique, for it has no poles. One
does not have to worry about which
direction (positive or negative) to orient
your battery in. All you have to do is
just put the batteries into the box, and
the system will adjust itself.
a small bottle on the top of umbrella
that can collect the dripping water.
A non-polar battery storage device
(JP5021047, 1993-01-29) facilitates
prevention of trouble due to battery
The invention(US5495866, 1996-0305) provides an umbrella drip water
collector to be attached to the ferrule
of an umbrella and to collect drip
water from the umbrella when the
umbrella is collapsed.
Linker for broken saw blades
A linker can be attached to a saw. In
case the blade is broken, the linker
loading mistakes, by symmetrically
arranging a lead unit such that
electrode leads, containing dedicated
armatures for contacting only positive
electrodes or negative electrodes,
respectively.
Wood-conserving plane
A lot of wood gets wasted in the
process of smoothening the surface
of wooden articles. The innovator has
suggested that the blades of the plane
When did you talk to nature last?
31
is that the cut branch often slides
away. The saw designed by the
innovator has one of the blades
different from the normal ones’.
There are two saw-teeth on the edge.
When we cut the branches, the saw
can hold them and prevent them from
sliding.
Special raincoat for bicycles
should be assembled tightly, so that it will produce
fewer wood shavings when used. This would
mean more wood saved and also lesser chances
for the plane to be clogged.
Drip-preventing brush
Zhang Runshan
No. 1 Hu Jing Road Nankai District
Tianjin
Tel: 0861-022-85663007
The innovator has made a special
raincoat for cycle drivers. An
Now you would not have to clean your floor for
stains each time you paint your house. The brush
designed by the innovator has a tilted handle, and
there is a “cup” assembled under the brush’s head.
While painting a ceiling or upper portions of the
A short-circuit detector
FengZhuo
No.43 Middle School of Tianjin
Tel: 13512851243
This invention
can inspect
several power
s u p p l y
networks at
the same time.
When some
part is cut off,
it can protect
the whole building. Moreover, all
electric equipments will not be
damaged due to faulty working of
one.
This invention won a gold medal at
the Beijing International Invention
Exhibition as well as a gold medal at
Tianjin Invention Exhibition in 1996.
A power distribution network short
circuit detector (1.x) system has
displays (6) for the first over-current
pulse and separate displays (7) for
other pulses using a time gate that is
longer than the shorter supply
uncorked cirque has been attached
below the hat and placed outside the
walls, the paint drip will be collected by the “cup”
and would not stain our hands, clothes or the floor.
A device for applying paint onto surfaces
(US2003126712, 2003-07-10) especially ceilings
and/or walls exists.
protective device (2) reset time (tza)
but less than the longer supply
reset time (tzb) (DE20310361U,
2003-09-11).
Innovative pruning saw
Swimsuit for learners
One of the
m o s t
commonly
encountered
problems
while pruning
branches with
the help of a
pruning saw
neckline. It would make turning head
left or right convenient and facilitate
a clear view of the surroundings.
A similar invention CN2595196Y
(2003-12-31) is reported.
Dong Qi
No. 17 Dansu Road Heping District,
Tianjin
Tel:
13920096128 (US5495866,
1996-03-05).
This swimsuit can change its
buoyancy so as to help learners
master the skill. There are two parts
32
in
the
swimsuit.
The main
body
is
made of
tarp with
s o m e
pockets in
the front
and rear to hold empty plastic bottles. The floating
part also consists of empty plastic bottles. There
are two ways to change the buoyancy: either by
changing the number of bottles or by filling bottles
with some water.
Attention: The capsule must be tightened to be
safe.
Gas stove for the blind
LuDaMing
Yanshan middle school Jixian of Tianjin
Tel:13821119995
The traditional gas
cooking stoves in the
markets can not be lit
in a single ignition. It
is not only a waste of
gas, but also very
dangerous to blind
people. The innovator
has, therefore, made a
modification in the
traditional stove. He has used the gas
electromagnetic valve to control the escape of gas
and has set up a micro-electric motor to control
the amount of the gas released in each turn. He
This gas cooking stove is not only
convenient to operate, but also lights
in a single ignition and ensures a
longer cylinder life. It has been tested
for a year and passed the tests of the
relevant departments.
Magnetic Tool rack
ChenHaiLong
Yanshan middle school Jixian
Tianjin
Tel:13821119995
of
Chen Hai
Long has
made an
innovative
rack containing
two parts.
One is for
the ironmade or
steel-made
tools and another for non-magnetic
articles. There are many pieces of
powerful magnets on the magnetic
parts, and the tools can easily be
attached to it and are ready for use
when required.
The invention (US6719155, 2004-0413) provides a magnetic tool rack that
includes a magnet container to receive
small-size magnets therein and thereby
has an integral and pleasant
appearance.
roads making it an unpleasurable
sight. So the innovator has designed
a special bag with two bags inside it,
one for the melon seeds, and the other
for the skins. After consuming the
melons, the bag can be conveniently
thrown in the bins preventing litter.
Automatic water dispenser
LiuHaiYang
Tianjin
Tel:13821119995
of
The traditional infrared rays based
water dispensers have their own
Environment protection:
Melon seeds bag
DuJinSong
Tianjin
Tel:13821119995
has also attached a sound circuit in the stove,
which will use a voice signal to warn blind people
of any leakage and chances of fire.
of
M e l o n
seeds are
enjoyed
throughout
the world
but people
throw away
the seeds
and skin on
disadvantages: they get stained easily,
are hard to repair and have a short
lifetime. Liu HaiYang has launched a
switch in the market. It works stably
33
pages of the books as required
without using the player's hands.
A similar invention relates to an
automatic music stand, which is
provided to turn over leaves of music
book in an accurate manner by
permitting the operating plate to move
in left and right directions.
(KR20020064595, 2002-08-09)
The auto-switch desk lamp
and consumes low energy. Any subject
approaching the switch will change the
capacitance. An electromagnetic valve controlled
by this capacitance change will operate the
dispenser.
Innovative music stand
ZangXuBin
No. 1 middle school of Tianjin
Tel:022-81988848
This music stand
can be run by foot
operated switch so
that the music book
can be turned
clockwise
or
anticlockwise. It
can be used in
dance hall with
alternating current
or on the stage with
direct current. It is
able to turn the
WuJiang
Yanshan middle school Jixian of
Tianjin
Tel:13821119995
Sometimes it is difficult for us to turn
on the lamp in the dark and a lot of
energy is wasted if it is turned on for
long. The auto-switch desk lamp is
designed to solve these problems. A
heat-inductor is added in the lamp,
when people stand around it, whether
moving or standing still, the lamp will
be turned on automatically. There is
a time-delay unit in the inductor
which will keep the lamp on,
one minute after people leave and then
turns off automatically. It will not
only solve the energy wastage
problem but also make turning the
switch on in dark, possible.
An automatic illumination lamp with
light source and occupancy sensor
(KR100682591B, 2007-02-07) is
available.
Views on the story Burden as support:
(Honey Bee Cover Story: 8(2) 1, 1997)
I agree with your interpretation in a way but I also view the story in a
different way.
I think the ant should take away the grain on its back that she has
carried so far, because there might be other crevices in the path for
which she would need the grain again and again.
We cannot do anything for others. We have to follow what is right and
natural for us. Our goal should not be to protect others - the others are
protected themselves.The goal should be to be true and pure to the
moment so that we can know the real happiness and a
happy self contented man can make others happy. No
bird sings for others, no flower blooms for others.
They all are self contented and that is why they all
are beautiful and appreciated by others.
Yogesh Gairola, Akashdeep colony, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand
(Do you agree? Write back your critical comments on the
story or the comment)
34
IdeAS!
Budding Bureaucrats
Imagine Solutions!
As a part of workshop on creativity and innovation organized by Prof Gupta for budding administrators of India of the elite
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) last year, a spontaneous idea contest was organized at LBS National Academy of
Administration, Mussoorie. Some of the distinctive ideas are given here. Ms Arati Ahuja who coordinated this course, also
invited first time at the Academy, two grassroots innovators to address the probationers. It is hoped that their ability to appreciate
creative solutions for individual as well as social problems will grow with the passage of time.
User-friendly computers
Mr D Ronald Rose
Mr. Rose is concerned with the entangled wires
between a computer’s monitor and the CPU
and other accessories. He thinks that the
provision for various wires should be on the
without tangling and intertwining.
The system utilizes a container having
axially aligned upright posts with
hooks at their upper ends to keep
wires wound around the posts in the
wound position.
Now your mobile will ring even
on silent mode
So many times, we keep our mobile
phones on silent mode and waste
hours searching for them. Mr Rose
suggests connecting mobile phones
to your TV remote or with your
car keys. A button provided on the
remote control/car keys when
pressed will give a sound or emit
light. Alternatively, we can have a
specific number given by the service
provider followed by a persons’
own number to make the mobile
ring even while it is on the silent
mode.
side rather than at the back so that the operator
does not have to go the back of the CPU each
time. The points should be in the left side of
monitor and right side of the CPU. The mouse
should be connected to the monitor, to its right
instead of CPU. There can be a space on the
front side of the monitor where these wires
can be accommodated.
A wire management system is provided
(US2007261874, 2007-11-15) to neatly and
efficiently assemble the many wires of an electronic
component system such as a personal computer
A service center is provided with an
authentication function; a trigger
function for ringing a ringer tone
independently of the setting of the
silent mode of the mobile terminal
(JP2004112253, 2004-04-08). The
service center replaces a telephone
number
of
the
information
communication terminal making a call
by using the caller ID replacement
function and makes a call with a caller
ID of the service center to call the
mobile terminal.
Slippers that cool
Ms Sonam Deki
Imagine walking in a dry hot place
in shoes that cool. Ms Deki has
suggested slippers suited to such
areas. The soles will be designed
to store cool water or ice. Such
slippers will also provide relief to
aching feet after a hard days’ work.
The shoe sole
(KR20010008851,
2001-02-05)
comprises an
air circulation
system within
the inner sole,
a refrigerant
circulation
system
for
cooling
air
circulation, an
auxiliary
cooling system
to assist the
refrigerant circulation system to cool
the inner side of the sole in walking
35
to the effect of prevention of athletes foot of the
user.
A unique foot massager
Ms Tanu Kashyap
Ms Tanu says “My mother is a diabetic patient
and feels a lot of pain in her soles after a normal
day’s work. Once she had seen those fancy footmassagers from abroad in a neighbour’s house
and was overawed by the comfort. It was of
course not possible for us to get one for her given
the cost.”
She wants to make a shoe which has small
glassbeads so that when worn and rolled around
mechanically, it relaxes your feet. Such a thing
would be far more economical than the fancy foot
massagers available in the market.
An adjustable podium
Mr Manoj Kumar
Short people often find it difficult to adjust
according to the height of the microphone while
delivering a speech. Mr. Kumar has thought of a
podium that would adjust itself according to the
speakers’ requirements. The speaker will just need
to enter his height, and based on some
predetermined proportion, the podium
will adjust itself. The roster will have
two strong upper and lower parts.
The middle portion will be adjustable.
The adjustable part would be
hydraulically operated once speaker
enters his/her height.
HBN first learned about this problem
in the first International Conference
on Creativity and Innovation at
Grassroots, Jan 11-14, 1997 IIMA. The
Keynote speaker Elaben, founder of
SEWA regretted that the podium was
designed for men and was not
adjustable to the height for women, as
an example of prejudices against
women in every day life.
A non-swiveling height adjustable
podium comprising a base, a square
or rectangular column, a pneumatic
cylinder disposed within said square
column; a square receiver tube having
a first tube end slidingly disposed over
a first end, and a second tube end; and
a
top
mount
assembly
(US2002134286, 2002-09-26).
Bed cum cupboard
Mr Abhishek Krishna
The fast paced and narrow spaced
life in metropolises does not leave
people with enough space for
furniture. A bed cum cupboard is
suggested. When sleeping, the bed
can be pulled down and fixed to the
floor with the help of a knob. In the
day time, it can be made to rest
against the wall and can be used as
cupboard.
The invention (US2770813, 1956-1120) relates to a portable piece of
furniture comprising in one novel
cooperative combination a wardrobe,
bed, desk, dressing table, bench and
other features.
No more sleeping during lectures
Ms Jenu Devan
Jenu has thought of a device which
can wake you up if you doze off in
the class. The device should be able
to identify the physiological changes
in a persons’ body as soon as he goes
to sleep. A small electric shock will
soon be sent to the person, which
will immediately bring him back to
the class.
Mr Tanmay Chakrabarthy
Mr Chakrabarthy has thought of
glasses with a photoelectric cell, a
light source and an earpiece which
can make a loud beep. In the glass,
on one side will be a light emitting
source and on the opposite side a
photoelectric cell as a receiver. While
a person is sleeping and his eyes are
closed, the cell will receive light, send
an electric signal to the earpiece and
make a loud sound to wake the
person up. The setting of the
photocell will be such that it will need
constant exposure of, say at least five
seconds to get activated.
(We hope that such devices prevent
administrative officers from sleeping
over peoples’ problems for long. Ed)
A cuff having stimulating electrodes
providing a wakefulness electrical
signal and a counter sleepiness
electrical signal and a sleepiness
detector coupled to a control unit
(WO03089062, 2003-10-30) is in
practice. The sleepiness detector
detects an indicator of the onset of
sleep, such as the heart rate, and
36
provides a signal to the control unit, which analyzes
the heart rate and determines signs of sleepiness.
Putting waste to use
Ms S. Bharathi Dasan
Ms Dasan suggests that motor of a fan or mixer
after dismantling can be used for grating coconut
by attaching stainless steel saw blades and can be
powered with the use of batteries.
Cycle-Depots for Urban Transport
Mr Dhananjay Singh
Urban transport is a huge problem. Limited space
for the vehicles, pollution and the cost of fuel
spent because of inefficient utilization of the motor
vehicles are some of the problems. Bicycle can
be utilized in a very professional manner for
solving the problem of urban transport.
and reduce the pollution but will also
be a great boon in improving our
urban transport system.
(Such a service is prevalent for cars in
India and abroad, but why use cars
and cause pollution? Lets switch to
cycles. Netherlands have cycle facilty,
see www.bikecity.ne Ed)
Mr Pravin Kumar
Mr Kumar has also thought of a
similar multi-purpose wheat thresher
that will not only wash the wheat,
but also dry it and grind it. This will
reduce the transportation cost
involved of the wheat and the flour
can be directly packed and marketed.
Some relief for the mothers
Automatic Cradles
Mr Alok Kumar Pandey
Mr Pravin Bakshi
Mr Pandey says that “my mother is
around 65 years old and she does a
Mr. Bakshi has thought of an
automatic cradle powered by battery
or solar cells, which can move by
pendulum action. It would dispense
with the need for the mother to pull
the string of the cradle all the time.
The cradle would also emit a warning
beep when the baby is restless and
tries to come out of it, which could
be measured by weight displacement
in the cradle.
This will require moving cycle-depots of
important places in a town. These places can be
railway stations, bus stands, cinema halls, main
markets etc. A very light and easy to ride bicycle
can be procured for this purpose. The moment
he does not want to use cycle any more, he can
deposit the cycle to the nearest depot. This
scheme would be extremely popular amongst
students and office goers who can pay a fixed
monthly rental. This will not only save the fuel
A cradle using pipe hanger and
automatic
shaking
device
(JP2002262968, 2002-09-17) exists
Fuel tanks with taps
Mr Randhir Kumar
lot of domestic work. She has to
wash large amount of wheat or
millets and then carry it to the top of
the roof as to make it dry in sunlight.
This task is very cumbersome and at
this stage it is difficult for her to do
it.”
At times we need to transfer fuel from
the two wheeler tanks to other
purpose. So, a separate tap can be
provided (with a key) at the bottom
of the tank so that fuel can be
transferred and cleaned easily.
He has suggested an electronic device
which can take 5 or 10kg of wheat
at one go, pour it on a platform. On
switching the machine on, an
attachment can rub it, wash it and
collect the grains in a chamber
provided sideways. We can develop
a drying chamber and a device, which
can mix extract of dry Neem leaves
(as a disinfectant).
Both the above-mentioned processes
will work together saving time and
improving efficiency.
37
Instant egg-powder
Subscription Rates for Honey Bee
Ajit Kumar
Category
Mr. Kumar says “I am very fond of eating eggs,
especially in breakfast. Preparing an omelette is
not easy.” He thinks of making egg powder by
keeping the mixture under the sun. The dried
material can then be further ground to make a
fine powder. This powder can be stored in a bottle
and whenever we need to make an omelette we
can mix the powder with water.
There is a mention of the production of an instant
processed egg powder (JP54062366, 1979-05-19)
Hands-free cordless
Sheetal Nanda
Ms Nanda thinks of “a strap/holder attached to
the cordless/mobile phones so that while talking
on the phone, both the hands are free to continue
South Asia*
(Indian Rs)
International
(US $)
Annual
Individual
Supporter
Institution/Library
150
500
2,500
30
50
200
Life (15 Years)
Individual
Institution/Library
2,500
10,000
500
1,000
50
150
175
10
20
25
Other Publications
Spirit of Sustainability
Nature Heals
Profiles of Innovators
Back Issues of
Honey Bee (1990-2007)
Hard Copies
(Postage Extra)
CD
1,500
5,000
250
1,000
Individual
Institution
Individual
Institution
50
200
20
60
*includes: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the
Maldives.
Please send your contributions through bank draft/cheque in favour of
A/c Sristi Innovations at the editorial address: c/o Prof. Anil K Gupta, Editor,
Honey Bee, Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur,
Ahmedabad-380 015, India.
Phone: 91-79-66324927; Fax: 91-79-26307341; Email: [email protected].
Contd.. from page 10
Insect repellent floors
doing other tasks. The strap/holder can be tied to
the ear/neck/head depending on the weight of the
phone. This is because I feel that a lot of time is
wasted just holding the phone while we could do
several other jobs alongside. The currently available
blue tooth devices, earplugs do not give that type
of freedom as mobile still has to be carried in
your hand.”
The phone (SE9800913, 1999-09-20) contains a
radio receiver connectable to a headset comprising
at least one ear phone and an extra microphone
connected to a strap worn around the neck. The
strap contains a protective shield and on the
outside of this there is a mobile phone antenna wire
and a radio antenna wire.
Shalini Pal,Class IX
Maharaja Agrasen Vidyalaya, Memnagar Ahmedabad
A permanent layer of bacteria and insect resistant material should be placed
on the floors in houses so that we do not
have to clean the floors everyday with
repellents. Such floors will also be preferred
by mothers because kids often end up
carrying infection playing on the floors.
(A paint mixed with nano particles of Titanium
dioxide or silver can in fact achieve just this
effect, but Shalini did not know about nano
particles so far. Will teachers teach such ideas
to our children now? Ed)
38
NEWS & VIEWS
Ideas flow on Children’s Creativity Day
Celebrations
Dr A P J Abdul Kalam’s 76th birthday on 15th
October, 2007 was celebrated as Children’s
Creativity Day by launching the children’s section
on the NIF website and organizing an idea
competition in NIF.
The first prize was bagged by Yogarishi Vyas (14)
for his idea about educational multimedia kiosks,
powered with internet connections in villages to
enable illeterate people to learn illiterate people to
learn reading and writing. The second prize winner
Lipi Thakkar(13) gave an idea to use match-sticks
for Braille writing for the blind. Shehazan Tavadia
(14) gave an idea of having mobile kitchen in deserts,
that uses same fuel for cooking and transport,
thus eliminating the need to have dual fuel.
Vaidyas - Verbal for herbal
A one day workshop on " Sharing knowledge in
herbal medicines by Vaidyas" to document the long
unrecorded knowledge of herbal treatment with
traditional knowledge holders was organized by
Sri Gajanan Yuvak Mandala on 27th Oct, 2007 at
Sampkhand, Karnataka.
The Vaidyas were very happy to share their
knowledge and appreciated the efforts of the
organisers in bringing NIF to their village and
providing an opportunity to share their knowledge
. " It is very that some Government organization
(NIF) has recognized us. Though we never look
for recognition or money while treating patients
but it's great to be felicitated by NIF in my
hometown" said Mr Ramaiah Hegde Arasapura.
At the same time, they also
expressed concern about the
decline in the use of Ayurvedic
medicines and Traditional
knowledge . Mr Eashwara Shukru
Bhatta Gowda said, "the present
generation is moving away from
Ayurveda and home medicines . I
am afraid this culture may end
with our generation."
world, representing different organizations working in this area shared
their experiences in the practical
initiatives on intellectual property and
traditional cultural expressions,
traditional knowledge and genetic
resources.
APCTT workshop
Community capacity building
An International Workshop on
Grassroots Innovation for Partner
Institutions in Selected Asia-Pacific
Countries for Building Capacity for
Scouting, Documentation, Database
Development and Dissemination of
Grassroots Innovation was organized
by Asian and Pacific Centre for
Transfer of Technology (APCTT) of
the United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(UNESCAP), New Delhi, India between
16-18 August 2007 at IIM Ahmedabad
with SRISTI and IIM as the knowledge
partners. The workshop was supported
by the Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of
Science and Technology, Government
of India.
Honey Bee Network was
represented at World Intellectual
Property Organization(WIPO)
Roundtable entitled Building
Community Capacity: Practical
Initiatives on Intellectual Property
and
Traditional
Cultural
Expressions, Traditional Knowledge and Genetic Resources, held
from December 10-12, 2007 at
WIPO Headquarters, Geneva. The
participants from across the
The workshop had participants from
Philippines, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China
and India who were given orientation
on the mechanisms of scouting,
documentation, incubation and
dissemination of grassroots innovations.
Also, demonstration and hands-on
training on documentation of these and
prior-art search, design, use and
management of multilingual databases
was provided to them, which was
followed by the field visits.
Dear readers
when you celebrate birth day or some other social function, do
not you share gifts with your near dear ones? If so, why not
gift the subscription of Honey Bee or Sujh Bhuj Aas Paas Ki
or any other local language version, to them and we will send
a special letter on your behalf to them. All those who send gift
subscriptions before June 30, will get a cd of all the back issues
of Honey Bee worth Rs 250 free as a gift from us. Please help
us spread the word about creative voices at grassroots around
the world.
When did you talk to your grandparents last?
39
20 TH
SHODH YATRA
Richness in Scarcity
From Purulia and Patamda to Bankura: West Bengal
Given the enthusiasm of one of the youngest HBN collaborator and SCAI coordinator, Jaydeep Mandal, the entire
logistics of Shodh Yatra fell in place though a very close network of volunteers of DRCSC having many initiatives in the
region; Basudha- an NGO having a collection of 540 traditional rice varieties, Social Upliftment Trust, a grassroots
organisation and volunteers1 of SCAI. There were professors from China, students from European universities and
journalist from Switzerland besides farmers, volunteers, students and professionals from all over the country walking
together from three places in Purulia and Jharkhand. They finally met at Bhagabandh to walk together to conclude the
physical yatra at Basudha. But then the inner journey may have continued further for many of them. Some of them were
deeply impressed by the standards of sanitation among Santhal tribals in Purulia; their aesthetics and willingness to
share knowledge. Gujarati farmers could not resist expressing a feeling that many farm implements from Saurashtra
could be used there; similarly, the lack of water conservation efforts by state and civil society groups (except service
centre) also appeared a bit strange to the Yatris.
The contradictions in developmental processes were obvious; naxalites were active in some of the regions; police
guarded the way in the night when we passed through certain villages; but will poverty and slow rate of economic
development not legitimize the growth of extremist movement? Pressing concern was as to how do we engage with angry
and other youth and generate more entrepreneurial development options for them? Fellow Yatris sang Tagore, Nazrul
and other folk songs bringing out the living cultural diversity and richness so poignantly.
A week long walk, every summer and winter in
different parts of the country for more than a
decade to recognise, respect and reward the
grassroots innovators and traditional knowledge
holders, creative children and centenarians has
taught us a great deal about genius at grassroots.
Walking in Purulia and Bankura, and Patamda,
drought prone regions of West Bengal and
Jharkhand was reminder of the cultural richness
of a semi-arid landscape. With single crop of
paddy in most parts of Purulia, fields after fields
showed the standing dried stubble of paddy.
Animals could graze anywhere but would not find
much greens. Water in the ponds would dry up
in the next two to three months. Cycle of
migration would begin if not begun already. For a
region that has remained deprived of many basic
amenities, occurrence of extremists’ violence is
not unexpected. But why would people protest
if the welfare arm of the state, or
opportunities from markets or civil
society could extend to the people
in need? Some succour was
provided by a few NGOs involved
in organisation of the Shodh Yatra.
But a great deal remained to be done.
The life of Santhal tribals was a
lesson in simplicity, frugality but also
submission to the situation of scarcity
of basic needs that existed. Ayodhya
hills are quite rich in biodiversity
and forests. But, should that be the
reason for so much poverty to exist?
In most houses, one would only
notice dried fallen or chopped wood
for fuel purposes. More than the
food, the fuel seemed scarce. And
that meant long hours for women.
The knowledge for survival was so
abundant and yet valued so little, not
only by outsiders but even many of
the local people. Why else would
something known and effective in
one village be not known to other
people suffering from the same problem
just two kilometers away.
A herbal healer Gohiram Soren,
Celingdha disclosed his formulation
for asthma where he uses the
combination of four plants viz.
‘Kosum’ (Schleichera oleosa),
‘Kumbir’ (Careya arborea), ‘Bahera’
(Terminalia bellirica) and ‘chatni’
(Alstonia scholaris). We called up our
colleagues at NIF, Ahmedabad to
40
find the available literature on these plants. After
the scrutiny of scientific literature, it was found
that out of the four plants, two were reported for
asthma, the third was reported for cough and
cold, and the fourth one was reported for
pneumonia, which proves the credibility of the
folk claim made by Soren if such proof was
needed. Another herbal healer Sitaram Murmu
who has a herbal garden consisting of nearly 100
species in it, disclosed the formulation for malaria,
which consists of
combination of well
known and less
known plants in
classical literature.
Many other distinctive
practices for treating
several diseases like
Mr. Sitaram Murmu
jaundice, typhoid, and
asthma were also documented. The informed
consent of the healers was obtained on video and
paper wherever possible so that further research
could be started. Some of the healers would also
be supported to streng-then their local phar-macy.
As we walked through the forests and talked to
the local communities, it became more and more
apparent that even the tribal societies were
becoming ‘vertical’ rather than maintaining their
‘horizontal’ nature. State interventions, weak as
they are, have created hopes of vertical structures
coming to rescue for the local communities
without contributing to the strengthening of local
structures. This is a challenge not just in West
Bengal but all over. The knowledge network at
local level has to be strengthened so that we do
not find so much gap at such a short distance.
In most of the schools we visited, before organising
an idea competition, we played a small game. We
asked everybody as to what did they do with the
match stick after lighting a candle or fire.
Everybody said that they threw it away. Our next
question was, imagine how much of wood was
being wasted when millions of people around the
world threw such sticks away. Everybody realised
the point. At this stage, we asked them to redesign
the stick so that it can last longer. Then followed
very interesting ideas almost everywhere in the
same vein. One could put the combustible
substance on both ends of the stick or make the
stick longer. Stick could also be reduced to one
third size and popped out by pressing the box
having a hole and then picked with a holder. The
extinguished stick can then be dipped in a small
bottle with quick dry combustible
substance so that one could dip it and
ignite as long as possible. The point
was quickly made that to invent or
innovate one did not always need lot
of material resources, a big workshop
or too much of education. Anybody,
by changing the context of the
problem, could discover new ways
of solving it. In some places, we
followed up this exercise with another
one. We asked everybody to find
different uses of the extinguished
stick. The ideas that emerged quickly
ranged from making a toothpick,
painting stick, clearing nails to putting
vermilion mark on the forehead. More
than forty such uses were mentioned.
Being innovative was easy, and it did
not require a special skill. The new
technique was brought out in few
minutes. After that the students were
challenged to come out with new ideas
and in many places, they did think of
absolutely original ideas.
In Basudha, Binodbaati we organised
a two-phased competition for new
ideas on the last day. In first one,
we called two boys, one from the
village and another from Kolkata and
asked them same questions about the
uses of match stick. And then opened
it to everybody. The little boy from
the village scored much higher than
the other boy from Kolkata. In the
second round, everybody was asked
to come out with an idea of a new
product. One of them, Bapi Roy came
out with a fascinating idea of a four
sided television. In most of the
meetings in rural areas, people prefer
to sit in a circle so that they can look
at each other and at the same time,
enjoy a fire in the winter or a folk
theatre performance. The multimedia
database that we were showing
required people to sit behind each
other and face other person’s back.
The suggestion of the four-sided
television would make it possible for
people to sit in a circle and watch the
programme and also look at each
other. On further investigation, we
found that no such product had been
developed by anybody so far.
On the way from Patamda in
Jharkhand, another student Sanjay
Karmakar thought about a fishing rod
with a siren and a light. The idea was
that many times while waiting for the
fish to be trapped, the mind gets
diverted and one misses the fish.
Alarm and the light will be switched
on the moment the bait is bitten by
the fish. Akash Kumar from Patamda
gave an idea to develop a 'ludo' for
the blind and illiterate it on a poster.
All along the Shodh Yatra route, we
gave prizes to the students who came
out with such very creative ideas.
All the Shodh Yatris who viewed the
exercise realised that when children
could be so creative and discover their
own potential so easily, why could
not they, as adults, also innovate?
Discussion on this issue kept them
animated in the whole journey and
some of them even started thinking
of new ideas.
While passing through Kashipur
crossroads, we had a roadside meeting
in the evening. Initially, the response
was lukewarm. We took out the laptop
and showed the videos of some of
the innovations. The amphibious
cycle developed by Mohd. Saidullah
of Bihar, which worked on road as
well as in water, was always an
instantaneous hit with the viewers. So
were many other videos like washing
cum exercising machine of Remya
Jose, tree climbing device of Appachan
and Mushtaq Dhanjibhai, a polio
affected person for modifying a three
wheel scooter which he could drive,
Kanakdas for a cycle, which converted
When did you talk to nature last?
41
Nepal Pramanik
the shocks generated by bumps on the road into
propulsion through gears linked to the rear wheel,
etc., were also appreciated. The bystanders than
understood the point. One of them told us about
a workshop mechanic who made paddy threshers
and we went there to see his designs. Another
one mentioned about a young boy Raju who had
developed an FM station, which broadcasts music
at no cost to anyone. We could not meet him on
that day but later we managed to contact him.
Though his station was illegal, he was performing
a great community service. He did not broadcast
any advertisements. He had a phone-in-service
in which anybody could request for a song or
announce a spiritual or social event. He had such
a great understanding of the sequence and the
location of about 2500 songs on different CDs
and cassettes that
he
could
immediately
locate and play the
desired song. He
also publicised
g o v e r n m e n t ’s
programmes for
Raju
polio vaccine,
education, and other activities. He had developed
a transmitter with 25 km range in just Rs. 5000
as against commercial transmitter with about 70
km range costing Rs. 3,00,000. The problem was
that public policy did not favour a low cost
innovation, which could create tremendous impact
on local economies and socio-cultural conditions.
New performers could become popular and thus
might get livelihood opportunities by being invited
to various functions and local administration could
monitor the proper use of such transmitters.
Madsudhan Kalandi had made ‘Chaudal’, a battery
operated boat model in Mekhada village Kashipur.
Nepal Pramanik had such an extraordinary skill
in making clay parts that he could make them shine
through a clay polish. There was a particular
kind of soil, which was used for polishing. Sushanto
Saihis had used wooden triangular frame in his
c y c l e
instead of
steel frame.
Surayakanta
Murmu had
made
a
simple
torch light
Battery operated boat mode of
by joining
madhusudan kalandi
old cells without too much of casing
and other attachments.
While passing through the villages,
we honoured many herbal leaders and
senior citizens above 90 years or 100
years. Several recipe competitions
were organised through which we
learnt about the creative uses of either
uncultivated plants or less obvious
parts of plants or different processes
of using existing materials. The notion
that the food of the rich is quite poor
and that of the poor often is rich, at
least nutritionally, came out forcefully
in several recipe competitions.
Similarly biodiversity competitions
were organised among the school
children all along the Shodh Yatra route
to assess their knowledge on the locally
available herbal resources. It was a
delight to notice rich awareness of
the students about the uses of several
plants and also to know that transfer
of this knowledge was actually taking
Recipe competition
poor people who can not afford
chemicals and others who did not want
to use chemicals, this could provide
a sustainable alternative. It is a different
matter although that the Agriculture
Department may have no incentive
to diffuse such non-chemical, nonmonetary technology, which helped
people become self-reliant. Farmer
researchers at Basudha have been using
pigeonpea leaves for eight years to
control "mutha" (Cyperus rotundus)
grass, a difficult weed of paddy field.
Creativity in scarcity:
Mohit Majhi, a centenarian being
honoured
place from the older generation to the
younger. The students with
outstanding entries were rewarded
with prizes.
Weed Control in Paddy by using
the mulch of pigeonpea leaves:
This was a common practice among
a small community at Ayodhya hills.
They used pigeon pea leaves as mulch
before transplanting paddy. When
we searched the literature databases
in the evening we did not come across
any report of this kind. In Cassava,
the leaves had been used but there
was no such widespread practice
anywhere in the world. This could,
after validation, become a very
important technology for weed control
and soil fertility management. For
While passing through a village
Loahardih, we came across
extraordinary designs on the mud walls
of the huts. The Santhal tribal people
did not have much material resources
inside the hut but maintained a very
high degree of cleanliness outside.
The art work on the walls by Sumita
Mahato, Sonali, Sabitri and Rebati
Mahato
were
outstanding
contributions. Why wouldn’t they be
recognised as artists? How do we
create platform for such grassroots
artists to share the richness of art and
culture in everyday life? Couldn’t some
of them become designers of walls
and wall murals in the cities and
neighbouring villages? Why such
skilful artists should be considered only
unskilled labourers while conceiving
various poverty alleviation and
employment programme? How could
India become a knowledge society
42
without learning to value the knowledge and culture
of such artists? In an earlier shodh yatra in western
Uttar Pradesh, we had come across an outstanding
painting on a heap of dung cakes. Wherever
creative women found a space they could call their
own, they gave vent to their creative impulses.
Creating music out of leaves:
Preeti
Phatik Bawri was an
outstanding performer
who could create very
deep classical tones in
the music performed
by using just any leaf.
He demonstrated his
Phatik Bawri
talent in Jorda village.
All the shodh yatris
were spellbound listening to his extraordinary music.
Samar Kumar Dutta in Chakaltor village could tell
the day of the week for any date hundreds of
years before or after the date. He seemed to have
a system of calculation by which he could quickly
find out which day of the week, a particular date
would be.
A herbal skin cream:
While having
roadside
meeting in the
small town of
B a n g l a
Indapur, we
were talking
Preeti a b o u t
innovations
and invoking bystanders to help us locate somebody
who has developed a new solution to any local
problem. For more than half an hour, we could
not find any innovator though there were a few
herbal healers whom we honoured. Then came a
little girl, Preeti Choudhary who brought in her
bag, a skin cream made by her mother. They had
heard our appeal on the public address system.
This was a very remarkable moment. The
innovation by Mrs. Rina Choudhary, mother of
Preeti, could be seen by everybody through the
samples Preeti brought. She claimed
that this was very good for skin and
had a good fragrance too.
Prashant Bhui from Aailtya village in
Bakura district had designed a cyclebased mobile charger. Deeplai Pal of
Danga village shared the idea of
pumping water employing a joy ride
used by children. In the same village,
Bappa Ghorai gave an idea of
generating energy from the wind thrust
created by a fan.
very similar to ‘Swarna’ variety
although farmers grew it without much
fertiliser and pesticide. In fact, many
farmers grew it completely organically.
They got about eighteen quintals per
hectare yield, which was comparable
to the best local variety but without
any additional cost of purchased inputs.
The traders mixed the grains of ‘Asit
Kalma’ with that of ‘Swarna’. Most
of the farmers growing this variety
had small holdings. They could not
afford to sell it with a separate name.
Even if one pooled the production of
Developing new paddy variety:
"Asit Kalma"
A
young
farmer, Asit
Dey went to
see
his
relatives
around 17
years ago.
Asit Dey
While coming
back, he saw
some plants which looked very
different. He decided to collect some
seeds and then grew them separately.
Every year, he selected the plants
which were disease free, did not have
much attack of the pests and yielded
well. After a few years, he developed
a variety, which he gave to some of
his friends and neighbours for
evaluation. In the last five years, the
variety has covered almost all the fields
suitable for the purpose in the village.
Farmers called that variety as ‘Asit
Kalma’. The traders found the grains
Shodhyatris savoured 14
local aromatic varieties of
rice conserved at Basudha
by Dr Debal Deb and his
team.
this variety by all the farmers of the
village, it would not fill even half of
the truck. Thus, the variety had
diffused but the consumers and the
market did not seem to know about
it. When asked about the experience,
Asit said, “I have seen what Basudha
had done. They are maintaining more
than 500 varieties, I have developed
only one. I am extremely happy that
other farmers have liked it so much.
I don’t expect anything in return.”
...to be continued in next issue
1
Several volunteers helped in organizing the 20th Shodh Yatra. It is difficult to recognize the contribution of everybody, but some of them
are: SCAI members: Jaydeep Mandal, Koyal Biswas, Subajit Bhaskar, Shyan Ahmed Khan, Rajiv Gupta and Anamika. Vivekanand Vikas Kendra
(VVK)- Mrs Ashru Bhumik (Didimuni), Ajit Roy, Ramnath Murmu (RRSC), DRCSC- Ardhendu Chatterjee, Sanjib Chatterjee, Sandhya Mandal,
Sujit Mitra, Milan, Anshuman, Sunit Mahato, Sachin Mahato, Badal, Prashanto, Bablu, Social Upliftment Trust (SUT)- Rajeev Ranjan Pandey,
Shashikant Ojha, Pawan Mahato, Basant Mahato, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies- Dr Debal Deb, and Jagat Taran Ghosh.
When did you consume organic food last?
43
DIALOGUE
"
Indian creativity to solve US problems
Fred Dillon
HopeLab, Redwood City, CA 94063-1957
[email protected], www.hopelab.org
I am writing from a non-profit organization
called HopeLab near San Francisco, United
States. We work to develop innovative solutions
for young people with chronic illness.
HopeLab is currently focusing on the problem
of childhood obesity, and we are looking for
new ideas for products that can get kids to
be more physically active. To that end,
HopeLab is sponsoring an international online
competition called "Ruckus Nation"
(www.ruckusnation.com) that challenges
participants to imagine innovative products
that will increase physical activity among kids
ages 11 to 14. The competition is open to
people of all ages and prizes will be awarded
to contestants in four categories – middle
school, high school, college and others.
Those who compete in Ruckus Nation may
see their ideas come to life; the best product
ideas will be prototyped, tested, and broadly
distributed to young people.
I am writing to see if you might be willing
to let individuals associated with the National
Innovation Foundation know about the
opportunity to participate in Ruckus Nation. It
is a great opportunity for individuals to be
innovative, help tackle a complex social problem,
and potentially win a financial award for their
efforts.
(Sure, we will share the information at our web
site and also with our readers of Honey Bee. Ed)
"
‘Medicine Men’
Mora McLagan
Keo Films, [email protected]
I am writing from Keo Films in London, who
make documentary films for worldwide
distribution, with a strong anthropological focus.
We have just finished work on a new series
‘Medicine Men’ which is exploring different
health problems around the world and local
solutions-whether in the form of ‘alternative’
or traditional medicines, or shamanistic
treatment.
In conjunction with the series, we
are exploring the possibility of
setting up a global information
website about Medical Biopiracy,
and the necessary protection of
Indigenous Knowledge systems. We
have also been exploring the
possibility of building on the database
sites of TKDL
youtube under Indiainnovates. Your
idea is very good and worth pursuing.
Ed)
"
http://203.200.90.6/tkdl/Lang
Default/common/Home.asp?GL=Eng
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
technology/2858253.stm
Obviously there are some very large
practical and ethical issues to consider
in undertaking such a project, and
it would be very helpful to speak
to somebody working in the
campaign field already at this very
early stage, to seek advice on what
current
medical
bio-piracy
campaigns exist, and who the best
experts would be to advise and
collaborate with in such a venture.
(It would be wonderful to discuss
your ideas. We appreciate your efforts.
Ed)
"
YouDev
Lawrence
Institute of Development Studies
(IDS), University of Sussex
[email protected], www.ids.ac.uk
I wanted to find out whether the
Honey Bee Network is planning or
knows of anything like something
I am calling YouDev. Basically it
is the YouTube model of shared
user-generated video content, but
focusing on illuminating innovations
in development—in health,
agriculture, water, governance,
mobilization, social protection etc.
I would be very interested in your
reaction and perhaps in collaboration
if you thought this was of value
to the network.
(We are thinking about Global Gian
as an on line incubation platform.
We have put a lot of content at
Innovations
Vijay Puniani
Zenith Homes LLC
[email protected]
I read an interesting article in the
Chicago Tribune. I was very
impressed with the way innovative
way you are trying to help the poor
people in the remote areas of India.
I am not an educated person like
you, but I would like to help the
poor in any which way I can. I
had started a small charitable
organization during the Tsunami
disaster. I personally went to South
India and helped over 80 families
rebuild their lives.
I still have some funds left over
from that effort as well as the
capacity to raise some more funds.
I like to personally meet with the
people I am helping, and get
somewhat involved in their lives
then simply writing a cheque.
I am planning a road trip all over
India, covering over 12,000 km
over a period of few months.
During this trip I plan on helping
poor people with their health care
or educational needs. I was
wondering if there is any way I
can be of any help to you, during
my “Bharat Yatra”
(There are a number of ways in
which you can help. Adoption of
some versatile and young innovator
by sponsoring them through monthly
monetary grants/or innovation
fellowship, supporting one or a few
innovators who are past their prime,
innovations that would make the life
of people easier if disseminated for
free but which do not have sufficient
economic return for the investor. E.g.
Low cost check dams, pulley with
stopper, head load reducing device
etc, some low cost version of
educational kits. Ed)
44
"
On line and off line global collaboration
Cornelius Herstatt
Institute for Technology and Innovation
Management, Hamburg University of Technology,
Germany, [email protected]
www.tuhh.de/tim; www.global-innovation.net;
www.eitim.org
I am involved in user innovation work for a
long time (you will find some of our work in
Journals like the Product Development
Management Journal, R+D-Management, Int.
Journal of Technology Management, Int. Journal
of Innovation and Technology management or
Policy Research or at www.leaduser.org).
Besides, I have started the research initiative
“Innovation for Silver Markets”, where we look
closer at Product Innovation for aging and
handicapped people (involving them into the
innovation work).
I feel that we work in similar fields and I would
really like to do something together with your
group.
Quiz ???
Tell us what the
girl in the picture
is trying to do?
(Hint: There is
something attached
to the thread.)
Attractive prizes to
be won. Send your
answers to the
editorial address.
(We do encourage online and offline
collaboration across the world. We
acknowledge
the
outstanding
contributors to common pool, one
can contribute ideas for product
development, share information about
them, post their profiles and let users
know, which new add-on was
provided
through
whose
contribution. Grassroots Innovators
deserve global support. Ed)
The innovation of the villagers has
not only devised a system to recycle
energy but also to restore the
oxygen supply of Calcutta and act
as a battery to trap the dust and
pollution generated by the city.
Whereas the City acts aggressively
towards the Country, the latter acts
innovatively and symbiotically and
restores the balance.
"
(We fully agreed with the need for
symbiosis. Ed)
The Future of Our Cities
Aditi Nath Sarkar.
[email protected]
"
I am sending you a copy of “The
Future of Our Cities”, a video
programme that I made with my
colleagues at Shape, Calcutta, and
that was nationally telecast on
Doordarshan. It is a somewhat long
programme, but I believe well worth
the time.
Doel Trivedy
Going To School
[email protected]
www.goingtoschool.com
It fundamentally seeks to pose the
question ‘Does the ‘Future’ belong
only to our cities? Can cities survive
without the ‘Country’? Or may we
work towards a country-city
symbiosis?’ It tells the story of the
wetlands of East Calcutta, where
the local villagers in informal alliance
with the lower stratum of Calcutta
Municipal Corporation engineers
have innovated over the past 100
years, a remarkable system for the
management of the city’s
liquid and solid waste. The city has
no other waste management
system.
The liquid waste is canalized into
shallow fish-farms where under
strong sunlight over a number of
days, the bacterial count is radically
diminished and blue-green algae
grows. The algae also replenish the
oxygen in the air and these wetlands
are Calcutta’s lungs. The solid waste
is separated into organic and
inorganic and the organic waste
serves as fertilizer for the local
vegetable gardens that provide one
third of Calcutta’s fresh vegetables.
Be! an entrepreneur
We at “Going to School”, a nonprofit based in Delhi, are dedicated
to creating media (radio, books,
films) that encourage underprivileged
children to go to school.
Our new effort “BE!” is a multi-media
project that aims to inspire young
people from underprivileged
backgrounds
to
become
entrepreneurs and create businesses
that solves economic, social and
environmental problems in their
community and beyond.
We’ve just begun researching the
project, and would like to find
entrepreneurs from underprivileged
backgrounds who have the integrated
vision to create viable businesses with
a larger social or economic impact.
(We are carrying your story in this
issue. Thank you. Ed)
"
Postmen as scouts
Sandhya kanneganti
[email protected]
We seek your support in moving
forward to design the Innovations
Program of Dept. of Posts and for
putting in place an effective grant
making system. We are looking for
Whendid
didyou
youlast
last
think
meet
of a an
new
ideachildren
last? that you did not know the answer to their question?
When
confess
to innovator?
your
45
support in terms of ideas, tools, processes,
evaluation criteria, product performance
benchmarks etc. for developing the Innovations
Program. We would be grateful if you or any one
from you team members could provide us some
relevant inputs in this regard.
that you are driving and also seek
opportunities that I can help with.
(We will be happy to help .We also wish to involve
postmen in scouting innovators and recognize
them for the same. Ed)
"
"
(We certainly need all the support in
this innovation movement. We
appreciate your voluntary help. Ed)
Volunteering for Shodh
Yatra
Charlie Berenger
[email protected]
Honey Bee in Haryana
Arjun Runganadhan
[email protected]
I am working with an NPO known as ABLE
Charities located in Village Behrola, District
Faridabad, Haryana. There are about 600 orphans
and children of widows, who are indigent (below
the poverty-line). They are currently enrolled in
local schools, but supported, along with the tuition
fees and other expenses wholly by ABLE, as the
ABLE Charitable School is yet to be built.
Your knowledge-based programs are very
impressive. However, I was unable to discover
which states you operated in (other than
Gujarat), hence this e-mail to find out more
about how you disseminate knowledge about
innovators and innovation useful for rural
children and adults.
I discovered that you are planning to
be here in October. As I’ve got some
time on my hands I wondered if I
could be of any help leading up to or
during the UK Shodh Yatra. (Maybe
I could use my experiences with you
in UP to help explain the Shodh Yatra
to bystanders, or perhaps bring some
CDs of the programme for
distribution or playback.
Unfortunately we had to postpone the
Shodh Yatra because we could not
mobilize our efforts: those who
would
help
develop
the route for walk and fix meetings,
scout creative people and involve local
community members.
(I am so happy to hear about your excellent work,
please do visit www.sristi.org, www.nifindia.org
and www.indiainnovates.org You can also see the
videos at India innovates at youtube. Ed)
(Thanks for your very kind offer of
help. It would be great to have you on
the yatra. It is now planned in
September from Cambridge to North
Sea.
Contact
[email protected]. Ed)
"
"
Voluntary help in innovation movement
Bullocks to generate power
Srikrishna Shrinivas
[email protected]
Avikar Munday
[email protected]
I was brought up in Chennai, India and came
over to the US to pursue my master’s and a
career. As I track the growth in Indian economy,
I have been truly fascinated by the amount of
innovation that is emanating from India. I came
across the work that you have done and am
truly fascinated by your grassroots efforts that
have had such incredible impact.
It is heartwarming to see your efforts
to foster innovation. I have some
ideas/questions.Can a female buffalo
or a cow used as a draught animal
(similar to a horse), it may affect milk
production but could be an idea worth
pursuing. Is it feasible to use draught
animals to produce electricity in
villages the way they were use to
squeeze oil, pump water using water
wheels etc. I can visualize a team of
animals moving in a circle and
I am very eager to connect with you to learn
more about the current aspects of Innovation
that is happening in India and things in particular
powering a suitable electric generator
fixed in the center. With the number
of cows/buffaloes in villages, this can
be another source of electricity.
(Such use of milk animal is done
routinely in Bangladesh and to a
limited extent in India also. Similarly
generation of power by bullocks has
been around as a concept and
technology for a long time, it has not
proved much viable so far, but with
improvement in generators, it
might happen. We appreciate that you
wrote and explored your ideas with us.
Ed)
"
UK Shodh Yatra
Dr Satyendra Singh
[email protected]
I am a doctor in the UK, very
appreciative of your thoughts and the
‘yatras’. My
own
journeys
rediscovering my own country started
in September 2004. This led to my
own thoughts on supporting the
efforts of a Himalayan NGO to start
and sustain a small rural Himalayan
hospital, and on biodiversity
conservation. The journeys have
continued regularly since then getting
more focused now on health,
education and environment. I would
love to know more about your Shodh
Yatras, and look forward to your
yatra in UK.
(I am deeply impressed with your own
way to discover your roots in such an
organic and authentic manner. In a
way every Shodh Yatra is a search for
greater authenticity. It is also an
attempt to celebrate creativity and
innovation at grassroots. Ed)
"
Testing bore wells without
installing a pump
Srinivas R
[email protected]
I am a Mechanical engineer (Machine
design), specialized in pumps and
motors. I invented an instrument to
solve the problem faced by farmers
46
The winner of the quiz question asked
in Honey Bee 18 (2) April-Jun2007 issue
is Mr Suresh
Muthukulam from
Thiruvanantha-puram, Kerala
He says that the cylindrical wooden box
hanging outdooor will get free air
circulation, light and protection form
ants and termites, it will act as a suitable
dwelling/shelter for honeybees.
Congratulations Mr Suresh!! You have
won books worth Rs 500.
and bore well owners to install a pump and
motor for particular depth in the bore well
for continuous availability of water by using
visual technology. This is an instrument to
test bore wells without installing a pump and
motor directly and also to avoid the preinvestment made on electricity, pump, motor,
pipes, cable, etc. I developed an instrument
to scan bore wells to identify casing length,
casing condition, formation of the bore well,
number of dry gaps, number of super water
gaps, direction of flow of water and total
depth of the bore well etc. I got a patent for
this instrument. The instrument is
successfully working and more than five
hundred bore wells have been scanned.
comments on Honey Bee magazine from
those who received the magazine from
me. Can I send it to you?
Great! Send us the comments. And send us
detail of your Neem product. We can also
try to test it. Ed)
"
Innovative changes to the
bullock-carts
Krishna Rai
[email protected]
For many years, I had thought of two
improvements in the bullock-cart. The
first would be to install the simple and
relatively inexpensive ratchets with pawls
on the wheels, so that when the oxen
have to struggle to take the fully
loaded cart up a steep mountain, they
may pause and recover their breath
(which they now can not as they
must continue to exert maximum
effort till they come to a level stretch
of the road). The second would be
to have a simple wooden block of a
brake appliied on the wheels through
a lever by the cart whenever the
loaded cart has to go down hill.
(We really appreciate your ideas and
will certainly pass on your suggestions
to some of the grassroots innovators
who have developed bullock cart
based innovations. Ed)
By using this technology we can avoid
repetitive drilling of new bore wells by
repairing existing old one. Please kindly
suggest me to sell this technology, for further
R&D works.
(We
invite
you
to
write
to
[email protected] or TePP program at
DSIR. Honey Bee Network primarily supports
grassroots innovators without professional
degrees. You can also apply for Inventors of
India program at CIIE. Ed)
"
QNeem
Ankush Kumar
[email protected]
I am from Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand. I
am making a product named “qneem” which
is useful for killing harmful bacteria without
causing any harm to the human body. It is
made up of neem. I have collected about 50
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others
only a green thing that stands in the way.
Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some
scarce see Nature at all.
But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is
Imagination itself.
- William Blake, 1799, The Letters
47

July-Dec 2007

Transcription

Similar documents

Bee Wise - BEE Surprised - Somerset County Park Commission

Uncle Jer`s Bee Show - South San Francisco

here - Megan Eileen McDonough

Family Fun Day - Coastal Discovery Museum

L M S STUDENTS WINS GEOGRAPHIC BEE

CENTER JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

level 1 Sample Exam Items

Success as Sweet as Honey

Solaro Estate Winery