Contents

When Lack of Knowledge is Not a Constraint: Nathubhai ............................... 10

Habit of Seeing the Obvious

Once upon a time in the country of Japan there lived two frogs, one of whom made his home in a ditch near the town of Osaka, on the sea coast, while the other dwelt in a clear little stream, which ran through the city of Kyoto. At such a great distance apart, they had never even heard of each other; but, funnily enough, the idea came into both their heads at once that they should like to see a little of the world, and the frog who lived at Kyoto wanted to visit Osaka, and the frog who lived at Osaka wished to go to Kyoto, where the great Mikado had his palace. So one fine morning in the spring they both set out along the road that led from Kyoto to Osaka, one from one end and the other from the other. The journey was more tiring than they expected, for they did not know much about traveling, and halfway between the two towns there arose a mountain, which had to be climbed. It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but there they were at last, and what was the surprise of each to see another frog before him! They looked at each other for a moment without speaking, and then fell into conversation, explaining the cause of their meeting so far from their homes. It was delightful to find that they both felt the same wishto learn a little more of their native countryand as there was no sort of hurry they stretched themselves out in a cool, damp place, and agreed that they would have a good rest before they parted to go their ways. What a pity we are not bigger, said the Osaka frog; for then we could see both towns from here, and tell if it is worth our while going on. Oh, that is easily managed, returned the Kyoto frog. We have only got to stand up on our hind legs, and hold onto each other, and then we can each look at the town he is traveling to. This idea pleased the Osaka frog so much that he at once jumped up and put his front paws on the shoulder of his friend, who had risen also. There they both stood, stretching themselves as high as they could, and holding each other tightly, so that they might not fall down. The Kyoto frog turned his nose towards Osaka, and the Osaka frog turned his nose towards Kyoto; but the foolish things forgot that when they stood up their great eyes lay in the backs of their heads, and that though their noses might point to the places to which they wanted to go, their eyes beheld the places from which they had come. Dear me! cried the Osaka frog, Kyoto is exactly like Osaka. It is certainly not worth such a long journey. I shall go home! If I had had any idea that Osaka was only a copy of Kyoto I should never have traveled all this way, exclaimed the frog from Kyoto, and as he spoke he took his hands from his friends shoulders, and they both fell down on the grass. Then they took a polite farewell of each other, and set off for home again, and to the end of their lives they believed that Osaka and Kyoto, which are as different to look at as two towns can be, were as alike as two peas.
Sometimes we go far to realize how close we have been to our own vision and impressions in life. Close not just in terms of distance but also in terms of openness. Our minds are closed, our vision is myopic, we are unable to chart out new paths because we are too comfortable in seeing the world forever with the frogs eyes. By remaining in a comfortable zone of consciousness how will innovations occur or if occur, be noticed? If we dont court uncertainty, strange places, people, cultures and courses of actions, will we ever walk on new paths? Frogs say, no :Ed.

Malaysia Innovates ............ 14

Uncle Bugs Tan! ................... 15 Walking in the Land of Paradoxes: 26th Shodh Yatra - Part I ....... 18 Aesthetics of Anger and Alienation: Bastar Shodhyatra - Part II ............................ 4 Bringing Home to Them: Story of a Bird Nest Distributor ..................................... 13 Small Towns, Big Minds ................................ 16 Lest We Forget: Practices from Old Honey Bee .................................................... 24 China Innovates: CHIN - X ........................... 26 Work Hard, Live Longer! .............................. 30 Handlooms: Innovations LOOMing Large! .... 31 Honey Bee Humms Gujarat .......................................................... 32 Odisha .......................................................... 34 Tamil Nadu ..................................................... 36 News and Views ......................................... 40 Dialogue ........................................................ 43

Editor Anil K Gupta Editorial Advisors Riya Sinha Chokkakula, Vijaya Sherry Chand Associate Editors Somya Tyagi, Anamika Dey Science Advisor: Sumati Sampemane Editorial Support Team
Kirit K Patel, Sadhana Gupta, Nitin Maurya, Vivek Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Maheshwari, Deepa Tripathi, Chetan Patel, Purshottam Patel, Ramesh Patel, Jyoti Capoor, Mahesh Patel, Vipin Kumar, Nirmal Sahay, Ravi Kumar, Hema Patel, Mukesh Chauhan

Honey Bee Regional Newsletters

Aama Akha Pakha (Odia) Dr Balaram Sahu Keshari Enclave, B- Block, Flat No-401 Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar-12 Odisha, [email protected] Hittalagida (Kannada) Dr T N Prakash Department of Agricultural Economics University of Agricultural Science, GKVK, Bangalore 560065 Karnataka. [email protected] Ini Karshakan Samsarikkatte (Malayalam) Fr Hubby Mathew & Mr T J James Peermade Development Society, Peermade, Idukki 685531, Kerala [email protected] Loksarvani (Gujarati) and Sujh-Bujh Aas Paas ki (Hindi) SRISTI, P O Box No.15050 Ambawadi Ahmedabad - 380015 Gujarat [email protected] Num Vali Velanmai (Tamil) Mr P Vivekanandan 45, T P M Nagar,Virattipathu, Madurai - 625010 Tamil Nadu [email protected] Palle Srujana (Telugu) Brig Pogula Ganesham VSM (Retd) C/o Ms. Aruna Ganesham, 102, Vayupuri, Sainikpuri Post Secunderabad-500 094 Andhra Pradesh [email protected]

Graphics and Design: Unnikrishnan Illustrations: Manoj Bhingare, Palash Graphics Administrative Team R P S Yadav, R Baskaran, Bhoomi Shah, Sumitra Patel, Devshi Desai, Sonali Barma Editorial Address
Honey Bee, C/o Prof Anil K Gupta Indian Institute of Management Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380015, Gujarat, India Phone: 91-79-66324921; Fax: 91-79-26307341 Email: [email protected], [email protected] (http://www.sristi.org)

Published by Riya Sinha Chokkakula on behalf of SRISTI Innovations, AES Boys Hostel Campus, Near University Library, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad-380015 Printed at M/s Bansidhar Offset, Ahmedabad

EDITORIAL

The Unmet Expectations

When a social movement to support grassroots innovators gets institutional support, expectations rise, but they also acquire more assertive forms. That is the way it should be. When many of these expectations are not met, one has to ask whether social movement has started missing its moorings, or the institutions are losing touch with the verve which raised these expectations in the first place. Or, may be, in some cases, even if very few, the innovators are expecting too much, even beyond what the markets may bear or permit. But nothing that innovators may say, demand or expect, will ever reduce the burden of delivery on their shoulders of those who have raised these expectations of providing support to innovators at their door step. I remember that way back in 1997, when GIAN (Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network) was set up, one of the first principles we devised was that no innovator will be ever asked to come to office. Our support should be delivered at their door step. They have done their job, by sharing their innovation with society, almost always unhesitatingly. It was the turn of society now to reciprocate. But then sufficient material resources have eluded the Network and the institutions spawned by it to do justice to all the expectations. But could not we have done more, better, and faster? Let us reflect on this issue candidly. It is true that many a times innovators have expectations beyond what current trends in market may sustain, at least in the present form of the product. But the barriers to transition of a concept, idea or prototype to market friendly utility are not always insurmountable. Why have resource constraints plagued this movement for so long? But is that the only reason why transition has been slower. Is it not because we could not forge sufficiently strong partnership between ideators and those who could design these into final market friendly shape? When institutional relationships are mediated by social expectations, there are possibilities of undue expectation arising on either side. Institutions expect that innovator should have a lot of patience even if the rate of value addition in the innovation is very slow. The innovator expects that this is the duty of the institution to pursue all the steps required to test the market, redesign the product or take it to market and get him the benefit. Both expectations are misplaced, but moderation may not take place easily. Expectation that after filing patent or getting to the next stage of innovation maturation, there will be a queue of interested entrepreneurs wanting to license the technology after paying a huge amount may be unfair. But if we have not made sufficient effort by writing, meeting and pursuing with potential licensees, then it is certainly our inadequacy.

Heightened expectations on the part of innovators also arise from their belief that their innovation is most unique and deserve wider recognition. In some cases, it is. But in many cases, it is not. When prior art search is done, a feedback needs to be sent in local language to an innovator summarizing the context in which her innovation has to be seen. For want of resources, such an accountability has not been strictly enforced. And yet, it is due to the innovators so that they can moderate their expectations. Barring a few cases, in which innovators may not agree to disclose the technical details completely and thus go through formal testing, in most cases, it is possible to understand the need for disclosure as well as scientific tests. The problem arises when scientific institutions may not be able to give sufficient priority and thus validation may get delayed. However, this is a problem which has to be solved by the movement and the institution. In this age of accountability, heightened expectations of transparency and empowerment of grassroots voices, it is very difficult to continue to scout when thousands of scouted ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge practices remain to be validated. It is strange but true that we have not been able to mobilize resources for even 2000 practices to be validated and valorized every year so that at least 200 may go to the next stage and perhaps 20 may make a mark through commercial or social diffusion. At the current rate of validation, it will take centuries before justice can be done to those whose knowledge has already been documented. A crisis of expectations is inevitable. The mismatch is institutionalized in the nature of resources available. No matter how creative and hard working a team may be, there is a limit to which they can stretch the boundaries of other institutions involved in value chain development. The corporate sector has not found the ideas of the grassroots people attractive enough to be taken forward through their own resources, infrastructure or network. The State can always have an excuse to justify stinginess in supporting a very large, empirical and verifiable set of expectations claiming limitation of resource. If such a chasm between the expectation of creative people and the supply side institutions continues, it wont be long before we find widespread dissatisfaction and protest. At that moment, one can be sure that I will be standing with them rather than with the institutions, which might appear helpless. I hope that readers would reflect on the dilemma and challenge faced by the Honey Bee Network in this critical historical movement.

anil k gupta

Honey Bee Vol 22(1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you think of a new idea last? 3

25 th SHODHYATRA

Aesthetics of Anger and Alienation: Bastar Shodhyatra-Part II

In the second part of the learnings during Bastar Shodhyatra (May 14-21, 2010), we look into the way, tribal society in villages around Narayanpur celebrates local excellence, creates role models and deals with the social strife, sandwiched as it is between state and extremist forces. Agonizing as it may appear, but using this region as a place of punishment posting in school, does not do any justice to the rising aspiration of local children and youth. The inability of police administration to understand and appreciate the need for self confident and assertive local youthful leadership as a necessary part of just society leads to tremendous alienation. To them, every assertive youth is a part of naxalite movement which gives far more credit to the left movement then they may deserve. But we could still find signs of hope and that is what makes us optimistic. Even if police administration, guided as it is by home ministrys myopic polices for the region, makes the task of civil administration more difficult, the solution lies in an authentic and honest effort to deliver basic needs at the terms local people articulate. If these cultures could resist the forces of dominance for such a long time, dont they deserve a chance yet again? Let us ask ourselves...

We walked through a grove of very old trees, with creepers intertwining, as if to remind us about how strength without tender scaffolding may be betrayed, actually give way. In the morning at Benur, we learned from two herbal healers, Buddhuram and Sukhaluram Kachlam about the way they dealt with snake bites and other ailments. They used Aritha fruit (Sapindus trifoliatus L.) to heal a wound, and the bark of Beeja trees (Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb) for

stomach ache. After facilitating them the Shodhyatris went to Singluram Kachlams house having a herbal garden. He offered yatris a herbal bidi which reportedly cures sinus and migraine. The cleanliness in and around his house once again reminded the Yatris how particular the tribals here were about hygiene and sanitation. He had grown a tall variety of brinjal, not found commonly in the region. He also showed an abnormally big pod of

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 4 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

more tombs like that of a herbal healer, hunter, dancer and carpenter. Each celebrating the skills, outstanding achievers, creating role models for younger generation. We reached Nayanar in the afternoon and had lunch there. This was one village where we saw togetherness and unity amongst all the villagers; they helped and supported each other. The shodhyatris came to know about a unique practice at this village where all the villagers would throw fish in a
Dedication through tombs!

lake and on one particular day in the year, they would all fish together. Also, Gotul was a place in the village where the villagers would store grains together and they would also use this place for any social or cultural function. This was indeed a lesson in the management of common property resources by mutual understanding and respect. Kakshar is the traditional dance of this village which has been passed down from generations. A dance troupe attired

Celebrating excellence

a tree, similar to Amaltas (Cassia fistula Linn.). On the way to Kulhargaon, Yatris saw an unusual sight. There were tombs, which were decorated with clay sculptures depicting the occupation of the person buried there. Yatris were intrigued as to why local communities would commemorate the memories of certain individuals in this manner? We were told that when an outstanding person passes away, his decorated tomb also has his sculpture to inspire younger generation. A herbalist, a teacher and such other people were remembered in this manner. Bhaluram, adept in making such tombs told that this was a special institution in this region. Lessons in management of common property resources Shodhyatris were welcomed at Kulhargaon by mitanin associates (National ASHA health worker scheme was modeled after mitanin scheme of Chhatisgarh, a public service which was among a very few things which worked here). The women were adorned with a variety of traditional jewellery and appeared more forthcoming and knowledgeable than the men folk. Sampath Sahu, a ten year old boy, had collected 115 varieties of plants and herbs and had knowledge about almost each variety. Shodhyatris learnt a lot from the villagers and they shared a lot of new practices with us. We finished our meeting here and walked towards Nayanar village. On the way we saw

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Is marriage between traditional knowledge and modern science possible? 5

in their traditional costumes presented their dance to the delight of the shodhyatris. Such was the energy in their dance that some of the shodhyatris also joined them and enthralled the villagers. The villagers shared a unique story with us about a bird called Vijapethe, which alerts them by chirping boske vitke (sow the seeds). The farmers sow the seeds then and, they believe, within a few days the rains comes too.

We then walked towards Punghaarpal village. On the way we saw a kind of tree that most of us had not seen earlier. It was completely white in colour and devoid of leaves and bark. Adding to its beauty was the white light of setting sun falling on it. When we reached Punghaarpal, Mohun Dugge prepared herbal tea for all of us. His wife made traditional food and served us all. It was amazing to see the herbarium made by his son who had collected a variety of plants found in the region. After thanking them, the walk resumed towards Edka village. A request was made on behalf of the villagers to get him transferred. This was the only wish of the villagers.

Three generations of craftmanship at Edka: Devnath Singh Chakradhari and his family

Chakradhari who enjoys tremendous respect among the villagers as a good artisan, and more so, as a great teacher in Bastar. He is more than 90 years old. He had taught his skills to many others in and around his village. The shodhyatris could see the art work by one of his students too. When asked to share his experience, he said, all his life he has not done anything other than practising and teaching art. He lives in one of the most inaccessible parts of the globe and has no sizeable market for his art work. What makes it even remarkable is his desire to teach others and not having even an iota of grudge for not being commercially successful. He wishes to have a training school wherein he would teach fellow artisans about the nuances of the art. Most of the shodhyatris thought that this craft could be further developed with present day technologies and marketed in international markets. An encounter While walking to the next village, suddenly a plain clothed man rushed towards us and before we could fathom the reason his action, the entire shodhyatra team was surrounded by armed commandos. Two more persons served us a notice on behalf

of the Superintendent of Police, asking us to appear before him,in his office. The SP claimed that the yatra was unauthorized. He ignored the fact that he himself had given the letter of introduction to our staff several months in advance while preparing for the Shodhyatra. A few of the yatris went to the SPs office, the rest stayed back in the school to spend the night there. Everybody wondered whether the yatra would continue and could this be a backdrop for more ominous things to happen. Later in the night when the

Nothing else was demanded or suggested at all, through entire walk. A life dedicated to art and craft: Devnath Singh Chakradhari First thing in the morning at Edka, around 30-35 women from the village brought traditional food for us. The group was headed by the woman sarpanch. After breakfast, shodhyatris proceeded to meet Devnath Singh

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 6 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

He said, People have come here and taken unique herbs like rashnajhari, netraharra, ishwarimul, bhuiaawla, chiraita etc. There is no method to prevent this kind of poaching. We felicitated Ratandhar and discussed the tremendous scope that existed for value addition in traditional medicine in Bastar. One of the problems he shared was that a pharmacy which he had set up with the help of forest department had to be suspended because some bigger companies had filed a case that it was not Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliant. Issue remains whether for promoting in situ value addition in forest areas, GMP guidelines should not be modified without compromising the quality norms. Trees with brain! At Keralapal village we had a village meeting organised through mitanin associates. The mitanins in this village were very well aware of first aid methods. They also mobilised transport to the nearest hospital. The mitanin scheme is one of the well functioning grassroots public program in Bastar. When the issues about deforestation and loss of bio-diversity were being discussed, a villager, Modaram Pottai, shared an insight about how they conserve trees. He said while human beings have their head on the top, the trees have their head on the bottom! Just as humans would die if we remove the head, would not a tree die too if its roost were damaged, he asked? In

yatris came back from the SPs office, it was learned that SP had decided to file a case claiming yatra to be illegal. He also called the media and a false news was flashed about the so called violation of the law without incorporating Yatris views. Next day, the yatris were asked to distribute the summons to everybody they had met. As per their version, everybody who hosted yatra in different villages was an extremist leader or a sympathizer. Nothing could be more ridiculous. We did not need more

evidence to understand why the conditions were so unfair for the local communities. We also did not understand why police behaved with so much insensitivity towards them. Eventually, the Chief Secretary very kindly intervened, the summons were cancelled and yatra continued. While the events were unfolding at Binjli, yatris interacted with a locally well known herbal healer, Ratandhar Vaidraj. He regretted that outsiders were stealing their knowledge and the villagers were not getting benefitted.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you meet an innovator last? 7

order to utilize the wood and not harm the tree we should prune branches from one side only at a time. This will ensure that we get the wood without harming the tree. Also, if branches need to be cut for fuel wood after some time, then the ones on the opposite side should be cut so as not to harm the tree. This seemed a very sustainable practice. After the meeting

we had lunch and started the walk towards Subhgaon. At Subhgaon, shodhyatris visited Chancis house. He had preserved 25 quintals of kodo millets for twenty years. Although, he was hesitant to let us see the same, he told us about his unique effort. The fact was corroborated by his neighbours too. He said that there is no value for this product in the market and that is why he has not sold it. Whatever be the reason, the fact that he had preserved it for 20 years is commendable itself. The discussion on traditional methods of storage and conservation with him could not last long as the shodhyatris had to reach Palki village before it was dark. In the meeting at Palki, Ratandhar Vaidraj, who had met us earlier at Binjli came for further discussions with the shodhyatris. The main concern, according to him, was the pilferage of valuable medicinal plants from the

jungles of Abujhmar. Also, he was worried about the practice of imitation by local herbal drug manufacturing companies. To quote him, These companies are always on the lookout for unique knowledge so that they could make new products and profit out of it. Also, once the knowledge is acquired, the local healers who provide inputs are sidelined from the profits that the company makes in due course. The matter being discussed was foremost on the mind of every shodhyatri. All along the journey, one could observe bio-diversity and comprehensive medicinal knowledge among the practitioners of traditional medicine. In the end... On the last day of our Shodhyatra, yatris discussed the paradox of rich biodiversity and still so much poverty with local tribal communities at Mahaka village.

Modaram Pottai

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 8 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

We concluded our Shodhyatra by felicitating Mehruram, a herbal healer, and a centenarian, Chanduram of the same village. Before dispersing, yatris reflected on the lessons learnt. It became clear that unless it was decided not to let any raw material go out of forest without in situ value addition, people would actually remain poor. Similarly, the methods and tools of sustainable extraction were needed if productivity had to be improved. Water conservation was grossly neglected and initiatives by the extremist in this regard (they had built a few tanks) won them some natural support. If the peace had to prevail, then justice had to be ensured. So much extraction of natural resource from the region for so long without any benefit sharing with local communities could not be allowed to continue any more. This region should not be used as a place of punishment posting. In such cases, the real punishment was given to people and not the staff posted on that basis. The knowledge, institutions, culture and technologies need to be

Speaking walls...

revisited if a purposeful partnership had to be forged. But if the State wishes to spend more money on fighting with its own people, rather

than bringing about genuine participatory development, then one has to realize how long the struggle for social justice ahead is.

...Quiet lanes

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you consume organic food last? 9

PROFILE

When Lack of Knowledge is not a Constraint... Nathubhai, the Maker of Cotton Picker
Dryland cotton is quite well adapted in certain parts of Gujarat. In these varieties of cotton such as number V 797 (kalian Kapas), bolls do not open unlike hybrid cotton and thus cotton cannot be directly picked up. One has to pick the bolls and then strip them to take seed cotton out, later ginning is done to separate seeds from lint. Due to difficulty in labour supply, even the picking of bolls is becoming difficult. Nathubhai, a forty year old, passionate farmer has been pursuing his dream of developing a tractor drawn mobile cotton boll picking and if possible, stripping machine over a decade. It has been a very arduous struggle. The work is still in progress. He made a model earlier, which did work in the field but somehow left a few bolls unplucked. Being unhappy with that model, he dismantled it and started working on new designs. Read the story of how has he pursued his journey, what role has his family played in it and to what extent grassroots innovation ecosystem is able to support such maverick persistent innovators. Erwada village (Dasada taluka, Surendranagar Distt.) suffers from sparse rainfall has a very deep water table and few resources for irrigation making dryland Cotton an obvious choice here. V797, a cross between (Kalyan x Vijay and backcrossed with Kalyan) is preferred over Bt cotton in this region as the latter requires more water and fertilizer to grow. The characteristic closed bolls of V797 also make it tolerant to wilting and strong wind.

Youngest of the six children, Nathubhai Ratubhai Vader was pampered a lot by his parents and siblings. As a child he was very curious to know how different machines worked and in the process had spoiled many of them. It was this fascination with understanding the inner working of machines, he says, that made him invent the cotton boll picking machine. Early Marriage Nathubhai was married to Puspaben when he was in his early teens. A year after his marriage Nathubhai (14) was sent to a b o a r d i n g school at K a d i , Mehsana D i s t t . , where his s o n , Dharmendra s t u d i e s n o w . Meanwhile, his elder brothers got jobs a n d shifted out from t h e

village. One of his brothers is a primary school teacher in Dasada, while the other one is a contractor and runs a business in Ahmedabad. After they moved out, it became difficult for his father to manage the entire farming activities on his own. He thus asked Nathubhai to join him and accordingly Nathubhai discontinued education midway. Problem perceived Nathubhais father was a respected man in the village and owned about 150 acres, which was divided among his three sons after his demise. Despite having a resident committed team of labourers, he faced labour shortage during t h e picking season. The shortage increased over time. Often farmers and their families would join the laborers to pluck cotton in the fields. Nathubhai would go along with other labourers to pluck

cotton in the fields. While he was doing this work, the idea of making a machine to do the job came to his mind. Nathubhai says, I could not bear to see the problems of my father and other villagers. A lot of cotton use to get wasted. If a machine is there, it will make the job easy. An industrial cluster located nearby offers better wages and so the labourers preferred to work there. In the absence of workers the farmer families have to pluck the bolls. Due to unseasonal rains, thousands of bales worth of cotton gets spoiled many times because of delay in harvesting (and also stripping). An inspiration Once the farming season was over, majority of the villagers sit in the Ramji Mandir and chat over various matters. Often they discussed about the crop and the yield. Nathubhai recalls his association with Radhaswami Satsang religious group that organizes swadhyay (religious gathering). He admits the influence of his guru Pujya Dadaji Pandurang Shastri who used to say Yuvan jo dharai to paththar na nichori na Pani kadhe (if the youth make up their mind, they can extract water by wringing a rock). This thought had a tremendous impact on him and soon he began reading on the subject. Around 2001-2002 he was able to design an automatic seed drill, a machine to fill the gaps in the field,

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GIAN and NIF increased the grant to Rs.1,50,000/-. After the grant was approved, he upgraded his machine. Getting Started with the Design Nathubhai did not have the technical knowledge to design a machine. However, he was very determined and believed in learning by doing. He said, I believed in the fact that if one wishes to do something sincerely, then he surely finds the ways to learn it. For hours together, I would sit in the field and think about what kind of force can segregate cotton boll from its stalk. Later, when the idea became clear in my mind, I prepared the drawings. Brought some cutting and drilling tools and started working on the machine design. Nathubhai has converted a plot near his house into a workshop. He visits the farm in the morning and carries out the machine work during the afternoon. While working on the field, he realized that a vibration action would be needed to make the bolls drop of the stalk. To test his hypothesis he tried various ways of hitting the plant and finally concluded that a set of vibrating sticks would perhaps serve the purpose. Gradually, he started getting the machines and equipments that he needed to make the machine and opened a private workshop.

and a sprayer attached to a bike. Despite designing these machines, he still dreamed about making the cotton picker. Personal Setbacks While Nathubhai was conceptualizing his design, he lost his wife in an accident. This was a huge loss and caused him tremendous agony. Later, his family got him married to Nabuben, a widow from their community. Nabuben took care of Nathubhai and young Dharmendra. After a few years, Ravina was born to the couple. Meanwhile, Nathubhai had heard the news of Chetak - the automated cotton stripping machine made by Mansukh Patel, an innovator (supported earlier by Honey Bee Network through GIAN) from a nearby village which had revolutionalized the cotton industry in the region. His success made Nathubhais conviction stronger that his machine will pick the pods one day. He recalls, mara biswas drad thai gayo ki mhari machine kaala binse (This made my conviction stronger that my machine could pick cotton bolls). Even after he invested his savings year after year on designing this machine, success eluded him. His wife started complaining as well. Nathubhai spent as much as 10-12 lakh of Rupees in research and while doing so, could not pay any attention

to his familys needs. When the first model failed to perform, his wife objected and advised him not to invest further. She wanted him to think about education of his children Dharmendra and Ravina and their future. Nathubhai recalls, Sometimes, I would start from the house saying that I am going out to grocery shop for purchasing oil however, I would return bringing some iron parts for the machine. But this could not last for long. He had already invested much and there was no guarantee that he would succeed. Tired of familys criticism, he stopped working on this machine. At this stage, SRISTI which had scouted him originally, reconnected with him and through GIAN and NIF. Around 2004, SRISTI decided to fund his endeavour which refuelled his ambition to make the mac h i n e . Subsequently,

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Do you ever think whether your grandchildren will ever be able to see the species that are getting extinct? 11

discs which would revolve along an iron rod. The friction created by the rotation of the discs, cut the cotton boll from the branches. He is yet to test it in the field; but he is positive that the disc arrangement might work better than the vibrating rods. He is currently using the discs of various materials; rubber, plastic, iron etc. Based on the final results in the field, he will finalize the material for the discs. Nathubhai has been trying to upgrade the machine. He is replacing the single gear system with two gears. While testing the machine in the field, he found that the capacity of the blower was less due to which it was not able to pull more cotton. He is increasing the diameter of the suction pipe and also working on increasing the blowers capacity. The machine is attached to diesel tractor. The fuel requirement for 0.40 ha is one liter. He has created most of the machine parts in his workshop. He adds, Since I do not have all the equipments in my workshop, certain parts I get fabricated in GIDC cluster. I sit with the workmen there and give them my requirements. Nathubhai has contracted another person to help him. He calls him on need basis. He says, It is good to have someone with you as it keeps one going. Whenever, I get stuck up I can discuss the problem with him. A friends help It took him two years to improvise the machine substantially. He was even helped by his friend Yashinbhai. He recalls, When I was working on the final design and had already put the bars at the edge of the conveyer tray; he advised me to put a rubber sheet at the edge so that the bolls wouldnt break. The change was incorporated in the machine. In May 2010 GIAN helped him to file a patent (application number 1576/ MUM/2010). The patent would soon be upgraded as he has incorporated more changes in the machine. Help from Community Nathubhai belongs to the Naroda Rajput community. People in his Contd... on page 38

Solving the Problem He soon began looking for resources to fund his work. When he could not get help from anywhere he again started investing his own money and continued experimenting. In 2004-05, the machine was ready to be tested in the field. The machine comprised four parts the vibrator, conveyer tray, suction pump and storage cabin. This machine could easily be attached to a tractor and taken to the field. Every time that the vibrator discs revolved, it gave a strong jolt to the plant and the cotton bolls dropped on the conveyer which collected them and drew it to the back of machine from where the suction pump sucked these for storage in the storage box. To further improve the machine, he add one more blower to the machine in such a way that both the blowers were arranged at both ends, the two conveyor belts take the bolls to the two suction pump inlets. In addition to the vibrating rods, he has put rods at inclined angles at the base of the conveyor trays which help to gathers cotton bolls. He had changed the gear. Nathubhai shares his eureka moment by saying, While testing with the sticks, I got the idea of the vibrating disc and

placing the rods in an alternate pattern so that the stalks passing through the space between them would get a jerk. I struck upon the idea of using a conveyor belt to carry the bolls to the inlet of the suction pump from the conveyor belt as seen in the GIDC (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation) cluster located nearby. The Phase of Trial and Error: from concrete to abstract Nathubhai used to devote a lot of time on ideating. He said Every time that I got an idea, my mind used to sketch a very vague design, which was not concrete enough to be put on a paper. Therefore I started making machine while experimenting and slowly things started rolling and getting a shape. Thus he often made a machine, dismantled and started all over again. Initially, for the chopper portion of the machine, he thought of using a reaping hook. However, soon he realized that mature cotton boll requires very little force to fall hence separating cotton bolls from the plant is not very difficult. He tried using the system of vibrating rods. But soon he realized that it was not very effective as about twenty percent of the cotton gets wasted while dropping down from the machine. Recently, he designed a set of circular

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 12 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

CONSERVATION

Bringing Home to Them

Sparrows are the most common sighted birds in cities but their number is ever dwindling. Scriptures refer to them in very benign terms, Farmers will scare the bird in hot summer sitting on a perch to not let them feed on mature crops but would not kill them. It is easy. But they would let them live. A Danish folk song advises that when one rakes harvested crop in the yard, one does it lightly, leaving some grains for the birds and the poor 1 . Sighting or nesting of sparrows in a new house is considered a good omen in many parts of India. And yet, where are sparrows to be seen in many urban places nowadays? Dr. Paresh A. Raval, principal of an engineering polytechnic, earlier in Kutchh and now in Ahmedabad is a man with a noble mission to provide these vulnerable birds a home to nest in. In 2010, when he was posted in Bhuj, a personal setback turned his life around. His younger brothers wife passed away leaving behind two young children. He was distressed seeing the plight of the young ones who had lost their mother at such an young age. One day as he was sitting in his courtyard he observed something unusual. He noticed two sparrow eggs inside an old pair of shoes lying nearby. He was appalled by the sight and felt pity for the plight of these birds that do not have even a place to lay their eggs in. Suddenly he correlated this incident thinking just as humans would suffer when someone close is lost, how would a bird feel when it cannot even bring her young ones to this world, safely? He thought of this as a divine calling and found a way to fill the sad void that his family was
1

experiencing at that time. Life was never the same again. Dr Rawal decided from that moment that he will provide a home to these birds. Soon after, he was transferred to Ahmedabad, where he immediately made a design for clay pot nests. A potter near his college helped him get about 5000 such clay nests made from a nearby village. This passion has taken over him completely and he carries a clay pot nest wherever he goes and gifts one to anyone who needs it (including Honey Bee team). All this has been done out of his own pocket. He says that he gets tremendous satisfaction and a sense of peace when he provides homes to these birds. He says this is his return gift to nature! Dr Rawal even carries special sturdy iron nails and wire along with the clay nests (so as to immediately help in hanging the pot when he gifts that to someone). The SRISTI team recalls a similar incident about ten years back when someone spotted the sparrow eggs inside a urinal, which was unused for many days. The sight was pitiful! Dr Paresh Rawal recalls meeting Mr Kabra, a keen bird enthusiast; who feeds hundreds of crows daily! He adds that it would be wonderful to have more such persons in our society. Till date, he has distributed over a lakh such clay nests. He says modern houses do not have a place for our feathered friends. The reasons for the dwindling number of sparrows are heavy cutting of greenery, radiation from cellphone tower, pollutants like lead as emission in exaust of vehicles and heat wave due to global

warming. He says all the odds are there, but there are so many old shops and houses having roof of Iron sheet or clay tile on wooden trusses underneath which, these birds make their nest. Since, sparrows are not good at making their own nest, they lay their egg on small holes or behind small support or at any odd places when it cannot bear it anymore. How can we extend them our help? Dr Rawal suggests simple steps for urbanites. He says provide greenery and little space in any odd corner at our house. Provide shelter of card box, bamboos inside covered places, where it is safe in heavy winds and rain; else use stronger clay pots to act as good shelter against rain and wind. Grow trees, plants and shrubs because, one of the feed for sparrow other than food grain is insects, which need greenery. We can rationalize use of cell phone but then why not green bushes or sheltersfor them against heat waves. It is the zeal, love and compassion of people like him that we still have feathered friends for our company. We remember how the great ornithologist Dr Salim Ali was inspired for life, after he witnessed the The Fall of a Sparrow. We hope that more readers will get feather in their caps, sorry nests!!!
Dr Paresh Raval can be contacted at 67, Alok Bunglow, (Near Nirant Park), Opp. Sun N Step club, Thaltej, Ahmedabad-60 (M) 9426395128

No value judgment is intended in this reference to poor. Of course this is not the way a civilized society should plan to feed the poor, but this saying dates to an ancient feudal period in European history (Ed.).

Where shall we go ?
Source: HB8(3)July-September97

Source: HB6(2)April-June 95

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you confess to your children last that you did not know the answer to their question? 13

MALAYSIA INNOVATES

Honey Bee Network Takes Roots in Malaysia: The Innovation Walk

Honey Bee Network has been engaging with grassroots innovation movement of Malaysia for the last six years in one way or the other. A visit was also made to MOSTI (Malaysian Ministry of Science and Technology) to develop methodologies for scouting and documenting unaided grassroots innovations by common people and school children. A workshop in one of the schools led to an article in Honey bee in 2008. However, the visit of the Malaysian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Maximus Ongkili, along with a delegation comprising head of the Malaysian Innovation Foundation, Dr Raslan and other colleagues to Ahmedabad to visit NIF, SRISTI and GIAN has eventually led to a formal MOU between YIM and NIF. It was signed in the presence of respective secretaries of Science and Technology ministries viz. Dr T Ramasami, from India and Ms. Madinah Mohamad from Malaysia. One of the most remarkable follow up action after signing MOU was organizing learning walks (shodhyatra) in Malaysia. We will carry a regular column about learning from Malaysian grassroots henceforth. Jejak Inovasi (Innovation Walk) is an initiative by Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia (YIM) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). During the three days walk, a group of Innovation Scouts consisting of researches, scientists, patent experts, MOSTI officials and YIM visited some grassroot communities, providing advice on the objectives, approach and the desired end-results of innovations. A total of 16 inventors were identified during this Melaka Innovation Walk. Next walk is due in mid September, 2011. .

Storm Bullet System

En. Affendi

P r o d u c t B u l l e t St o r m S y s t e m i s an air suction device suitable for use in all types of cars. It channelizes air into an engine in a more systematic manner. The natural air suction device adjusts air mixture with fuel according to vehicle speed, smoothening fluctuations without the need for piston to use too much oil. This system operates like the super charger where the speed is not constrained. Bendang Studio (Hasil Rekaan Seramik)
Pn. Rozana Musa

contemporary preferences. This brings out a variety of interesting shapes and sizes in these products like ear rings, boxes, pen stands, paper weights etc. New Era Shoe
Jairah Majinkin (Guru Petugas) along with Jiran Daud, Fikerry Daud & Sabastanus Kait

This shoe can be used as a recreational shoe, sandals and to boot the ball. This is just like any ordinary shoe having specific size and you can modify it into sandals with only the front part of shoes and shoe soles Jack hang door
Pn. Nora Ismail

Autonomous Muruku & the Tarik

Thien Lee Yin, Thien Lee Yin, Benjamin Phang Shin Yoong, John Leong Jia Jun Natasha Wong, Melaka

The innovator creates ceramic products/cenderahati seramik by using various elements and concepts of

The installation of this door saves different types of injuries to construction workers. It also saves labour costs.

Muruku and the tarik are Malaysias national food and beverage. Automatic robots are designed to prepare, cook and serve food (muruku) and drink (the tarik).

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 14 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

INVENTOR

Uncle Bugs Tan: Crackling of Vessels, Mew of Cat and a Name!

Bugs Tan or Tan Yeow Kiang is a maverick innovator from Malaysia. Bugs is an author, children educator and an outstanding inventor and innovator, all in one! He self-taught most of the things in his life. Even today he reads about 50 books an year. His two talented daughters are no less creative. The older Amanda Tan (b 1994) has won Bronze medal at ITEX 2003 for inventing a Vibrating Ear Ring, a Gold medal at the International Student Invention Exhibition at Korea among others. The younger daughter Amelia (b 1996) who Bugs describes as logical, diligent and confident is listed in the Malaysia Book of Records as the youngest inventor in the country! She has won a gold medal at the ITEX 2006 KL for the invention of the Combo Spoon. Bugs Tan was born into a middle class Malaysian family of Chinese descent in 1961. His father, Late Mr. Tan Yong Seng was a second generation Malaysian Chinese. His familys roots trace back to Guanzhou, a province in the southern state of China. Bugs Tans father used to run a small business in Malaysia (hardware and fishing equipment) in a sleepy fishing island of Pulau Ketam. Bugs managed to finish secondary school and started working at the age of 17. What followed next is a tale of numerous recognitions, awards but more than that, a passion for making kids in Malaysia, creative and innovative.

One of the oft asked questions that Bugs has to answer is, how did he become an inventor? Prior to his involvement in the field of innovation, Bugs was a businessman dealing in agricultural equipment. Business as a dealer was tough for him as he had to compete for price in market place. This pressure of fierce competition from business pushed him to the wall. Bugs thought hard about it and felt, would not it be nice if he invented his own equipment? By having his own products, he could get it specified by the engineers at the customers end. So, whoever wins the tender would eventually have to buy the machine from him. His first project was to create and build a Brush Cutter, which is a kind of knapsack grass cutting machine. Bugs was the first to design and manufacture this kind of back-pack Brush Cutter in

"My parent named me Tan Yeow Kiang which is hard for most people to remember. One creative method I used to tell children and friends on how best to remember my name was a story I created. My father was extremely happy at the time of my birth. My mum went into labour and as I was about to be born, the mid- wife asked for some hot water. As my father rushed to the kitchen to fetch the hot water, he knocked his head against the frying pans and caused the sound TAN. He then accidently stepped on a cats tail which let out a loud yell YEOW..!!!. My father was shocked and in his clumsiness he went off balance and hit the utensils. KLING KLONG KLING KIANG, the sound of the pots and pans dropped onto the floor. Thats how my father gave me the name TAN YEOW KIANG. With this, I believe by now you can remember my Chinese name better." - Bugs Tan Continued on page 29

Source: HB7(1)January-March 1996

NIF signs MoU with YIM, Malaysia On July 2, 2011, National Innovation Foundation of India (NIF) signed a MoU with the Malaysian Foundation for Innovation or Yayasan Inovasi Malayasia (YIM) to collaborate on developing long term strategies to promote the culture of creativity and innovation at the grassroots in both the countries. Under the MoU NIF would share its experience of scouting, documenting, validating and commercialising of grassroots technologies with YIM. Both organisations would also share their expertise and learnings to develop plans for reaching out to the creative people at the grassroots and taking their innovations further.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Will you stand by the IPRs of the peasants? 15

SRISTIs Techpedia.in

Small Towns, Big Minds

One of the most important characteristic features of innovation eco system emerging in India is that lot of good ideas are found in small institutions in small towns. The connect between the real life problem and the pursuit of their solution seems quite high in such places. In Gujarat, the cooperation between SRISTIs techpedia.in and Gujarat Technical University has unearthed lot of interesting projects done by engineering diploma students which are worthy of recognition and support. Somehow, the attention of public policy makers towards polytechnic has not been very strong.

efficiency of the engine. Most owners of four wheel vehicles have faced the problem of opening the four nuts of a wheel one at a time. Hamil, Nisarg kumar, Daval, and Sandeep developed a device costing Rs.9000 which can open all the four nuts simultaneously in one fourth of the time under the guidance of Profs. Modh and Pandya. Piyush, Chetan, Ketan and Vijay have developed a turbo charger for two wheelers which improves the efficiency

pressure leakages, pipeline and dimensions, wear and tear of various motor belts, speed of motors and then placed a recording meter to monitor the current, voltage, power factor, etc., every five minutes. Then they developed a project for designing automatic power sector control as their final year project. Under the new scheme of GTU, they get about three credit for defining and parameterising the problem and they will also get fifteen credits for attempting to solve it in the final year. Their initial work showed considerable potential for saving energy. If such savings are multiplied in large number of units, one can imagine the impact on the economy, environment, efficiency and educational quality. When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity. - John F. Kennedy Students of Canara Engineering College have proved this right by making innovative projects to address issues faced by local areca nut growers. Mr. Manchi Srinivas Achar, President of Areca Nut Growers Association had visited the college in August, 2010 to have an active discussion with students to motivate them to solve problems of areca nut industry through technical methods. During his recent visit to the college he appreciated the successful projects Battery operated hand cart, Areca nut husker, Areca nut Drier and Areca nut tree climber & pesticide sprayer,Solar Thermal energy conversion & storage, Hydraulic actuation of valves, Portable JIB crane by Mechanical Engineering Department.The students B. Shankar Rao , Sandeep Hegde,

The mechanical engineering diploma students of LSIT, Jetalpur, Ahmedabad - Viren Kumar, Chintan, Dileepbhai and Mayank Eashwarlal have developed a refrigerator of 125 litre running on LPG gas. It was portable and can be used for pharma, dairy, and other industries, costs hardly Rs.1300. Prof. A.B.Patel and Y.L.Rao guided this project as also several other projects on exhaust gas recirculation improving the combustion

of the engine and saves the cost. Recently, as a part of technology, energy, waste and process benchmarking of MSME units in different clusters facilitated by SRISTIs techpedia.in team and GTU, students have achieved remarkable results. In the last week of June, Milap, Nishank, Rahul and Hiren from VVP Engineering College,Rajkot did the energy audit of Kadvani Forges Pvt. Ltd., during their industrial shodhyatra. This is very reputed company having developed 190 different types of functional and non-functional components during the last four years. What the students did was to look at the dimensions of compressed air receiver, gauge

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 16 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Tonse Supreet Kini Under the guidance of Mr. Ananth Pai of Mechanical Engineering Department of Canara Engineering College solved the problem of arecanut farmers. Areca Nut husker machine, reduces the costs of dehusking by reducing need for skilled laborers and also reduces damage caused to the areca nuts in traditional huskers (during the testing, 85% of the areca nuts emerged without any damage). The advantages of this machine is that an adjuster is provided to husk areca nuts of any size, no internal cleaning is required as the nuts do not get stuck during the process. The total project cost was just 18,287 Rupees. Yask Kulshreshtha from the Department of Civil Engineering, Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya (Engineering College) Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat has designed an automatic mechanical way to purify water using chemical (chlorine tablet solution and Moringa oleifera solution),useful for domestic tanks, providing better quality of potable drinking water to common man at an affordable price. All the devices available in market for cleaning of water are very costly, example-reverse osmosis cost around Rs 15,000 and it consumes electricity. These devices are not affordable by common or poor people. His setup is totally mechanical and very cheap (cost around 100-200 Rs). It can be manufactured from waste material making it almost cost free. A person has to just change chemical storage can, once in every eight days. Yash says

that this project is also a solution to various diseases persisting in Indian villages. Six students from LE College, Morbi felt that there was a need for low cost injection moulding machine. Kavit, Ashish, Hiren, Sharad, Shailesh, and Mayur under the guidance of Professors Chavda and Akhariya designed a fully functional injection moulding machine in just about Rs. 45,000. It can work at par if not better with costlier machines in terms of wax moulding for investment casting. Five civil Engineering students of Dr S & S S Gandhi College Of Engg & Tech Surat, viz., Nekzad, Hemant, Divyen, Jaymin, and Ismail designed traffic junction in Surat at Althan with following features: (i) speed breakers with rollers embedded underneath to generate energy when vehicles pass over them (an idea which has been received by NIF earlier), (ii) having sensors to detect vehicular traffic for safe pedestrian flow over the zebra crossing, (iii) drain of junction to take water to a garden and iv) planting trees that can absorb sound and reduce noise pollution etc. Chetna, Priti and Sadhana, students of Sarvoday polytechnic institute, Limbdi have developed a system by which at every bus stop, a sensor will detect the bus identity or number from

hundred meters away and display it on dot-matrix display for the convenience of passengers.
What do all these innovations scouted through SRISTIs Techpedia.in-GTU cooperation show? That a state which is industrially so advanced still has a long way to go to make the life of the common people even better and at low cost. If things are not improving fast enough, it is not because we dont have enough creative youth, or the GTU is not encouraging the students enough, but just because policy makers lack the hunger for leveraging innovations for inclusive, green and sustainable development.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you think of a new idea last? 17

26 th SHODHYATRA

Walking in the Land of Paradoxes - Part I

26th Shodh Yatra, January 3 - 9, 2011, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya

Witnessing the queues of empty vessels near a public water tap in the land of maximum rainfall in the world can be disquieting for anyone. For us too. Why should water be supplied only for two hours in a day in a place where it rains so much? Shodhyatris could not make sense of such paradox, caused apparently by excessive deforestation, lack of water conservation, storage, and supply systems. But then walking amidst the clouds was very insightful about the daily struggle, stoic culture and rich knowledge systems. Climbing down to 1500 meters and climbing up to the same height within a day to meet a few communities living on the way and in the valley was an altogether new experience for most of the plain dwelling shodhyatris. This got most of us thinking about the daily stress in which smiles are cultivated, somehow, anyhow. It was very instructive to see writings on the stones, expressing popular protest that money was for development and not for pocket. Whether anybody is reading these words, much less reflecting, remains to be seen. How else can one explain that in Cherrapunji, there would be situations where children have to walk 25 kilometers for studying beyond 8th class? This report carries perceptions from multiple lenses. Encountering rich traditional knowledge, small and big innovations such as double decker living Root Bridge, history of self-governance, sacred groves, creative children and old people left a deep impression on all the inquisitive shodhyatris. Clouds of creativity and peaks of paradoxes in eastern margins of the country are still churning the reflections. The pain of daily life observed, and experienced by some of the yatris at least, is quite unlike the beautiful scenic images that casual tourists may often conjure in their minds. Read on....

Venturing the Southern Slopes: Unless we interact and learn from the communities inhabiting perceived margins of our society, it is unlikely that the development process will become inclusive. More than a hundred people from different parts of the country and abroad decided to learn from the rich knowledge system in an otherwise disadvantaged region of Cherrapunji, Meghalaya state in January this year. Having walked through conflict prone areas of Narayanpur, Bastar last

summer, yatris were keen to see if the region receiving highest rainfall in the world was a well fed, well managed and well looked after region or not. Images of beautiful mountains and water falls seldom reveal the pain that people may experience living there. May be time has come when one should also promote reality-tourism so that more and more people of the country realize what pain and stress people in other picturesque regions go through. We had felt likewise during our shodhyatra in Arku valley in Andhra Pradesh, another tourist

destination. Of course, our mission always was to discover knowledge abundance in biodiversity rich but economically disadvantaged regions. The Cherrapunji (Sohra sub division), in the East Khasi hill region in the North East part of our country was explored in the cold month of January this year. The shodh yatris walked enthusiastically for a week braving cold and long distances, to explore the Meghalaya (alaya, home of Megh, the clouds). Bethany Society1, an NGO based in Shillong coordinated

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 18 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Ribakor Sohtum (class VI) won the first prize followed by Denilson Deingdoh (III), Indalumin Sohtum (II), Ibashongkun Sohtum (II) jointly second prize and Darikupar Malagiang (VII), Melarishisha Khongwir (VII) jointly won the third prize. As many as 71 plant specimens along with their local uses were documented in the process. The herbal healers Ajnalin, Rishot Synrem, Jrishon Lyndgos, Jerland Matngian, Lilaiar Landroy, Sklida Diengdoh and Birot Sawian were facilitated in the meeting. Many of them had brought samples of medicines in addition to the plants used therein. Three ladies namely Mrs. Fullmerry Rajee, Mrs. Lumlang Warjri and Mrs. Laiar Lyndoh were felicitated for presenting their tasteful recipes. Later in the night, many yatris sat around the fire and talked with local community members about local culture, diversity and institutions. and helped SRISTI in arranging this Shodh Yatra. Mr. Carmo, leader of Bethany Society at Laitumkhra explained various educational, vocational and other activities of the society. His own journey in the service of local communities was a quiet reflection on often forgotten fusion of diverse social currents of the country that ought to take place more and more. Mr. Pabok Diengdoh2, took great pains along with other Honey Bee Network volunteers in advance to prepare for the journey. His youthful energy was infectious for any yatri who was about to give up due to tough terrain. Yatris began interaction with local communities, herbalists, and others in Laitkynsew village, the starting point of the yatra. Located approximately 50 km far from the state capital Shillong, this village has a wetland named as Riat Clif located in the north. It lies under the jurisdiction of syiemship of Nongkhlaw headed by a traditionally reverred leader, Sri. P. M. Syiem. Most of the Khasis still follow the traditional customs, imbued as they are with rich cultural and ecological ethics. They have a traditional village council locally known as dorbar. Master Modi Basaiamoit is the village head locally called as sardar. The sardar is assisted by six executives who are called as matbar and a secretary of the council. With 250 households, main occupation here is cultivation of vegetables (potato, tomato, beet, spinach, cabbage, mustard seeds, carrot etc.), rearing cattle and poultry and wage labour. It starts raining from the month of March and continues till October. Being near a tiger reserve, they dont hunt tigers believing them to take care of indigenous deity (Ryngkew Basa), the supremo of the nature. If they kill the tiger, they fear that the deity will curse them with natural disasters. Besides they do not allow extraction of any resource from the nearby forest, treated as sacred groves. The village and its hamlets have four primaries, two upper primaries and a secondary school in the village. Children and women participants of biodiversity and recipe competition respectively brought a variety of samples with them. Many children displayed samples of plants on charts along with their uses and others brought in hand. We honoured a centenarian lady Kwir Warjiri (105) next morning and took her blessings for the movement. Her house received water through overhead bamboo channel. Many letterboxes outside the houses carried beautiful designs. As we walked further, a traditional water conservation structure was spotted. First stopover was in village Terna where large quantities of Tej patta (bay leaves) sacks were seen

Pabok Diengdoh

The Society helps young people with disabilities in formal and non-formal educational and livelihood programmes, in Shillong and TURA. (bethanysociety.in)
2

Pabok teaches in a local college and also collaborates with Honey Bee Network and NIF in the scouting and documentation of local innovations and traditional knowledge.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Is marriage between traditional knowledge and modern science possible? 19

lying by the roadside to be collected by the traders to sell in the market.

contribution used for maintenance of the bridge and habitat nearby! This idea is worth emulating at other such ecofragile places as well. The tax is entirely managed by the local community. Some of the yatris tasted local variety of lemon fruits near the sacred tower in the village having board requesting donations. Crossing the world famous double storied or double decker living root bridges was a unique experience for the yatris. It is amazing to know that these bridges are not built but are grown! These living root bridges are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. Secondary roots grow out of this tree and these can extend themselves along the river banks uptill the middle of the river. Long time back, this unique feature was noticed by the war-Khasis (Meghalayan tribe). This was a wonderful way to be able to cross rivers. They simply grow their bridges whenever the need arises. The living root bridges take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional. These are more

Kwir Warjiri

than a hundred feet long and are strong enough to support more than fifty people. It is believed that some of these are few hundred years old. The bridges become stronger as the time goes by. Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge, is a unique and one of its kind bridge in the world. This living root bridge is actually two bridges stacked over one another! We also learnt that the villagers worship these root bridges. Honeybee rearing is common here. Villagers had made a unique bee keeping box which was simple and cost effective. Many houses were colourfully designed. Nearly each house has a hen-house and a garden with flowers and evenly cultivated vegetables and fruits. On reaching Nongriat by noon, a simple yet efficient instrument named Pomelo for plucking oranges from the trees was seen. The yatris moved ahead after taking lunch here. Crossing the river was no less strenuous than the climbing upto 3200 ft through the jungles to reach Nohkalikai Falls falls and then to Sohra

A stepped pathway of about 2000 steps preceded Terna letting yatris see the view of the plains of Bangladesh. On the way to living root bridge, we saw the only small check dam being built to conserve water. There were no other such dams to be seen all along the way. Some families were having an outing on the river bank and cooking in the field. Before reaching root bridges, there was a community tax collection point where a lady charged all yatris a small

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 20 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

(Cherrapunji). It was already dark; stones in the river bed were very slippery and difficult to balance on. Some had a fall in the shallow waters. An anxious climb Nohkalikai Falls is a clear bubbling stream emerging from a steep mountain bed to hurl down a rocky precipice, into a deep gorge, creating a captivating view of breathtaking beauty! But the climb through this stretch was very stressful, it was dark already and several people were so tired that they could not have come up without help. We had to arrange the doctors and emergency medicines for those who might need such help below, this was a tense night for all those who had already made it to the top. Local administration was to be informed in case we needed any emergency help. But some of the stronger yatris went down and extended help to each tired yatri (some quite heavy built and thus not easy to be pulled up) to climb back one by one without any mishap. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief at the end when all yatris reached the top safe! Who learned what during this stressful climb is difficult to say but surely the collegiality among yatris was witnessed in abundance. If only we keep the lesson of surving together in our hearts for long, will there be so much alienation and strife in our society. Ram Krishna Ashram: serving through Education & Health Late in the evening the tired yet still enthusiastic group reached Ram Krishna Mission Ashram. We were late for the ashram and the number of yatris had exceeded what we had informed initially, causing some stress at the Ashram. Pabok who had studied in this school had to bear the brunt of anger a bit more, but later was forgiven for being still a humble learner. At the end swamijis were very kind and coped with every situation with great affection and generosity. The next morning, Swami Someshanand ji told us about the philanthropic work in the field of education and health being undertaken by the Ashram volunteers in these remote locales. The Ram Krishna Ashram is 150 years old. The secondary school has a boarding facility for students coming from as far

away as 25 kilometers. This school had very good classrooms and laboratories. We were told that the demand for admitting more students is ever present but lack of good teaching staff remains a problem. The Ashram has a museum which showcases the traditional artifacts, local products, models of traditional houses, looms, bow-arrows and depicts the local culture and biodiversity in full glory. This is the best collection of Khasi culture that we came across all at one place! We came to know that it was Swami Vivekananda who gave Khasi language an English Script around 150 years back. Prior to that, this language did not have any written script at all. Yatris thanked the Swamiji for his valuable time and for being such a kind host and

why have the subtle stirrings of soul of silent valleys and peaks with palpable prescience been missed for so long, why have the yellow deserts been welcomed when green clouds were knocking at the door endlessly Along the way lots of rat coal mines were seen. The local people dig coal out of the mines and sell it to the local agents. They have to slide inside the mines in sitting or crawling posture. Many accidents take place but no official record is often kept. As we were proceeding, we also saw queues of vessels at water points; once again, the irony of water shortage in the region

started walking towards Laitmawsiang village. It was very instructive to note that forest on one side of the ashram, being a part of the sacred forest was lush green while the entire stretch beyond remained deserted. On coming across a desert in Cherrapunji, nothing more remained to be said about shortsighted vision of the planners and administrators who did not provide alternatives means of livelihood to local communities for so long. The adverse environmental effects transcend obviously far beyond the boundaries of the region of even the state. But when margins are too far the voices feeble, is not strife waiting to happen, why do we hear only the loud noises

receiving the maximum rainfall became apparent. Does one need to be an outsider to see beyond what is visible why are the sights of so many cursed with myopia why have we all learned to live with such sights indefinitely why has the sleep not been pierced with the arrows of angst why do smiles still hang on rootless branches of trees supported by stoic indifferent structures We also saw young men enjoying a game of football, a very popular sport. Some of the yatris remembered the day when we had passed though the village of Baichung Bhutia in Sikkim. An old

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you meet an innovator last? 21

older of the two sisters, grandmother Berison sang for us a local folk song on Paboks insistence! Later, she narrated her life history and shared with us the hardships that she had faced. Only one of the six children that she gave birth to, could survive, owing to the poor medical Yailang Nogaram Berison Naogaram facilities during earlier times. Things are not very British time jail is now being conserved different today though not as bad. as a sacred grove here as well. Pabok People still have many children because Diengdoh told us that the sacred groves chances of survival are low and in some a few preachers are worshipped on a particular day cases, also propagate lack of family planning. every year in different localities. The most interesting observation was Just before reaching Laitmawsiang in a four tier energy system chulha the evening, we were greeted by an (cooking stove) in the kitchen of younger impromptu show of trolley race by kids sister. who were very keen to show various In Arku valley, Vishkapatnam, Andhra maneuvers. The way they navigated Pradesh too, we had seen a similar turns, applied breaks or overtook others three storey system. was very impressive. Yatris gathered at And we called them backward Ram Krishna Mission primary school even when they cared for clouds but due to some tragedy in the village, far better, longer and deeper formal meeting was deferred for the they knew night. We felicitated two centenarian what warming could do sisters Berison Naogaram and Yailang to the world Nogaram (both 105). We were deeply before it ever started doing, struck by their vivaciousness when the

but are not they still backward! Are they. At night all the villagers gathered for a meeting with the shodhyatris and shared their experience with Jhum cultivation. They explained how the patches were selected for cultivation and how cycles were shortening. They also mentioned about the use of alder trees. On the cold and icy morning of sixth January, the group went down many hundred feet from a difficult terrain towards Rymmai village. Many patches of Jhum cultivation were seen on the way. At Rammai village we interacted with a local lady named Shrikmon dkhar/Phanboh who
Continued on page 39

East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya

Arku Valley, Andhra Pradesh

Can you tell us, why would they make these shelves above cooking stove? What are they trying to do? Is there an implication for our own kitchens? Best answers will get free subscription of HoneyBee for an year. Write back: Ed.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 22 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Eighth National Biennial Competition

for Green Grassroots Unaided Technological Innovations and Traditional Knowledge

National Innovation Foundation - India

N I F
Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

D S T

The National Innovation Foundation India (NIF), an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology, GoI, based on Honey Bee philosophy, seeks entries of unaided technological innovations and traditional knowledge developed at grassroots by an individual or group comprising farmers, artisans, fishermen and women, slum dwellers, workshop mechanics, students, local communities etc. The innovations can be in agriculture, machines, processes or products for farm/ non-farm operations, household utility, transportation, energy conservation or generation, reduction in drudgery, development of plant varieties, development of herbal remedies for human/ animal problems, or any other low cost sustainable green technologies. These should be unaided/unsupervised and an outcome of ones own creativity, without any technical support from external agencies. Special awards will be given for innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge of/for women. There will be prizes to recognize outstanding innovations by/for people with physical disabilities as well. Creative ideas for innovative technologies, which may not have been developed into prototypes are also welcome. Children in or out of school are also encouraged to send their original ideas for the competition. The awards range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 7,50,000 each in different categories. Thirty five to fifty two per cent of the total prize money will be given in the form of monthly fellowship to the awardees of Lifetime achievement, National first, second and third. Fifteen per cent of the total prize money in these cases would be given to the innovator(s) for their voluntary contribution towards community welfare and nature. The award winner may undertake any activity (s)he chooses for her/his community and nature. In addition, individuals and/or organizations that make extraordinary contributions in scouting grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge may also get recognition. Technologists adding significant value to the peoples knowledge and creativity, and electronic/print journalists promoting grassroots innovations will also be recognized. Entries may be submitted along with copy of the reports. Individuals or groups may send as many entries to NIF till March 31, 2013. The entries may be sent to the following address National Innovation Foundation-India, Satellite Complex, Premchand Nagar Road, Ahmedabad -380 015, Gujarat
Phone: (079) 26732456, 2095, Fax: (079) 26731903, Email: [email protected], Website: www.nifindia.org
Note: People with professional background/experience and students enrolled in professional courses are not eligible for any support/recognition from NIF though they are welcome to add value to the grassroots innovations. For detailed eligibility criteria and guidelines please refer to webpage: http://www.nif.org.in/announcement.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you consume organic food last? 23

LEST WE FORGET...

Eco-indicators: Predicting the Mood of Monsoons

Selvanayagam from Kovilpatti shares the ecological insights from five villages in the Nellai Kattabomman district: If crows make their nest high of in the trees it will soon rain very heavily. If on the contrary they construct their nests on the lower branches it is considered as a bad sign. In the Banni area, Kutchh, Gujarat, if snake is seen stretching itself out on the highest branches of the trees and staying there for a while, it is believed rains will come soon to the area. The villagers of Banni also believe that if, during the m o n s o o n period, nobody reports having seen a snake high up in a tree, then there might be no rain at all.
Lyes Ferroukhi, Uppsala and Jitendra Sudhar, SRISTI
Source:HB5(1)Jan-March 1994

The flowers of Coriander fall down to the ground during misty weather in the winter. If Thumbi (an insect) flies low, there is a probability of rain. Wind from East indicates rain and from the West a dry weather. After the festival of Karthigai Deepam, there may not be any rain. If there is severe mist in the early morning, no likelihood of rains. Ants carrying eggs in their mouth from one place to another (generally higher) is a sure indication of rains in a few hours. A hazy circle around the moon is an indication of rain. If Manjanathi weed appears, then it indicates high moisture content in the soil.
Source:HB2(1)May 1991

Source:HB10(3)July-September 1999

Chabutara (a platform) is an institution that focuses on feeding birds particularly in seasons when food becomes scarce. Such an institution perhaps underlines the sensitivity we need to have for the rights of other nonhuman sentient living beings to co-exist with us, even in a drought year. This case has been documented by Shailesh Shukla and Dilip K Koradia, SRISTI, with the help of other team members. This practice is managed in some villages by nature loving individuals while in others; it may be managed by communities collectively. The tradition of feeding birds perhaps is very old and found among most cultures around the world. However, it has continued as a living tradition only in some regions. Except the urban pockets where pigeons are generally fed grains, in rural areas, such a practice is often found more abundantly in dry regions. Gujarat is no exception. Most of the bird feeding platforms and indigenous institutions are found in North Gujarat and other similar region. Different norms have evolved among local communities for pooling grain and feeding the birds. People collect grains form each household and then feed birds daily from this common pool stock.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 24 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

HONEY BEE OLD BUZZ ...

CLUSTER

Cotton Need Not Kill: Selected Sustainable Practices from Back Issues
Better Germination of Cotton Water soaked seeds are treated by the soil collected from the termite burrow, for better germination of cotton seeds. Some cotton growing farmers of the arid Banaskantha district immerse the seeds in kerosene oil before sowing. (Honey Bee, 2(1):17, 1991.).(Vill:Kalasar, Tal:Surendranagar,
Dist:Surendranagar comm: Narsinhbhai S. Sakaria)

Talkidi in cotton Talkidi a soil pest, attacks the cotton plant when plant is fully grown. It causes the plant to wither in a short time, to control talkidi farmers take 20 to 25 kg onions in a jute bag, crush them and this bag is kept in water channels during irrigation.
(Honey Bee, 5(1):18, 1994). (Mansukhbhai Nagarbhai Mathodiya, Bhavnagar: comm: Jitendra H.Suthar, Kirit K. Patel)

Cultural Method Farmers grow few rows of okra (Ablemoschus esculentus Moench) around the cotton field. Cotton is more susceptible to insect pest like spotted ball worms (Farlas Vitella F.), Spodoptera litura, Hellothis armigera, pink ball worm (Platyedra gossypiella Saund), etc. Farmers believe that these pests prefer okra plant over cotton and attack them first. Pest is controlled by simply eradicating/destroying the okra plants attacked by insects and pests.
(Honey Bee, 2(1):15, 1991). (Lagharabhai Rathod, Kudhda,TalChotila, Surendranagar: comm: Narsinbhai S. Sakariya) This practice has widely diffused in certain parts of the country such as Jalgaon in Maharashtra but ironically in Vidharbha region, where farmers suicides continue to take place, practices like these have still not diffused, thanks to the indifference of the state towards the affordable, low cost or no cost solution to the pest problem -Ed.

Cotton stalk as cattle feed Rainfed cotton is grown in some parts of Saurashtra. Normally cotton stalks are used as fuel. But Bhikhabhai uses it as cattle feed. How he came to do this is an interesting story. Once during a drought year, he fed small pieces of cotton stalks to one animal on an experimental basis and gave normal feeds to other animals. Much to his surprise he did not find any ill effects and animal was as healthy as normal one. Since then he started feeding cotton stalk regularly to all animals once a day. Bhikhalal believes that an inexpensive and high quality feed can be prepared by mixing molasses and salt with pieces of cotton stalk. It has good scope of being utlized as stress feed during drought years in Saurashtra region. According to chopra et al (1956), and Nadkarni (1976), cotton has galactogogue property which improves milk yield as well as fat content of milk.
(Honey Bee, 7(3):17, 1996). (Bhikhalal Prabhudas Masrani, Dist: Amreli: comm: Dilip D Koradia)

Caterpillars in Cotton The latex of Akada (Calotropis gigantea L.) when diluted with 15 parts water and sprayed on the crop, effectively controls the caterpillars within three days. Caterpillar infestation can severely damage a cotton crop. The new growth after treatment is also free from infestation.
(Honey Bee, 3(3&4):17, 1992.).(Bhanjibhai Jani, Vill:Khagiyali, Tal:Sihor, Dist:Bhavnagar, Bhavnagar: comm: Dhandhalya Bhargav K.)

Cactus milk controls cotton aphids Voracious reader and an enthusiastic experimenter, Kalyanbhai has always been interested in inexpensive farming. He uses 100 g milky latex of cactus (Euphorbia sp.) mixed with 15 liters water and sprays it twice a month to control aphids in cotton.
(Honey bee 21(2), 9, 2010). (Kalyanbhai Jeevrajbhai Jasani, Bhavnagar) SC: Insecticidal property of Euphorbia antiquorum reported in De Silva et. al.(2008); J.Natn.Sci.Foundation Sri Lanka;36 (1): 15-23. Also see Honey Bee, 4(2&3):21, 1993.

Whitefly control in cotton Arali (Nerium oleander L.) seeds are pulverized, and then soaked in water overnight and filtered. This filtrate is diluted in water and sprayed in cotton fields. This practice provides 70 percent control over whiteflies. Approximately ten kg of arali seeds are required per acre of cotton.
(Honey Bee, 5(1):15, 1994). (P. Murigesan, PO:Melakkal, Via: Thiruvadagam, Tal:Vadipatti, Madurai: comm: P.Vivekanandan(Nam Vazhi velanmai,Ed.P.Vivekanandan)

Cotton shells for soil reclamation Empty shells of the cotton are incorporated in the salt affected soil. Farmers believe that these shells absorb the salt from the soil.
(Honey Bee, 2(1):13, 1991). (Ambhavibhai Gokalbhai Dubariya, Sai, Tal- Rapar, Kutch: comm: Nanjibhai R. Makvana)
For more information see http://www.sristi.org/hbnew/sristi_library.php

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Do you ever think whether your grandchildren will ever be able to see the species that are getting extinct? 25

CHINA INNOVATES

CHIN-X: The Citrus Wizard & QQ Food

Cooperation between SRISTI and TUFE, that had started more than six years ago has been gathering a lot of strength lately. Many more innovations of self designed institutions created by local communities, innovations by individual farmers, artisans and in some cases professionals have been mobilized into a Honey Bee-CHIN database of grassroots innovations. Shortly it will be shared globally on the sristi.org site. Prof Liyan and her team comprising many faculty colleagues and young staff such as Liu Ruihan, Xie Weiwei, Liu Tao, Ning Shuyu and Han Xue have been visiting villages in far off places to discover grassroots genius. Credit also goes to Bian Cuilan, Li Shumao, Huo Yingyi and Ning Peizhong. They are also tracking the available leads on the internet and printed media. In this tenth issue of CHIN, there are fascinating stories of farmers who have developed a lightening protector, multipurpose farming implement, processed food without preservatives (something having a global market) and of course many other initiatives. A Chinese immigrant has memorial built to him in Florida for having developed a citrus variety which has brought enormous profits to that country and the region. An engineer has developed a medical device on his own, and another farmer has designed a massaging machine for people with back problems. GRIID project is showing results, which can help many other third world countries, the next frontier to assail

Fatty Liver Therapeutic Apparatus & Zshaped colonoscope

Zhang Wengui (Dongcheng, Beijing)

Zhang Wengui, born in 1950, is an engineer with college education. He began his research on medical device in 1983. Once in 1997, Zhang read a report entitled, White-collar workers, pay attention to your health which said that the incidence of fatty liver among white-collar workers had reached a high level. He read this report again and again for several days and then took the newspaper to The First Peoples Hospital of Yancheng to consult Li

come into the market. Besides, this invention also obtained the special prize of National S&T Invention Award and the first prize of National Science and Technology Progress Achievements Award. The fatty liver therapeutic equipment invented by Zhang Wengui, mainly comprised a casing, an electric machine, a rotary table, a magnetic column, and a movable brush. It is important to mention that the casing is provided with a massaging head made of natural jade material. The magnetic column, movable brush, the rotary table

Guohua (a chief physician) about the tendency, therapeutic drug and treatment of fatty liver. According to Li, there was no effective medicine or medical apparatus to treat this disease. Later, Zhang went to Shanghai First Peoples Hospital to ask Fan Jiangao (a chief physician of digestive department) for more information. With the help of these two experts, Zhang began to develop fatty liver therapeutic

equipment. He read medical books like Practical Internal Medicine, Compendium of Materia Medica, Bioinformatics, etc. in his free time. After three years of study, he finally mastered the principle of the clinical application of magnet therapy. Besides, he also consulted Zhou Wansong, authoritative expert on magnetics in China. In 1998, Zhang made three model equipments. At that time, his two colleagues happened to be diagnosed with mild fatty liver. They tried to use these equipments under the guidance of Zhang. One month later, their conditions improved significantly. Even the doctor doubted that they had taken some special effective medicine. The curative effect of Zhangs fatty liver therapeutic equipment was proved. But he was not anxious to publicize his invention. Instead, he went on to find materials to improve the qualification of his invention. He did not make samples until August 2004. His invention was proved clinically by Jiangsu Province Hospital and General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command. In April, 2006, it was approved by relative provincial departments to register and

and the center of rotation of the rotary table are eccentrically arranged, so that the massaging head can generate the function of vibration massage when the rotary table rotates. It has the advantage that under the double action of microelement and magnetic therapy, the various microelements of zinc, copper, germanium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, selenium, etc. contained in the natural jade are utilized, and get into the human

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 26 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

body under the action of the magnetic field, having unforeseen special efficacy for the treatment and prevention of fatty liver by reducing fat and decomposing fat in the fatty liver. The fatty liver therapeutic equipment has small volume, light weight, simple structure, convenient production, and low cost. Health Care Massage Machine: a usercentric led innovation
WangFanlin (Nanping, Fujian)

farmer transformed his life through his own invention. This comfortable health-care massaging bed includes a bed body and a channel arranged inside the bed body. The bed has a reciprocatingmassage roller mechanism positioned

Wang Fanlin, a farmer of Xiji Village (Fangdao Town, Jianou City) had suffered lumbar disc hernia for several years, causing much inconvenience to him. He could not even work in the field. So he was eager to invent a simple massage machine to treat his disease. Although with simple materials, he invented a massage machine in about two months. The treatment effect was

in the channel; a grid cover plate is arranged above the channel and in level with the surface of the bed; and rollers of the reciprocating-massage roller mechanism protrude from the empty spaces of the grid-shaped cover plate. It has the advantages of simple structure, low manufacturing cost, comfortable and convenient use, and is quite popular. This innovation could massage human body parts, like lumbar vertebra and cervical vertebra, by imitating manual massage. It could adjust force-bearing points automatically to do rolling massage on fixed points or within long, middle and short distance according to the curve of human lumbar backbone. It has a wide variation range of massage strength. Being different from other massage beds, the bed surface of this innovation would not get sunken when a person lies on it. Electronic lightening protector
Chen Dahui (Zhangzhou, Fujian)

input joint, a power supply output joint, an antenna input joint, an antenna output joint, and an electronic circuit arranged in the protectors body. After a power supply enters a safety fuse, the utility model has three synchronous steps so as to have the functions of three protections. Firstly, the power supply enters a rectifier tube, lightning staves the rectifier tube, the safety fuse is disconnected and the switches automatically trip. Secondly, after the power supply enters in the safety fuse, and synchronously enters a vibrator, using vibration and the switches automatically trip. Thirdly, the power supply synchronously enters power supply of a winding coil, the lightning prompts the winding coil to forwardly strike fire, the safety fuse is disconnected and the switches automatically trip. Then, after the power supply enters a trip switch, it enters a transformer again so as to automatically trip by an electronic element switch. After lightening enters through antenna input into an apolar capacitor, it enters the trip switch. Thus when lightning strike, the apolar capacitor can stop the power supply to pass through, so that the output antenna can obtain protection. Flick-drip Planter, Weeding Machine with Gears, Long Distance and Multifunction Pesticide Sprayer
Zhao Yunlong (Dongcheng, Beijing)

good. So he lent his invented machine to other villagers. They proposed modification to Wang who then improved his invention on and on. And its effectiveness improved over time. In June, 2006, Wang applied for a patent and began to look for a partner to mass produce his invention. Zhang Mingsheng, the manager of a bamboo processing company, knew Wangs invention through one of his friend. He brought this invention to the investment symposium held in Xiamen in 1998. It was favored by a lot of merchants. On realizing that this was a good business opportunity, Zhang signed a contract with Wang on the spot and invited Wang to work in his company as a R & D product engineer. In order to cater to the market demand, Wang made further improvement in his massage machine again. After half a years research and development, Wangs invention began to be mass produced. And this common

Chen Dahui, a young farmer from Meixi village (Shiliu Town, Fujian) was very fond of electronic technology since his childhood. Seeing that household electrical equipments of his villagers were often struck by lightning causing considerable loss of property, Chen decided to invent a practical automatic electronic lightening arrester or insulator to protect their household appliances. After five years of research and development, he finally invented his first electronic protector in 2006. This innovation comprises of an arrester/protector body, a voltmeter, an indicating lamp, a power supply on-andoff switch, a vibroswitch, a power supply

Zhao Yunlong, a farmer from Dongcheng District, has transformed the traditional rotary type peanut planter into a flick-drip type. The rotary peanut planter available in the market at times crushes and damages the seeds rendering them useless. He invented a kind of flick-drip peanut planter, which would first flick out the seed before falling into the soil. Hence, the seeds are not squashed or damaged. Besides, this planter can sow ten Mu field in a day, which is eight Mu more than sown by the rotary peanut planter. Zhao has also made a weeding machine with gears and a multifunction pesticide sprayer. Weeding machines available in the market could not dig up roots. However, Zhaos machine is installed with gears, enabling the weeding machine to penetrate into the soil upto three to five centimeters depth and pull out weeds from the roots. The

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you confess to your children last that you did not know the answer to their question? 27

pesticide sprayer developed by him has a long pipe connecting the spout and the pesticide chest, thus, it can be used to spray in 200 m area without moving the main body of the sprayer. By using this machine, one person could spray fifty Mu fruit trees in two days. Zhao, born in 1966, has studied up to middle school. He maintains about 70 pigs, has over 50 Mu woodlands having more than 2,000 walnut trees and over 200 peach trees. When the farmers of the nearby villages came to know about his inventions, they asked him to lend the machines for use in their fields. Meanwhile, the inventor could also find partners to mass produce his inventions. Small Agricultural multi-purpose Machinery
Geng Xiaolin (Shunyi, Beijing)

Station; hence, there was little market for his original ridger. And he needed more money to improve his devices.
L i n k : h t t p : / / n c . m o f c o m . g o v. c n / n e w s / 8156271.html

Happy QQ Food & sucking smoke

Huang Jinkun (Zhangzhou, Fujian)

Geng Xiaolin, Shunyi, Beijing, has added a sowing basket to a sweet potato ridger to transform it into a sowing / seeding machine. This machine can also act as a plastic film mulcher (kind of laminator) and a grass separator. After sowing the seeds, the film laminator put plastic over soil nearby to keep it sufficiently warm and facilitate early germination. The grass-separating machine is used to pull the wheat root stubble out after the harvesting the crop. Several years ago, Geng bought a sweet potato ridger for 3000 yuan, to earn money by custom hiring or ridging sweet potato fields for other farmers. However, over the years, farmers have been losing interest in cultivation of sweet potato. In 2008, Geng thought of putting his outdated machine into some au courant or up-to-date farming practices. Therefore, he disassembled the original machine and installed sowing bucket, plastic film laminator/mulcher and grass-separating instrument on the machine, which turned it into a very useful, portable multi-purpose machine to be used for small scale farming activities, where the traditional machines could not be used. By using his invention, Geng could sow over 500 Mu fields in a season and earned over 30,000 Yuan. He regretted that lately the farmers use the facilities of Agriculture Device

Huang Jinkun, a farmer from Zhaoshan village( Xiandu Town, Huaan County) has invented Happy QQ food on the lines of instant noodles, though they claim to be different in the nutrient content. The inspiration for Happy QQ food came from instant noodles. In 2007, he went to a shop to buy instant noodles. When he was waiting in queue to paymoney, the advertisement No Preservative Added attracted him. The quality guarantee period was one year. He thought that if Instant noodles without preservative taste better than others and are healthier; why not use this technology to make other foods healthier too. Two years later, after dozens of experiments, he finally developed

Happy QQ food based on wheat, c o r n , peanuts. It not only tastes well but looks appetizing and is rich in nutrients. It does not contain any preservatives and can be kept for more than one year. He developed it but could not pursue his entrepreneurial dreams in the absence of requisite investors. Huang has also made an exhaust fan which sucks smoke from a distance of upto three meters and is suitable for using in public transport vehicles. Moreover, it can treat smoke innocuously based on principles of chemistry. Regular water cleaning is enough for this low cost, portable device. A passenger bus would need four such devices. He was inspired to make this invention in January 2008, when he went to Hangzhou with his brother-in-law by

Lui Gim Gong: Chinese Citrus Wizard in USA Lui Gim Gong, a famous horticulturist developed varieties of oranges and other citrus fruits suited to Floridas climate. He was born in a village near Canton, China in the year 1859. At the age of 12, he accompanied his uncle to San Francisco. After a short stay there, he moved to North Adams, Massachusetts where he worked in a shoe factory. He fell ill there and was nursed back to health by Fanny Burlingame, daughter of a local farmer. Soon after, he accepted Christianity and American citizenship. He went back to China in 1884 to meet his mother. On his return to the States he moved to Florida along with Fanny as the winter of Massachusetts was too severe for him to cope after his illness. Fanny and her sister owned a farm in Florida where Lui began to experiment with citrus fruits assisted by William Dumville, Fannys brother in law. But most of the trees succumbed to the frost in the first year. But Lui continued with his experiments. He had some knowledge of pollination techniques which he had learnt from his family in China. In Florida he also learnt the technique of cross pollination in Citrus sp. by observing bees. By 1888, Lui had produced a new orange variety by crossing Harts late Valencia and Mediterranean Sweet orange varieties, which was sweet, frost-tolerant and the ripened early too. Four years later, he developed a variety of grapefruit that grew singly on a branch rather than in a clump and also another which had a rich aroma but did not have much juice. When Fanny died in 1903, she left her property in Florida to Lui. He was awarded the Silver Wilder Medal from the USDA for his orange (which is still grown in Florida). Though he was a dexterous plant breeder, he lacked business sense and his friends had to help him always to pay his taxes. He died in 1925 and is buried in Oakdale Cemetery. People erected a bust in his memory in 2000. This bust is now in a gazebo in the DeLand House garden. There is also a mural painted in the town to commemorate his memory.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8461255 http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/orange.html http://www.volusia.org/history/luegimgong.htm

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 28 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

bus. He saw distressed smokers who were not allowed to smoke in the bus. How to solve this problem? he thought. One day, at a fast food restaurant, he observed that the cooking oil fumes were sucked by an exhaust fan, which got him thinking and acted as a trigger for this invention! Besides, he has also made a teacup sterilizer and a tea set for which he has applied for a patent. Interestingly, Huang also wants to make a plane. In the recent years, he considered
Continued from page 15 ..

transferring or licensing his inventions to others who may want to make business out of them. He said he preferred to be an inventor rather than a businessman. He looks forward to the investments and investors who are interested in his inventions.
(This is very typical situation in India too where most innovators either do not want to be an entrepreneur or are not always a very good one at that: Ed).

Malaysia. Thereafter, he went on to create a few more innovations. In 2000, Bugs won the National Inventor Award for the invention of an Aluminium Multi-locking Pulley. There were ten short listed innovators for the final round from the thousand of entries received nation-wide. He says, My Engineer, Norhaidi Tukiman and I were the only two people with a simple designation of Encik (Mister) amongst the crowd of Professors and Doctors (PhD) in the finals. We were the underdogs, but we turned-out to be the winner of this prestigious award. Moving on, he came-out with a few more inventions and each time he entered any competition, he would win something. This inventor has made his country proud by winning the National Innovation Award from the Malaysian Prime Minister in 2007. Bugs Tan has won several awards including the Jurys award from the Intellectual Property office, a gold medal at the Cyber International Genius Inventors fair in Korea and a special award at the ASIAN Invention Association. He has also won a silver Medal in Geneva, Switzerland in 2001 where he competed with the best inventors from around the world. Recently for his award winning invention Litewalk grating (a new galvanized steel flooring can be used on oil platforms, refinery and other heavy industrial sites), he entered into a licensing agreement with Wangco Engineering industries which will allow them to manufacture and market this light weight grating in 10 Asian countries and India for the next ten years. Everybody is curious to know why is he called Bugs Tan?! He playfully answers that he is a love bug and wants to spread love across humanity. Bugs has authored many creative workbooks for children and has even brought out a television cartoon series on inventions. He is constantly working towards keeping the creativity alive in his country through his untiring efforts. We hope he continues to inspire creativity and colour in the lives of many!

Some of Bugs Inventions

Home Appliance- Fanfilta A Velcro is used as a base that sticks onto the fan blades. A filter strip is then placed on top of the Velcro. When the fan is switched on, it sweeps the air and traps the airborne particles. When filter is dirty, you just need to change it. Out Door Air Cooler (ODA) He has used the principle of evaporation in ODA. It has paper pad to exchange the warm air into cooled fresh air. Its good for outdoors where an air-conditioner cannot be used. It does not produce mist. Hydrogen Generator This is a gadget created to save fuel in a car. It uses the electrolysis principle to break the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen. The gas helps to boost the engine combustion and hence could save fuel consumption by 15%. Boot Tray Boot tray is designed to be installed in the car boot. Its a tray and can be converted into a basket to keep loose item like vegetables and fruits. The basket can be folded back into the shape of a tray and stow away under the speakers thus saving space. Katapila Track Machine Katapila is a machine used in the palm oil estate to collect FFB. It is designed especially for soggy ground. It works like a war tank moving on rubber tracks in rough terrain and peat soil Chiller Can Using the technology of a thermal electric cooler (TEC), a can of soft drink can be chilled within 20 minutes. It can be used in the car, at home or office. We can also reverse the energy to warm up a bottle of milk for toddlers in the car.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Will you stand by the IPRs of the peasants? 29

CENTENARIAN

Work Hard, Live Longer!

In our culture, we often give blessings to people to live for hundred years. But when somebody indeed lives that long, we generally dont care. This research effort of SRISTI is to overcome this tendency and fill a major gap in our understanding of how do people live long, what is their worldview, what makes them look at future more optimistically than most. Can we learn from their traditional knowledge, climate change perceptions and other insights?

extracted from Mahua (Madhuca indica J. F. Gmel.) fruits was used to cook food as groundnut was not available during droughts. Mahua flowers were eaten after being roasted and the leaves were fed to the cattle. She says, Akal ma mahudo amara mate kalpvriksha hato; aameane amara pashuma hudo khaine jivigaya. (During drought, mahua is like a blessing for us, without this our animals and we could not have survived) She recalls that once there was an earthquake when she was attending a relatives marriage. In those days, people believed that nature punished us for the evil deeds in the form of such natural calamities. Joitiben comes across as a very soft hearted person. She cannot bear people fighting amongst themselves. Memories of struggles She got married to Bhakibhai in her early teens. She says, Kutumbh motu hatu etle sangharsh pan moto karyo. (For the well being of my large family, I had to struggle a lot). She had to manage her six children single handedly along with the daily household chores which included endless work from dawn to dusk. She recalls that her day started early, at four in the morning and the work included taking care of the cattle, arranging fodder and then milking. Other than this, she laboured hard all day cooking food for her six children (which included making about 100 big chapatis per day!). Even the ghee and butter were prepared at home. The hard working Joitiben even used to grind the grains at home by Chakki (grinding stone). Similarly, the paddy was threshed every day at home. She says that she struggled hard to raise her six children but she is thankful to the almighty that they respect her to

this day. She feels, aa me jetlu kaam karta hata enu ardhu kaam pan aajkalni bahuvo ne karva nu hatunathi. Tem chhatai bahuvo ne aakaam badhare lage chhe, ane aaj na zamana ma to kaam badhu karvana name par bahuo ne divorce leta pan sikhi gayichhe. (The kind of labour and struggle we did, modern daughters-inlaws cannot do. They prefer leisure and if one asked them to struggle harder, they might even ask for divorce). Survival kit When her children used to fall sick, she used to cure them by home remedies. She used to get the different kinds of roots from the jungle and mix with tulsi, Neem, giloi, bittergourd. These are effective in fever and cough. She shared that around 35 years ago, people used to laugh if anyone went to the doctor to get treated for cough and cold. For fever in cattle, she used to apply salt on its body and cover it with jute bag. In case of bloat the animal was fed oil and hing (Ferula asafoetida L.). The bullocks were fed guvar, gur and ghee. Apart from this, they were also fed coconut and sesame mixed with gur. To increase milk yield in buffaloes, they were fed cotton seeds. She has lot more knowledge than what we have shared here. Will this survive? May her spirit survive for as long as it can! The younger generation also needs to respect the struggle that elders like her have gone through. We hope she lives longer still. Why do we have such few women innovators? Do women innovate less or are we unable to scout them?

Joitiben Bhaktibhai Patel, a 102 year old centenarian from Lavarpur village (Gandhinagar district, Gujarat) is a renowned midwife and known for her dexterity in handling complex delivery/ pregnancy cases. Early years of struggle Joitiben lost her mother when she was very young and hence she and her other siblings shifted to her maternal uncles house which was at Aminpur village in the same region. Her father worked as a labour in a textile mill. She had to work hard to take care of her siblings and uncles family too. The village was dominated by the Darbars i.e. the Rajputs. The labourers had to work in their fields free of cost before tilling their own land. She laments that those times were difficult and they had to toil hard to make the ends meet. Speaking about the lifestyle then; she says, Ek divas ma vis mile jetluchalvu, amara mate ramatvaathati. (Walking twenty miles a day was normal for us). Surviving Natural Calamities When she was quite young, there was a severe drought. She says that the oil

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 30 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

HANDLOOMS

Innovations LOOMing Large!

Handloom provides employment to 12.5 million people in India (next only to agriculture) and yet is considered by many as sunset industry, as if weaving woes is their only destiny. But we see a great hope in this industry as our middle class becomes conscious of culture, healthy texture and feel of the fabric so produced. Handloom fabric allows breathing of skin and keeps it healthy. Honey Bee Network strongly believes that Gandhian vision about potential of handloom is yet to be properly unfolded. Innovations in this sector are thus crucial and this cluster will provide only a small glimpse of variety of them drawn from NIF database. Most of these innovative designs are from North Eastern region of the country. Those interested in engaging with this mission may write back.

Extra Weft Insertion for Handloom Design using magnet bearing shaft
Deepak Bharali, Assam

Conventionally, the task of the insertion of weft threads required to make a variety of designs is done manually by tying knots, which is cumbersome and time consuming. The thread is also wasted in connecting one motif to another. Deepaks innovative device makes designs in one third of the time required by the traditional way of making designs. The device consists of three components; base frame, magnet bearing shaft and a specially designed bobbin. These components can be fitted to any handloom Jacquard machine. The attachment facilitates the Jacquard loom to perform automatic selection and lifting of warp threads for design making. It was launched at the exhibition (March, 2011) at President Estate in the presence of Honourable Pratibha Patil, President of India earlier this year. IIT Guwahati has provided invaluable help in maturing the design through NIF grant. Double Shuttle Loom
Ngangom Nabakumar Singh, Manipur

broader in width and has provision for two sets of warp rolls. One person can weave two strips of textile on the same loom at a marginally higher cost of the loom. It was also showcased at the Presidential Exhibition, March 2011 Automatic saree border weft insertion
P L Bhanumurti, Tamil Nadu

The output of the machine is 25-50 times more than the traditional shuttle loom, and almost any other power loom. The innovative machine can weave three to four fabric per hour whereas the traditional could hardly make one or two fabric in a day. Except for changing of bobbin, the machine does not require any manpower. Kouna mat making machine
Mangi Singh, Manipur

Traditional Korvai or contrast weaving involves intricate work where the design and the colour of the borders are often different from those of the main body of the sari. Three shuttles are needed: the weaver operates two, and an assistant operates the third. Bhanumurtis automated system is derived from the Catch Cord Technique drawing device for looms so that no assistant is needed and the productivity is increased. By this improvement machines capacity has increased to weave one sari in two days against 10-15 days in conventional looms. Improved Mechanized Loom
Biren Singh, Manipur

Kouna is synonymous with the exotic craft tradition of Manipur. This manual machine, which can even be operated by a low skilled worker or a physically challenged person, can weave two mats per day. The quality of the mats produced is better than those produced by traditional methods. Mangi Singh is a physically challenged person but it has not prevented him from designing and operating this innovative loom. The productivity increases three to four times. A skilled traditional mat weaver can make only one mat in four days, including frill tying. Improved Loom
Salam Rajeshkumar Singh, Manipur

The innovative Double Shuttle Loom works on the same principle as that of any other standard manual shuttle looms however, this new machine is

This innovative mechanized shuttle looms simulates the working principles of traditional Manipuri shuttle loom, except that the new machine runs fully automatic with the help of a 0.5 HP motor.

The ordinary handloom has been modified to be operated by 0.25 HP motor in order to enhance the productivity of the weavers. Surgical dressing items are being provided to various government hospitals and private nursing homes in Manipur since 2003. These dressing items are made with the help of six such units of this loom.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you think of a new idea last? 31

Honey Bee
Seals & Heals: Cassia
Loksarvani
(Gujarati version of Honey Bee) SRISTI, P O Box No. 15050 Ambawadi, Ahmedabad - 380015, Gujarat Email: [email protected]
Practices given here have been scouted by Prem Singh Vasva, volunteer of SRISTI from different villages of Dedhiyapada, Narmada district of Gujarat.

221201 Palash ringworm

and

neem

for

Journal of Medicinal Plant Research 4:19 (2004-2008). HB 3&4 reported Arjanbhai R Chauhan to have used ash and jaggery

To get rid of ringworm infection, Umrabhai Dungariyabhai Vasava uses seeds of Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub. and the juice of neem leaves. The amount of seeds to be powdered and mixed with neem juice to make a paste depends upon the affected area. The paste is applied on the affected area to get relief.
Neem and Butea are reported to have antimicrobial activities (Biswas et al (2002): Current Science, 82 (11):13361345 and

Analgesic and anti inflammatory activities of Terminalia arjuna leaf are reported (Biswas et al (2011): Journal of Phytology 3(1): 33-38. In HB10 (3) and HB 21(3), farmers have reported the use of Calotropis and Arani also for the purpose.

where as Bhavanbhai Parmar(HB 20(3) used tamarind pith for the same.

For the same purpose, leaves of kachka (Caesalpinia cristata L.), Calotropis (Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T. Aiton), and castor (Ricinus communis L.) are taken in an equal amount and ground by Somabhai J Vasava to extract the juice. The juice is then boiled and allowed to cool down. It is applied over the affected part, when luke warm.
The plant is known in Ayurveda for such activity (http://www.ayurveda-seminare.de/ site/fileadmin/kursbilder/API-Vol-1.pdf) Gurav et. al. (2008): Iranian Journal of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Vol. 7 (1): 21-24).

221204 Cassia heals wounds Kunvadiyo (Cassia tora L.) is used to treat maggot infested wounds, and also for intestinal worms in cattle. Gomabhai Gambhi mixes the juice of the leaves of Kunvadiyo (Cassia tora L.) with an equal amount of buttermilk, about ten g of gandhak (Phosphorus) from matchstick and five g of hing (Ferula asafoetida L.). This mixture is administered orally to the ailing animal in the morning.
Cassia tora L. is traditionally used in maggot wound infection (Reddy et al (2010)

221203 Castor cures from food poisoning Anilbhai Maheshbhai extracts juice from fresh leaves of castor (Ricinus communis L.) and gives to animals affected by food poisoning or bites from poisonous insects. The animal should be made to drink this in sufficient amount to have the desired effect.
Methanolic extract of the leaves of Ricinus communis L. showed antimicrobial property against eight pathogenic bacteria in rats. The extract was not toxic (Oyewole (2010):

221202 Sadad to reduce swelling To treat swelling due to sprain or wounds, Madhu Singh Hundiya grinds leaves of sadad (Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.) Wight & Arnot) into a fine paste and applied on the affected part. When the paste dries up a bit, then the wound is bandaged with a clean cloth. The dressing is done at an interval of two days. The animal gets cured in about five days.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 32 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Medicinal plants used by ethnic people of Medak district, Andhra Pradesh. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. Vol. 9 (1) 184-190.

sativum L.) seeds with the fodder of the milch cattle. This increases the milk yield significantly.
Scout- Sojitra Dimple Seeds of Lepidium sativum L. are bitter, thermogenic, depurative, galactagogue, emmenagogue, tonic, aphrodisiac, ophthalmic and diuretic. It is useful in leprosy, skin diseases, dysentery, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, eye diseases, leucorrhoea, scurvy, asthma, cough, cold and seminal weakness (http:// w w w. m o t h e r h e r b s . c o m / l e p i d i u m sativum.html)

221205 Lotus sunstroke

protects

from

To protect from sunstroke, Rasikbhai Dalsukhbhai uses the seeds of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.). Seeds are ground, mixed with water and given to the animal. It is helpful in the recovery from diarrhoea/dehydration caused due to sunstroke.
The rhizomes or leaves are used with other herbs to treat sunstroke, fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, dizziness and vomiting of blood (http://

221209 Aval (Cassia auriculata L.) for broken limbs Spreng.) are properly washed and kept aside. Bavabhai Dungariya heats one tablespoon of oil in a pan; adds a pinch of hing (Ferula asafoetida L.) and half teaspoonful of mustard. The flowers are then added to this along with salt, turmeric and black pepper. Well cooked flowers become tender and are served with bread.
Leucas cephalotes (Roth) Spreng. Syn. Phlomis cephalotes (Labiatae or Lamiaceae) plant is considered stimulant, diaphoretic, laxative, anthelmintic, antiseptic and insecticidal. A syrup of flower is used as domestic remedy for cough and cold. Flower and stem extracts showed antifilarial activity (Qamaruddin et al. (2002): Journal of Ethnopharma-cologyVolume 82, Issue 1, Pages 23-28.

Harshukbhai Pokya grinds leaves of aval and tamarind in an equal amount and adds a pinch of soda to the paste. This is then applied on the broken limb and bandaged. The bandage is removed after four days.
Scout- Mona Radadiya Dried flowers and leaves of Cassia auriculata L. are used to mend broken bones. (Vedavathy & Rao (1991) J. Ethnopharmacol. 33 1/2: 193-196 and www.sristi.org/hb_magazine/pdf/10 (1) HB JAN-MAR 99.pdf. Acacia leucophloea Willd. and Calotropis gigantea (L.) W.T. Aiton was reported for the same in HB 6(4) and 9(4) respectively.

gbrexportandimport.blogspot.com). Hb 21(3) reported satavari (Asparagus racemosus Willd) being used.

221210 Fermented extracts for larval control Rajnikbhai Sarothiya from Sethaya, Kodinar (district Junagarh) has a solution to treat milibug/sukhado insect. Leaves and fruits, bulbs and pods of onion, garlic and neem and chillies are mixed in ten liters of water and poured into an earthen pot. The mouth of the pot is covered with a cloth before burying in soil for 25 days. Thereafter, the pot is taken out and the content is boiled. 1.5 ml of this mixture is sprayed every time the insects appear.
Scout: Mona Radadiya The plants (Alium cepa L., Alium sativum L., Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Capsicum annum L.) are known for their pesticidal property (http://www.vvob.co.zw/files/ natural_pest_control.pdf)

221206 Agheda gives relief from scorpion sting To treat scorpion sting in animals, Kathuriyabhai Devana uses agheda (Achyranthus aspera L.). Roots are ground with water and the fine paste is applied on the affected spot. It is believed to give immediate relief.
A crushed root of Achyranthus is used in case of scorpion, snake and insect bite due to its anti-venom property as per traditional use of some important weeds from Chattishgarh (http://www.docstoc.com/ docs/15409450/Table-1).

221208 Asadiya to increase milk yield Kiritbhai Nanjibhai Babariya of the village Jhamkandorana, Rajkot district mixes 100 g of asadiya (Lepidium

221207 Recipe of Kubo (Leucas cephalotes (Roth) Sprmg.) About 500 g of freshly plucked flowers of kubo (Leucas Cephalotes (Roth)

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Is marriage between traditional knowledge and modern science possible? 33

Taming Termites and Cumin to Zzzzzz

Ama Akha Pakha
(Odia version of Honey Bee) Dr Balaram Sahu, Editor [email protected] They are not able to sleep well some times. Farmers in this region combat fatigue by taking cumin and bananas. They roast jeera (Cuminum cyminum L.) and grind it into a fine powder. One spoonful of jeera powder is mixed with one ripened banana and given to the fatigued patient. This acts within a couple of hours and induces good sleep.
Community practice Commn.: Baikuntha Pradhan, Barapur, Tigiria, district Cuttack Cumin is known for its action against Pentylenetetrazole indicating its role in enhancing Gamma Amino butyric acid (GABA) neuroreceptors (Almeida et al., 2011) thereby enhancing somnolence. Fructose, a natural sugar which is directly absorbed in intestine for providing energy,

221211 Garlic paste for healing cracks During winter, skin of the feet, toes and heel crack due to dry climate. Consequently, bleeding occurs and it

Kantapada village; who has been using this since childhood.

Community practice Commn: Dhaneswar Pradhan, Kantapada, district Angul The plant is known for its role in lipid metabolism and has high vitamin C content (Gacche et al., 2010). These constituents might interfere in formation of oleic acid derived from sebum so as to minimize inflammatory reaction at stratum corneum. Okra shampoos are available in the market. Gacche et al. (2010), Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources. 1 (3): 306-313. HB 18(2) reported practice on treating hair problem.

pains while walking. Farmers in district Jagatsinghpur, Odisha crush garlic without adding water. These crushed garlic cloves are heated a bit and applied on cracked feet. This is done before going to bed. After three to four such applications the cracks heal.
Community practice Commn: Prahallad Rout, Talanga, Cuttack, Odisha Garlic promotes healing through its reduced nociceptive1 (Kumar et al., 1999: Indian J Exp. Biol., 37(7): 662-666), antimicrobial, immune-stimulating properties (Resch et al. (1995): Fortschr Med., 113(20-21): 311-315). Transient Receptor Potential (TRP), stress sensor ion channels are activated by raw garlic (Macpherson et al. (2005): Curr Biol., 15(10): 929-934) that plays major role in Ca+ ion transport (a ubiquitous second messenger). is readily available in Banana. Almeida et al. (2011), Molecules, 16: 2726-2742.

221214 Taming Termite through goat droppings and neem Farmers of Mendhasala use neem leaves (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) along with dropping of goats to eradicate termites. One kg of neem leaves and an equal quantity of goat excreta are mixed and crushed. A total of 50 kg of this mixture is spread over 100 decimals of land. This effectively from the soil, Samantray, who this for the last eradicates termites says Sri Harihar has been practicing 40 years.

221213 Natural Shampoo Old men and women in villages of Angul district use a natural soap for washing their hair. This natural soap is nothing but the leaves of Bhindi (Ladys finger, okra, Abelomoschus esculentus (L.) Moench). They take these leaves and grind them into paste on a stone slab. Then they apply this paste on the scalp and wash it when it turns dry. This makes hair clean and keeps the mind cool, says Dhaneswar Pradhan, an 80 year old farmer from

221212 Natural sleep inducing agent Labourers who work continuously for a long time during the day and for several days in a month get fatigued.

Community practice Commn: Harihar Samantray, Mendhasala, district Khurda

1 Nociception - the neural processes of encoding and processing noxious stimuli

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 34 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Umeth et al (1999: The Journal of Agricultural Science, 133: 403-407) has described the well known impact of neem leaves over termite control.

Apamaranga (Achyranthes aspera L.) and tie around the neck of the tick infested cattle. This is supposed to ward off ticks from the cattle.
Community practice Scout: Dr Tapas Ranjan Mohapatra, Routpada, district Balasore Leaf extracts of Achyranthes aspera L. had showed highest larvicidal activity against cattle ticks like Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Anopheles subpictus Grassi and Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Zahir et al. (2009): Parasitology Research, Vol. 105 (2), 453-461).

The antiviral properties of onions are well established with specific reference to ADS and RNA virus (Goren et al., (2003): US patent Application 20030026859.

221215 Herbal solution to increase fruit set To increase the production of vegetables like pumpkin, brinjal, pointed gourd etc., farmers in Baranga area of Cuttack use Juani Pani - a herbal solution spray. It is prepared by taking 100 gm of Juani i.e. ajwain (Carum copticum (Linn.) Benth.) in a liter of water. The solution is kept overnight. It is then sprayed over the plants. The fruit production almost doubles by this spray, says Kishore Sahoo. He learnt this from his father, Late Padan Sahoo, who used this method for over 30 years. Late Padan Sahoo used to prepare Juani Pani or Phala Pani and distribute to other farmers in his area free of cost.
Community Practice Commn.: Kishore Sahoo, Dadhapatna, Baranga, district Cuttack

221219 Turmeric water bath for controlling lice Lice infestation in poultry birds hinders body growth. Lice suck blood and cause a drop in egg production and also stunted growth in birds. To control this, tribal farmers use turmeric water bath. Pabitra Nayak of village Andharua takes two spoonful of turmeric powder and adds to half bucket of water and mixes well. The infested poultry birds are then given bath by this turmeric water. After just one bath, lice infestation is controlled, says Nayak. He has been controlling lice infestation in poultry birds by this organic method for last six years.
Community practice Commn.: Pabitra Nayak, Sabar Sahi, Bhubaneswar Scout: Dr. Balaram Sahu The plant has efficacy against ectoparasites like scabies (Charles and Charles, (1992): Tropical and Geographical Medicine 44(1-2):178-81).

221217 A wild chilli that heals Kolha, a tribal community uses a wild variety of chilli locally called as Dhanua L a n k a (Capsicum frutescens L.) to heal animal wounds They make a paste of 25-50 g of this wild variety and apply on the cut wound. Wound gets healed very fast.
Community practice Scout: Dr Tapas Ranjan Mohapatra, Routpada, district Balasore Capsaicin, an antimicrobial compound present in chilli binds to nociceptors1 and enable lessening of pain by depleting Substance P (Mason et al. (2004): Primary Care, 328 : 991).

Veterinary 221216 Controlling ticks in cattle. Tick infestation is a very widespread problem in cattle. Ticks suck blood and cattle become anemic. Farmers of Kolha tribal community take the fresh root of a plant locally called as

221220 Mahua flowers bullocks from stress

relieve

221218 Prevention of Ranikhet disease in poultry. Ranikhet disease (RD) in poultry is a dreaded disease of viral origin. This disease takes a heavy toll if not prevented. Tribal farmers prevent this disease by feeding fried onions (Allium cepa L.) to the birds. It should be given every six months, says Rajendra Nayak. He has been practicing this traditional method for the last six years and getting good results.
Community practice Commn.: Rajendra Nayak, Sabar Sahi, Andharua, Bhubaneswar Scout: Dr. Balaram Sahu

Farmers in Rairakhol area use dried mahua flowers; Madhuca longifolia (Koenig) J. F. Macbr. var. latifolia (Roxb.) Chevalier and horse gram to rejuvenate fatigued bullocks. They take a handful of Mahua flowers along with half kg of horse gram and soak in water for few hours. This is then boiled in water and given to the bullocks. By eating this, bullocks work wonderfully, says Sadananda Pradhan, a farmer of village Badabahal. He says that the recipe is popular particularly in the rainy season.
Community practice Commn.: Sadananda Pradhan, Badabahal, Sambalpur Scout: Dr. Balaram Sahu The analgesic properties of Mahua flowers (Chandra (2001): Indian Journal of Pharmacology 2001; 33: 108-111) is likely to play role in relieving muscular pain in bullocks.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you meet an innovator last? 35

Nam Vali Velanmai

(Tamil Version of Honey Bee) P Vivekanandan, 45, T P M Nagar Virattipathu - 625010, Tamil Nadu [email protected]

Stir Growth Higher; Make Egg Extract, or Organic Fertilizer

Herbal solutions
Tamilmani (55) from Vanniyampatti village has studied till 10th Standard. He used to work as a powerloom superviser (which manufactured surgical cotton for local mill owners). When he could save enough money, he bought two acres of land. He maintains a herd of six cattles and an equal number of goats. He has developed following innovations for pursuing organic crop production: 221221 For quick Fermentation of organic liquid fertilizer Usually it takes more than a month to decompose cow dung slurry properly. In order to hasten this process, Tamilmani adds 25 g Kadukkai powder (Terminalia chebula (Gaertner) Retz.) and one gram of Athimathuram powder (Glycrrhiza glabra L.) to make a herbal mixture. He dilutes ten kg of cow dung in a 50 liter container. To this, the herbal mixture is added. The entire solution is stirred well and closed air tight. After a few days the lid has to be opened partially in order to release carbon monoxide and methane gases. After a week or so, when the liquid has no odour, fermentation is supposed to be complete. One liter of this solution is diluted ten times and sprayed to get faster growth. This can also be used with Panchagavya and added to irrigation water or used as foliar spray.
The plant powder of Terminalia chebula (Gaertner) Retz. and Glycrrhiza glabra L. is known to have antimicrobial property (Sato et al, 1997, Irani et al, 2010). The reason for faster decomposition is that the closed container creates anaerobic condition, which increases the growth of anaerobic bacteria which is normally very slow in an open system of composting (Heap, shallow ditches, etc). This also increases the temperature than which favours growth of anaerobic bacteria. Sato et al., (1997): Biol Pharm Bull., 20(4):401-404.Irani et al., (2010): Iranian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 9 (4): 425-428.

221222 Preparation of Egg Extract One kg of lemon juice is added to eight beaten eggs in a jar. After eight days, a kg of jaggery is added to the dissolved eggs. The mixture is allowed to ferment for three weeks in the closed jar. After three weeks, the contents are filtered.

through the intestines of the caprines that is goats. This disease is often associated with over-eating (fresh grasses in rainy season, heavy grain feeding or excess milk feeding in case of lambs and kids). It progresses rapidly causing death without significant symptoms. Affected caprines may cry continuously or appear depressed or have convulsive twitches with abdominal pain or sudden seizure and throw their head back or can have bloody diarrhoea. Recently, death of 110 goats in a village Kelal near Paramakudi in Ramanthapuram district was reported. Rajamanickam, a herbal healer administered the remaining goats with brinjal (unripened) after heating directly over fire. He gave four brinjals to each goat. This checked the mortality completely. He has also earlier treated cows suffering with loose motion /

About 200 ml of the filtrate is taken and mixed with ten liters of water and sprayed on the crops. It acts as a growth promoter, increases the number of flowers in various crops and enhances the crop yield.
Alagesan, et al. (2009) found that the height, number and area of leaves, number and weight of tomatoes and chlorophyll content of the plants treated with egg lime mix with Panchagavya are positively correlated. (http://www.eco-web.com/edi/ index.htm)

221223 Treatment for Enterotoxemia in goats Enterotoxemia is a condition when large amount of toxins, produced by increased population of Clostridium perfringins Type C and D, are absorbed

diarrhoea by administering a kg of heated brinjal.

The unripe fruit is covered by the calyx, which cures food poisoning. http:// w w w. p y r o e n e r g e n . c o m / a r t i c l e s 0 9 / traditional-remedies-vegetables.htm

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 36 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Traditional knowledge on goat rearing

Duraisamypuram (Sivakasi taluka, district Virudhunagar) is a dryland village with black cotton soil having annual rainfall less than 800 mm. Moreover, the ground water is saline at many places. Local people depend upon sheep and goat rearing as their predominant activity. The village has a dominant population of konar (yadava) community. Earlier there were three major herds of animals (each herd is having around 500 800 sheep / goats) in the village and now it is reduced to a single herd only. The goat population belong to a particular breed i.e. kanni, which has white markings on the head and the ears. This breed has good survival ability in the dry region. Traditional livestock keepers, viz Chinnagurusamy and Jayalakshmi have shared their practices here: 221224 Cumin controls diarrohea with thuthi If the animal suffers from loose motion or diarrhoea due to intake of poisonous grasses / herbs or due to excess body heat, they take one handful of Thuthi

221225 Vitex arrests bloat For controlling bloat in goats, a handful of nochi (Vitex negundo L.) leaves, ten gram cumin and an equal amount of black pepper are ground well together and administered after diluting in about 100 ml of water.
Use of cumin for indigestion, gas and abdominal problem is known (H.D. Wasantha Piyadasa (1994): Rev. sci. tech. Off. int. Epiz., 13 (2), 471-486 (http:// www.oie.int/doc/ged/D9434.PDF). Vitex negundo L. is effective against bloat. (http:/ /www.longwoodherbal.org/vitex/vitex.pdf)

Sesamin from gingelly oil (Sesamum indicum L.) is reported for anti-tumor property (Tanabe et al. (2011): Int J Oncol., 39(1):33-40. Vankar Jethaji Mohanji from Sabarkantha applied pounded fruits of Dhatura (Datura spp) mixed with jaggery on the tumours on the neck (HB 4(1)).

Lemon heals, fumes sembirandai cure

of

Herbal healing practices

Deivanayagam (80) is a reputed animal healer in Nadukuppam village. He has been practicing Rana sigichai (Wound healing, treating tumor and also bone setting) for the last 40 years. He learned these traditional practices from his grandfather Mottai Gounder in oral pattom near Vanthavasi. 221226 Surgery swellings/ tumors for curing

M. Muthupillai is a 60 years old, livestock keeper from Mullipallam village, Vadipatti taluka of Madurai district. She maintains a herd of four dairy cattle. She learned herbal healing practices from her parents and her deceased husband. Some of the practices that she follows are given below: 221227 Mastitis In Mastitis, udder becomes inflamed generally due to bacterial infections. This reduces milk production or alters milk composition. Muthupillai advises use of lemon and Sembirandai (Grewia flavescens Juss.) to treat this. About 200 ml of lemon juice is squeezed and applied externally on the udders. And the affected part is exposed to fumes of Sembirandai continuously for a couple of days.
Use of Citrus is reported in controlling mastitis in Pakistan (Dilshad et al., 2010: Pak Vet J, 30(3): 167-171). Sambirani (gummy Boswellia from Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr) is known to have antimicrobial/antibacterial activities. http:// www.who.int/medicines/areas/traditional/ SelectMonoVol4.pdf

If animals suffer due to Katty (swelling/ tumors) for many years, he does surgery by using a sharp blade/ knife. After that, he applies special oil prepared using the following ingredients: 100 g of seeds and bark of thattai pungam (Pongamia pinnata Linn.), a handful of leaves of Keelanelly (Phyllanthus amarus Schumach. & Thonn.), 200 ml of Gingelly oil, ten g of Omum (ajwain, Carum copticum L. ) and the same amount of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). First gingelly oil has to be heated along with pongamia and keelanally. Before turning the heat off, omam and turmeric are added. The mixture is cooled and stored. Before applying the oil the wound has to be cleaned by putting five gram copper sulphate powder on a cotton cloth and cleaning the wound with it. After that the oil is applied by Kara seelai (smearing with the cotton cloth dipped in the oil). For ripening of swelling tumor of Sembirandai (Grewia flavescens Juss.) tuber is heated over fire and placed over the wound area. It helps in the quick healing of the swellings.

221228 Retention of placenta Muthupillai advises grinding one kg of boiled gingelly cake (Sesamum indicum What shall the readers of English Honey Bee do with the farmers practices? It is not important whether a person can actually use all the information given here. What is important is to feel inspired, interested or intrigued by the creative potential of the masses at the fringe of the society! How is sometimes as important, if not more, than what... Tell us what do you feel about it?

(Abutilon indicum (Link) Sweet) and ten g of cumin. These are to be ground together and administered orally.
Abutilon and Cumin have anti diarrhoeal effect. (Chandrashekhar et al. (2004), Journal of Natural Remedies 4, 1 and C.P. Khare (Ed.) Indian Medicinal Plants, an Illustrated Dictionary, Springer http://siozenh4x0r.webs.com/ Indian%20Medicinal%20Plants%20An%20Ill ustrated%20Dictionary.pdf

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you consume organic food last? 37

L.) and about a kg of palmyra jaggery well. Six bolus are made and administered orally twice. She gives an alternate treatment in which she takes one kg of rice flour and one kg of palmyra jaggery. This is made into a bolus which is administrated orally twice.

I think that I shall never see A billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all. ~Ogden Nash, "Song of the Open Road," 1933

M.Muthupillai, Mullipallam, Vadipatti, Madurai Scout: V. Alagumalai SEVA Use of Sesamum indicum ash with Rivea hypocrateriformis, Suva and jaggery is reported in Honey Bee 8(2): 15, 1997

Continued from page 12

community have recognized his contribution and have felicitated him several times. Many of them say, Making the machine is a very difficult task, and requires a lot of dedication and application of mind. In the entire village only Nathubhai has the talent and brains to create such a machine and we have confidence in him. People from the village are aware of the cotton boll picking machine made by Nathubhai. There is a huge demand in the region for the machine. According to them, it is one of the best ways to resolve the labour problem and save the cost, which they face during the harvest season every year (HBN will try to help labourers also to own this machine for custom hiring and thus improving their productivity and the wages:Ed). They are ready to purchase the machine even if it is slightly costly as over the years they can recover the cost and also own the machine. Recognition In 2005, Nathubhai was felicitated by Uttar Gujarat Naroda Rajput Samaj. In 2006, he received Sardar Patel Krushi Award for being the most progressive farmer in the district. In 2007, he received SRISTI Samman (honour) for his innovations. He was also called in the last Krishi Rath by the Government of Gujarat to interact with other farmers so that they can benefit from his knowledge. He also participates in the fair organized

on Baisakh sud teej (May/June). The programme is arranged before the onset of rainy season for the farmers to interact and learn from each other. Creating this machine was one of the major objectives in Nathubhais life. His passion is evident from the fact that he kept his aspiration alive despite facing financial difficulties and pressure to give up the work from his family. But his experimental journey still continues...
There must be many more such farmer cum mechanics or artisans who we do not know yet. But they are the real asset of a society. They are real knowledge workers and deserve to be become a point of reference. Could we not have at least a one crore social innovation promotion fund in every district managed by local elites, innovators and social activists to spot, support and sustain such ideas? We should also have mobile high precision tool labs which can be requisitioned by such innovators for a given time period so that not every innovator needs to make a fixed capital investment in workshop for developing just one prototype. The story of their struggle should be part of curriculum so that young minds learn how an innovator struggles at personal, professional and social fronts, all at the same time. Indian journey towards a developed nation will be pursued on the shoulders of creative people like him:Ed.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 38 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Continued from page 22

The paradox: People waiting in queue for water

shared her knowledge very generously with us. We explained the concept of prior informed consent to her and others present. A male village midwife named Moren Khonglam (75) was honoured as well. We also learnt about man dai a dew drop practice for eye (villagers use dew drops on the broom plant and squeeze the juice of the upper nodes and use it as an eye cleanser). Will faith alone heal ? We stopped by a small hut in the valley where a little boy of about two, had a small wound on his hand. When we offered an ointment, her mother stopped us saying Oh sorry! our father would not agree to that. She exclaimed Faith alone would heal. We were astonished by the fact that they believe in faith healing to such an extent that they would not apply ointment even on a small wound! There was not much we could do except appeal to the State government to intervene in such a situation and persuade such faith based groups to allow a mix of faith and modern medicine where needed, as was the case in this instance. While freedom of faith is fundamental in a secular society but prohibition of certain perverse practices must be negotiated. We were later told that it was small denomination of local church which followed such practices and it was not the dominant practice even in this region.

to be continued in the next issue...

Creative Children Send Us Your Ideas! National Innovation Foundation- India

N I F
Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

D S T

IGNITE-12
The National Innovation Foundation India (NIF), an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology, GoI, based on Honey Bee Philosophy, invites entries from students (upto class 12 or equivalent) or children even out of school for IGNITE - the national competition for students original technological ideas and innovations. The entries (in any language) can be sent to NIF by August 31, 2012 through email ([email protected]) or by post to the address given below. There is no prescribed format for submitting the entries, however, complete details of the original technological idea/innovation along with age, class, school name & address, and home address & contact number is required. Entries received after the last date would be included in the next IGNITE competition. The awards will be announced on October 15, 2012, birthday of Honble former President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam celebrated as Childrens Creativity and Innovation Day. NIF will provide patenting and incubation support in all deserving cases. NIF has already filed patents in the name of student winners of earlier IGNITE competitions in all applicable cases. Readers may visit http://nif.org.in/ignite/ignite_announcement.php to know more about the competition.
National Innovation Foundation-India, Satellite Complex, Premchand Nagar Road, Ahmedabad -380 015, Gujarat Phone: (079) 26732456, 2095, Fax: (079) 26731903, Email: [email protected]

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Do you ever think whether your grandchildren will ever be able to see the species that are getting extinct? 39

NEWS & VIEWS

SRISTI
The year 2011 will be celebrated as the year of dissemination by SRISTI. In the wake of this decision, SRISTI organized meetings with the knowledge holders to know about the new experiments they tried in their farms, ways to reduce cost of farming, day-to-day problems which have not been resolved yet and to review SRISTIs work. The meetings were arranged in different districts of Gujarat which received enthusiastic participation and support from the villagers. Between February 15 - May 22, 2011 many meetings were organized at Godhra, Panchamahal, Umret, Banaskantha, Bharuch, Surat, Kukama village near Bhuj in Kutch, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Sabarkantha, Panchmahal and Junagadh. perforating tool) developed by Nazim Shaikh mechanize the process of punching on the butter paper. The device will increase the productivity of the workers and help them in increasing their daily wages. It saves time by 1/10th as compared to traditional method and an unskilled person can also operate the device. Innovative stand for women for hand embroidery GIAN team worked on a stand for the embroidery frame.This device is made from the spring s t e e l material and a flexible Three Point Clamper on top to accommodate the various sizes of rings used for griping the cloth. The three point clamper is mounted on the knuckle, which allows the user to orient it as per his/her requirement in the vertical direction of movement of neck or seating posture. The height of the device can be adjusted as per the users convenience especially the height. This device gives flexibility to users to work at multiple locations viz. one can do the job by placing the device at the floor or can also keep it on the bed. The KHOJ lab On December 14, 2010, NIF entered into a MoU with the Future Group, Indias largest retail chain, with the aim of taking promising grassroots innovations to the market. This collaboration resulted in setting up of an innovation lab called the Khoj Lab whose purpose is to bring out products that are truly Indian and branded as India ka Idea. The first product rolled out from the Khoj Lab, is a range of nutritional cookies, developed from the traditional knowledge of the Bhil community. A demonstration was given to SEWA and Gram Shree. They appreciated the device. GIAN is further working to reduce the cost and to make it more versatile.

NIF
NIF has created a new benchmark in protecting IP of the poor! It took ten years for NIF to file about 200 patents and TM applications. But by using a very innovative, distributed and inclusive approach, NIF team filed more than two hundred patent applications in March-April, 2011. How did it happen? NIF team invited many IP firms out of which ten responded. The IP firms were Anand and Anand, Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Altacit Global, Chennai, Tamil Nadu; Surana & Surana International Attorneys, Chennai, Tamil Nadu; Legasolv, Mumbai, Maharastra; Closer2 patents, Mumbai, Maharastra; Lal Lahiri and Salhotra, LLS, Gurgaon, Haryana; Khurana and Khurana, Greater Noida, New Delhi UT; Allatus, Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh; Y J Trivedi and Co, Ahmedabad, Gujarat; iLfRSJ-IPR, New Delhi. These firms sent their staff to work with NIFs team and draft applications. With just two staff members it was impossible for NIF. But now with pro bono help of private IP firms, it has been achieved. Hopefully similar success will be achieved in licensing such innovation to entrepreneurs and corporations for wider use globally in times to come. Lest one feels that NIF's primary focus is IP protection, we will discuss about Technology Acquisition Fund aimed at creating public goods in the next issue.

GIAN West
ISO 9001:2008 to Mansukhbhai Prajapati GIAN west facilitated the grant of the ISO: 9001:2008 certification for quality manufacturing of innovative products (Non Stick Clay Tawa, Mitticool Refrigerator and Clay Cooker). He is the first grassroots innovator of Honeybee Network who has received this recognition. NEW INNOVATIONS New Product Launch: AK Stencil Marker The existing process of preparing stencils (to p r i n t patterns on fabric) is by punching holes with hand-held needles. This is very time-consuming, involves a lot of drudgery and is painful. AK Stencil marker (pattern

Future Groups Mr. Kishore Biyani signing an agreement with Prof Gupta in the presence of Dr Mashelkar, Chairman NIF and Ashni Biyani, Co-ordinator, Khoj Lab

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 40 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

Capacity Building To promote the scouting and documentation activities, NIF also participated in workshops in Baroda (Gujarat), Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Bettiah (Bihar) on December 18, 2010, April 15 and May 21, 2011. A two days workshop on Capacity Building for Scouting, Documentation and Dissemination for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge was also organized jointly by National Innovation Foundation, India and Sikkim State Council of Science and Technology at Gangtok between May 19-20, 2011. Workshops Interactive workshops were also organized at Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) on January 13, Dahod (Gujarat) on May 2, Kullu (Himachal Pradesh) on June 5, 2011 and Junagadh (Gujarat) on July 1, 2011. The workshops were attended by traditional knowledge holders and grassroots innovators. Discussions was held on knowledge protection, identification of plant sample and its preservation, various human and animal ailments, medicinal plants and their usage. A workshop on Development of database of less common medicinal plants and associated traditional knowledge was conducted at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad on March 4 - 5, 2011 by NIF and National Medicinal Plant Board along with Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM Ahmedabad. The workshop was attended by eminent scientists, senior government officials, professors, civil society representatives and students. A format for the collection of information and development of database was finalized. A National workshop on incubating grassroots innovations was held at IIM Ahmedabad on April 21, 2011. The workshop was held with the assistance of Prof. Abraham Koshy, IIM Ahmedabad who was the convener of the workshop. The main background points for discussion were: (1) Review of NIFs incubation experience, good and not so good examples of mentoring, business planning support, lessons from MVIF

funding as well as individual innovator based incubation facilities being set up, likely tensions e.g. some innovators have not liked the idea of shared infrastructure, willful and non-willful default, journey of innovators to setting up firms and then companies; (2) Challenges being faced in product development, market research, incubation planning and implementation, licensing etc. (3) Linkage with marketing faculty, firms and networks such as Academy of Marketing; (4) Key milestones for performance and the road map for achieving those goals. The workshop was concluded with a talk by Prof Jagdish Sheth, mainly focusing on ways to take grassroots innovations to the market. Foundation Day celebrated NIF celebrated its 11th Foundation Day at SRISTI on February 28, 2011. A brainstorming session with social leaders, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, businessmen, activists, thought provokers and well-wishers was organized on the occasion to discuss the strategies to take the grassroots innovation movement forward. Exhibition at Mughal Gardens For the second year in succession, NIF organized the Innovations Exhibition at the President House on March 14-17,

2011, which was inaugurated by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Governor of Tripura Dr. D.Y. Patil and Shri Manohar Joshi were also present at the inauguration along with Dr T Ramasami, Secretary DST and other invited guests. This exhibition featured 32 stalls showcasing 45 innovations by students and grassroots innovators from 15 states. The exhibition featured innovations, such as: the hand operated water lifting device, bullock operated sprayer, compost aerator and leaf pruner, manual milking machine, bamboo lathe machine, solar mosquito destroyer, etc and different plant varieties. The State Minister of Textile, Smt. P Laxmi visited the innovation exhibition with her team, specifically to have a look at the handloom cluster displayed, viz. looms from Manipur, Assam, Tamil Nadu in addition to a stencil cutter for making embroidery design from Gujarat. The innovation exhibition was also visited by Prof P Vyas, Director NID, Dr P B Sharma, Vice Cancellor, DTU, Lt. Gen. Mahasale, Army Engineering Division, and representatives from National Innovation Council office, Senior Government officials, Scientists, Professors, Designers, Entrepreneurs and the Students. Thousands of people visited the Mughal Gardens during the Udyanotsav and appreciated grassroots innovations displayed in the exhibition.

Honourable President Smt Pratibha Devi Singh Patil inaugurating the Innovation Exhibition at The Mughal Gardens, Presidents House

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you confess to your children last that you did not know the answer to their question? 41

HBN on BBC London

CMVR certificate Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune had tested retrofitted car suitable for physically challenged (retrofitted by Biju Varghese, a physically challenged innovator from Kerala). ARAI had issued him the CMVR (Central Motor Vehicles Rules) certificate on June 7, 2011 and mentioned that retrofitting kit can be used in over 50 models of 13 brands of cars available in the country.
Meet the cover page artist

GE Innovation Award for Deepak Bharali Deepak Bharali, an inventor from Assam (see page 24 for his innovation) won GE Innovation Award on April 26th 2011. The innovator had won the state award in the 5th National Biennial Competition for Green Grassroots Unaided Technological Innovations, Ideas & Outstanding Traditional Knowledge.
(http://www.indiainf-oline.com/Markets/ News/CII-and-Govt-of-India-celebrateWorld-IP-Day/5140247035)

A team from BBC London profiled the Honey Bee Network and NIF for one of its series on April 8, 2011. They also organized a video shoot in Delhi where two innovators Abdul Razaak (mobile based burglar alarm) and Prakash Dwivedi (mobile based vehicle theft identification device) had participated. The same was telecast to a worldwide audience in June 2011.

Manoj Bhingare Apang Manav Mandal, Opposite AMA, Athira road, Ahmedabad Gujarat -380015 M- 9909705943

For How long?

Dear Readers, Does this issue of Honey Bee makes you think and look around for the odd balls and mavericks in our society ? Do you know some one who is different from the rest of the crowd ? Do you have a centenarian grand mother or grand father around you ? Indivdiual or community unaided innovations about education, insitutions, culture or technology are keenly awaited. Write to us at [email protected]

The Unsolved Problem: Can any of our readers think of developing a device to pick tea leaves so as to reduce drudgery, improve the efficiency and the help millions of women who do this in a painstaking manner?

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 42 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

DIALOGUE
Sorry I m Late Again ! maintenance. Now the digester is ready for operation. Charge the digester with Cow Dung and wait for the generation of Gas. We can use food waste and other material in the urban areas. Advantages: (i) Cheaper, (ii) No leakages, (iii) less Space required, and (iv) Elegant looks
Very good idea indeed! We will post it at techpedia.in, also in Vietnam, I had seen a balloon or inflatable pipe based continuous digestion system floating in irrigation channel. Good thoughts though. Stay in touch and keep up your creativity: Ed. You are very right about the gap and the need to bridge this gap. Most grassroots innovators dont have companies, one will have to develop new exit strategies and thus incorporate proprietary firms in the investment entitlement. It has an advantage that you can mobilize mentoring skills, which grassroots innovators need very badly. Tell me more about who your investors are so that we can be assured about ethical and social issues too. Im so happy to see this initiative, All the best: Ed.

Inspired to contribute
Brijesh Tanna [email protected]

(We regret the delay in bringing out Honey Bee issue once again: Ed.)

Biodigester
Calvin Rodrigues [email protected]

Carma connect
Hemant Nitturkar [email protected]

I saw your talk at the TED India conference and felt extremely inspired by it. You have truly set a very high benchmark for Indians like me to take the country ahead. Since my school days, I used to detest the text book explanation of Indias economic problems, where Population was always on Top of the list. Your Honey Bee Network truly proves how the population can be turned into the biggest advantage we have. I am an independent film & TV producer and trying to work on subjects that would be relevant to causes similar to yours. I would like to be associated and help you in any way possible. I am currently based overseas but hoping to be back by end of 2010 and will be based in Mumbai eventually. It will be an honour if I could contribute to your movement in anyway.
Thanks Brijesh! Will be very happy if you spread the word around so that those who wish to join the network can. Also subscribers for honey bee are most welcome: Ed.

I wish to present the idea of having a Single Drum Continuous Biodigester on your forum. Problem: 1.0 The Deenbandhu (Fixed Dome digester) has been unsuccessful due to failures in construction and also space requirement. Biodigesters are not popular in the urban areas due to space requirement. By integrating the Compensation Tank and the Feeder Pipe inside a Single PVC Water Tank we can have a clean and neat Biodigester which could be appealing to the urban population as well as rural India. Method: Take the example of a 3000 Liters PVC Water tank. The height is 2.02 meters and the Manhole is 0.4 meters. Use a PVC Pipe of the same diameter (400 mm) and make two holes in it; one slightly above the other. The diameter of the holes must be 50 mm (2 inches). The bottom of this pipe must be closed. At the top of this pipe, in line with the PVC tank inlet position, make another hole of 2 inches. This is for the outlet slurry to flow from the 400 mm PVC pipe. From the bottom, 2 inches hole, connect a 2 inch pipe so that it comes out of the 400 mm pipe. This will be the Feed Pipe. The other 2 inches hole will be the outlet to the Compensation Tank. The space in the 400 mm pipe itself will be the Compensation Tank. Make a hole for gas outlet connection which is higher than the outlet slurry pipe. Connect a valve. Lower the fabricated arrangement into the PVC Tank. Connect a pipe for the outlet slurry. Seal the 400 mm pipe to the manhole edges of the PVC tank. Slip the Manhole covers over the Feed Pipe so that it covers the opening of the PVC Tank. Keep a drain on the PVC Tank for

I have interacted with you a couple of times once when I was heading the activities of New Ventures India a CII initiative. And second, when I was a speaker before you at IIT, Kharagpur at their Annual Entrepreneurship summit. I have also closely worked with CIIE. Also, I am an executive alumnus of IIMA. I am convinced that scalable entrepreneurship is the only way to ensure inclusive and widespread growth and economic opportunity creation for the teeming millions. I really like your Honey-bee network concept and the work it has done. I have developed a unique early stage capital raising model to assist companies raise between Rs. 25 lakhs and Rs. 5 crores, the gap area not being addressed by the current ecosystem. I invite you to our website www. carmaconnect.in Also, I am pleased to inform you that I have been chosen in a prestigious international business plan competition and am an Unreasonable fellow 2011. Please see www.tiny.cc/knrpl. I look forward to hear from you and to explore ways to help grass root innovators successfully commercialize their businesses.

Ideas for quality education

Dhakshinamoorthy [email protected]

I got inspired by you when you gave a talk at IIT Madras Tech Festival 2005. Then I became serious thinker of How to give a quality education for poorest of the poor. That time there was no youtube and Facebook etc. After youtube came, a lot of schools (IITs, MIT, UCB, Yale, etc) put their quality teaching material on youtube. Even APPLE joined the race by introducing iUniversity.

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 Will you stand by the IPRs of the peasants? 43

DIALOGUE
Recently Khan Academy introduced lot of videos for school students in USA. Most of the school teachers, professors face the same problem; that is teaching the same material for many years. Eventually, that reduces the time for quality thinking and research. After NPTEL (http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/), a faculty can say please watch the videos and ask questions, think and solve the problem yourself. I believe that is the motto of education. Similarly why cant we have a system for 6th grade to pre-college or 12th Std students in their own language and their own medium of education (State board, CBSE, ISCE). I am willing to develop such system if Honey Bee Network supports such entrepreneurship.
We do believe that an open source library of educational material is needed, and we wish to encourage you by providing you space at www.sristi.org. Please do send us your insights, knowledge and practices. We will be very happy to learn about these: Ed.

in India. I enjoyed your TED video recently and admire how you are solving (some) technical problems the world over. I have wondered of late why there arent products like these (http://www. solarjoos.com/) available on every street corner in rural India. Also, with contests at Universities here in the US for robotics and such, why couldnt your team broaden the scope of such events to include ways in which to improve one design or another to help people who cannot grind their own grain, charge their new phones, or somehow improve their own condition somehow? With so much computing power available (i.e IBMs Watson, or worse/ better: http://www.time.com/time/health/ article/0,8599,2048138,00.html ), or crowd sourcing (http://www.wired.com/ m a g a z i n e / 2 0 11 / 0 2 / s t _ t h o m p s o n _living_games/) it makes me wonder why someone isnt pursuing large companies to fund a project for the likes of your organization to try to remedy some of the problems that people face the world over, no matter what they be. What I have done for the past few years is to work for one of the top video directors for live DVDs. If there were something I could do in the name of advancing your site through the likes of a well made video, or through the simple discussion of more ideas, or through the active pursuit of companies here in the US, I would do what I could for you if at all possible.
Thanks John, videos, of course yes, we need a lot of them to convey the range of our work. We have some friends in USA but nothing like a friends of honey bee network in USA but surely, we could try. SRISTI has not been lucky to get such resources as you mentioned, maybe we have not tried hard, maybe we are very idiosyncratic. We always need many many volunteers to help in this transformative movement at the grassroots. Do tell us more about yourself. See w w w. s r i s t i . o r g , s r i s t i . o r g / a n i l g a n i l g , nifindia.org, techpedia.in: Ed.

Technology. I study Industrial Design Engineering, and my class (of 23) is planning a three-week visit to India during the spring. I was given your contact information from Ida Groth, another student from NTNU (School of Entrepreneurship) who visited you earlier. We havent planned everything about our trip yet, but wed like visit you and see your projects if theres a possibility of doing so. I know you have many projects on how to use design to solve social problems something I find very interesting.
We will be very happy to have you all visit us in spring. All the best: Ed.

Bringing about change

Amit Ballani [email protected]

Biologist
Zdravka Davidkova [email protected]

I am an Asst. professor at NV PATEL College of Pure & Applied Sciences, V.V. Nagar, Gujarat and wish to tell you that inspired by your activities and forum which i witness through Honeybee, newspapers and website; I had started a club in the college for the awareness and some concrete steps to think and do innovatively. I just need your

I am a biologist from Bulgaria. I am impressed of your research and innovation in alternative medicine. As I also work in this field, Id like to exchange information regarding this. I would be able to provide you with traditional Bulgarian prescription for alternative treatment.
We will also appreciate if we can plan a local language newsletter on peoples innovations in Bulgaria as well: Ed.

A Friend from USA

John J. Zahaitis [email protected]

Currently, I work for a music company here in Los Angeles, California. In the past, I have put together marketing ideas for Mr. Puri on how to reach out to the Indian Diaspora both here in the US and abroad. It never went anywhere, but my research taught me that there is still much to do in the world and especially

Planning a visit
Kari Clifford [email protected]

I am a third year student at the Norwegian University of Science and

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Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 44 A Dialogue on Peoples Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation

blessings to do make a change, small or big i do not know. I would work my level best to inculcate in myself and my students the attitude to think in this way. I had subscribed the Honeybee and wish to conduct First Idea contest in September in our college to start the process. I wish your blessing would come in the form of advice or suggestion to do efficiently. I belong to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and if you are planning a shodhyatra in Western Rajasthan, I would be more than happy and privileged to look after

1. Does Honeybee network help innovators apply for the Patent? 2. We learnt that from your website, there are some members of Honeybee network as bellow, what is their role? And what they are responsible for in Honeybee network?
We would get in touch with you soon: Ed.

you could may be translate as peoplecountries-adventures. I read the story about you and the way you are looking for innovators and lost knowledge in India in the magazine GEO a while ago and cant forget it. I find your approach very interesting and I think it would be quite amazing for German audience to find out more about your initiative. Probably you get lots of requests from journalists from all over the world, but maybe you do see a chance to get in contact and talk about a filming project. Id look forward to it very much.
I greatly appreciate your interest in Honey Bee Network and ShodhYatra about which you read in the Geo magazine. Let us discuss your plans and then may be we can find a productive way of taking your idea forward: Ed.

Appropriate technology
Nina Sawhney [email protected]

My name is Nina Sawhney and I am current young American faculty member at NUS Engineering. I graduated from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in May of 2010 with a BS degree in electrical and computer science. I was hired for a short-term (1.5 year) contract to help develop NUSs Design-Centric Curriculum projected to fall under NUSs EDIC. After my term with NUS, I am hoping to conduct a study in appropriate technology under the Fulbright organization. In order to obtain a grant, I must first submit a research proposal under a host affiliation (academic institution for India). Dr. Ming Po Tham suggested to contact you with the hopes of helping find an appropriate host organization and possible providing me with knowledge with regards to narrowing my research topic for the Fulbright Grant. Please let me know if you are interested in helping me. I would be most appreciative to have any sort of help.
Surely SRISTI as well as NIF (National Innovation Foundation) will be very happy to host you. Since you wish to be part of already ongoing technology incubation exercise going on at NIF or SRISTI, you can join techpedia.in team or work with Rakesh Maheshwari, a senior fellow at NIF who is supporting many technologies for further value addition: Ed.

Oasis Television
Aparna Sanyal [email protected]

every assistance in local arrangements, troubleshooting and the objectives of the yatra. I want to meet you once, to get more insight and motivation to contribute with whatever capacity I can to your mission.
Amit, you are most welcome to the HoneyBee Network. It would be wonderful to have a motivated person like you help us! Do visit us sometime at SRISTI Ahmedabad: Ed .

We are doing research for a TV show for an international channel, for which we are looking for cool, innovative engineers/ scientists/ designers.

Chinese financial Magazine

Fiona Yao [email protected]

This is Cathy Yao from China, I am an editor of Chinese financial magazine Chuang Fu Zhi which focuses on business model, our magazine is very popular in China, our circulation is 300,000 in China. We know that you have created a charitable organization named Honeybee network, and it is a very famous all over the world. And we are going to report it to our readers. But now I have some questions which need your help, could you please clarify them for us?

The premise of the series is that each week a team of engineering experts will be given two major pieces of machinery (e.g. a hovercraft and a bulldozer) and will be expected to put their creative brains and practical skills together to combine the machines components and build an entirely new machine. The TV series will be a celebration of the achievements of engineering and all things machine. So the people we are looking for could be engineers, designers, scientists and mechanics who relish a technical challenge, are happy to get their hands dirty and ideally have practical skills and experience in some of the following areas vehicle electrics, hydraulics,

Physicist and science journalist

Ingolf Baur [email protected]

My name is Ingolf Baur and I work for the German cultural Television program Lnder Menschen Abenteuer which

Honey Bee Vol 22 (1 & 2) January - March & April - June 2011 When did you think of a new idea last? 45

fabrication, mechanics, diesel and petrol engines, mechanical design. It is also crucial that they speak excellent English and are passionate about machines. They could be anything from a car mechanic, to a machine design engineer or a mechanical special effects designer. Would you know of anyone like this?
Sure, Aparna, many innovators and students at techpedia.in would be very happy to join hands. English may not always be strong for them, but I suppose some can compensate it with their ingenuity: Ed.

Our idea would be to organize a small exhibition inspired to this special issue with real vehicles and blown-up spreads of the magazine. We would be honored to have you as our guest of honor at the event. Your testimony as global leader in sustainable technologies would be very enriching for us.
I am happy that HoneyBee Network is spreading its wings in China. Our collaborators in China, Zhnag Liyan is in touch with you and extend full support. Hope to find new friends through your platform: Ed.

book on the subject, entitled Geek Nation: How Indian Science is taking over the World. The Geek Nation television series will provide an equally thorough and illuminating account of how Indian science and technology is driving economic growth, changing the way India is run through the shift to egovernance, and spurring innovations in areas such as biotech, agriculture, computing, environment, communications and medical sciences.
Thanks Aloke, explorations like these almost always bring new friends to HBN. Looking forward to engage, explore and involve curious and concerned well wishers like you: Ed.

COLORS Magazine Angela Quintavalle [email protected] My name is Angela Quintavalle and Im writing you from COLORS, a magazine about the rest of the world published since 1991 in Italy and distributed in 40 countries. Our editorial team suggested me to contact you. As you may know, we are about to publish a new issue of COLORS that wed like to launch in Shanghai, China, towards the middle of July 2011. The issue is dedicated to the alternative ways of transport; it can be seen as a survival guide when petrol will come to an end. The featured stories come from all over the world; among them, Mr Chen Shenghui, a Chinese farmer who invented the first solar-powered car and a story about the popular Indian Chakdas, a one-seat motorbike transformed to move as many people as a minibus.

Geek Nation Television series

Aloke Devichand [email protected]

I am a television producer currently working on a six-part documentary sries about science, technology and innovation in India, which will be broadcast on Al Jazeera English Television. I have been reading extensively about your work at the Indian Institute of Management, the National Innovation Foundation, and within SRISTI and the Honey Bee Network. It has impressed upon me the importance of exploring grassroots innovation in India, and the blending of formal and informal science, as an integral aspect of the series. Just to give you a little more background, the series will be presented by author and broadcaster, Angela Saini. Angela is uniquely qualified to lead this exploration about Indian technology and innovation, having recently published a

Greetings from Bulgaria

Ivan Kovachev [email protected]

My name is Ivan Kovachev, Im 23 and I live in Sofia, Bulgaria. I have just read in the Bulgarian GEO magazine an article about you and your activities, your dedication and adventures in India! This article left me very impressed and excited about the way you help other people by sharing and spreading the knowledge youve gained! I must say I really admire you and your doings, so I just want to wish you best of luck and good health, god speed on your journeys!
Many thanks Ivan! Please do see sristi.org and also sristi.org/anilg for more information about our work Do tell me more about what u do and do think of honey bee network in your esteemed country: Ed.

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Glimpses of 27th Shodhyatra (May 28- June 8, 2011) Silli to Hundru, Ranchi