> From: Anil Gulati
> This story was shared by a media friend who had done this
> for a news agency. Though it is 'dated' Jan but is an
> interesting one, and has references of innovations from Bankura and
> Purulia....for your reading pleasure.
Fascinating innovations from Rural India
> A television set that can be viewed from all four sides, a
> fishing rod that
> gives off an alarm when fish bite the bait and a bullock
> cart that has
> brakes are innovations made by rural people. Take for
> example the
> television set. It is an ordinary set. But Bapi Roy of
> Binodebati village
> in West Bengal’s Bankura district has an idea to set up
> reflectors so that
> the screen can be viewed from all four sides, said Anil K
> Gupta, a
> professor of Entrepreneurship in the Indian Institute of
> Management in
> Ahmedabad.
> Gupta took part in a walk ‘Shodh Yatra’ (Journey of
> Search) in Jharkhand’s
> East Singhbhum district and Purulia and Bankura districts
> of West Bengal
> looking for innovations made by rural people for eight days
> from December
> 26.
> In the course of his journey, which takes place every year
> in different
> districts of the country, he came upon Bapi Roy and his
> idea of viewing
> television from all sides.
> Gupta, also an Executive Vice-chairman of National
> Innovation Foundation,
> said, "The idea is worth recognition worldwide. We
> have already applied for
> intellectual property rights for the innovation."
> Gupta also came across
> Vijay Pramanik of Purulia district who has made it possible
> to grow
> pumpkins and bottle gourd on the same plant.
> This would be researched further, he said. The 900
> innovations documented
> in the eight days were a fishing rod with an alarm
> developed by Sanjay
> Karmatar of Kating in East Singbhum. The fishing rod sets
> off an alarm as
> soon as the bait is snapped.
> There was also Jagat Taran Ghosh of Panchal village in
> Bankura who has made
> brakes for a bullock cart and Vishvajeet Sutradhar of
> Raghunathpur in
> Purulia has made a wooden bicycle..
>
>
> Another innovation was a thresher which uses drums to
> separate the grain
> from the husk by Dharani Dhar Mahato in Balakdih in
> Purulia.A variety of
> hybrid paddy developed by Asit Kumar Dey of Kalyanpur in
> Bankura was taken
> for testing.Gupta is also the moving spirit behind Honeybee
> Network, a
> repository of rural inventions and village wisdom about
> flora and fauna.
> Speaking about the rural innovations, Gupta said, "the
> villagers are not
> using crude methods and are advancing modern
> technology." The only problem
> was that word about these innovations did not reach the
> next village, he
> added.
