TECHNOLOGY FOR THE RURAL MILLIONS... IF ONLY IT CAN GET TO THEM By Frederick Noronha
This is a story of the ingenuity of the common man and woman. From across the fields and villages of the India, and scientific labs, a whole range of technologies have emerged to make rural life a little less difficult. But can this vital information reach out to those who actually need it? NIRD, the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Rural Development, has recently released a 'Directory of Rural Technologies'. It offers dozens of useful solutions -- from technologies for the blacksmith, to brick-making ideas, ferro cement roofing channels, pollution control systems for lime kilns, indigo dye extraction methods, bio-fertilisers and vermicomposting, crop improvement schemes, energy-harnessing ideas, farm machinery and many others. There are ideas aplenty. It's part of NIRD's task, and the institute has the job of training, research, action research and consultancy for rural development. If such information reaches the right quarters -- and with communication roadblocks of all sorts, this is a big 'if' -- then the NIRD could come closer to its goal of "improving the economic and social well-being of people in rural areas on a sustainable basis". This directory's editors say it was a "herculean task" to collect data on available technologies in a "limited period of time". Its pages contain information relevant to artisans (a technology package for blacksmiths), for those in building and construction (brick-skeletons, flooring tiles from waste gypsum, improved storage systems for onions), ceramic products, chemicals, compost and fertiliser, crop improvement, mushroom cultivation, energy, food products, machinery, pesticides, tissue culture and even what is called knowledge technology. For rural artisans, there's a 'technology package' for blacksmiths. It seeks to help a rural artisan to produce standard raw material of the desired carbon level, and to standards. To do so, he has to follow apt forging and heat treatment schedules. This technology has flow out of the work of the National Metallurgical Laboratory in Jamshedpur, the Science and Society Division of the Department of Science and Technology in New Delhi, and the Centre for Technology and Development, from that city. For those into building and construction, there are construction techniques in brick masonry. No special equipment is required, and the technology is being done free of cost. This is suitable for building single-storey low-cost buildings in rural areas. There are other solutions too. Black soils have an inherent 'expansive nature", which leads to poor quality building bricks. But such clay can be processed to yield good quality common bricks. Nodules are wet-seived from the clay mass, and fine-grained siliceous material is added in optimum proportions, to tackle the situation. This technology comes from the Central Building Research Institute, at Roorkee in Uttar Pradesh. For an investment of Rs 200,000, it is possible to set up a unit to make 1200 compressed-earth blocks a day. Likewise, there is also technology available for a 'concrete block maker'. This costs a million rupees for someone wanting to go into production of these block-makers, while the cost of each block-maker would be around Rs 75,000. It uses a stationary block-maker, working on the pressure vibration technique for the consolidation of concrete. Ferro cement roofing channels, flooring tiles made from waste gypsum, grouted reinforced brick masonry, gravitational settling-chamber for pollution control in fixed chimney brick kilns, improved ventilated storage structure for onions, and construction techniques for 'instant shelters' in case of natural disasters are some other solutions. For instance, instant shelters can be put up in 5-20 minutes, and are constructed of triangular frames of pipes, joined with special joints for a component that can be folded as one triangular bundle. Low-cost latrines from India have been commercialised, and are being adopted by the United Nations Development Programme. To contact the Roorkee institute, check out its website at www.cbri.org or write to the Central Building Research Institute via [EMAIL PROTECTED] Micro-concrete roofing tiles come in a variety of designs for farm and country houses, bungalows, verandas and pavillions. These are durable, low-cost and cooler than asbestos-cement sheets in a tropical country like India. Rural technologies worked on in India also offer solutions for ceramic products -- low-cost stoneware and glazed terracotta products, for instance. Chemical solutions range from carboxy methyl starch (used as domestic laundry starch, thickener in textile printing pasters, etc), cold-water soluble starch, low-cost disposable diapers and sanitary napkins (from waste industrial fibres and flexible polythelene sheets), eco-friendly handmade paper, faster indigo dye extraction, processes to clean silver articles, affordable shaving creams, and the like. Compost and fertiliser techniques are another strong point. Bio-fertiliser, and vermicomposting techniques are available from the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture in Hyderabad and the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, respectively. On vermicomposting, technology is also available at the AMM Murugapa Chettiar Research Centre in Chennai. Crop improvement and variety-development ideas also come from this directory. Better yellow Gaillardia flowers, profuse-bearing drum-sticks, sapota hybrids from the Dharwad-based University of Agricultural Sciences (in North Karnataka) are also other options available. High-yielding tamarind, improved tomato varieties, curry leaf, and improved sweet potato are likewise available. Mushroom cultivation, solar-energy dries for agro-products (like drying chillies, grapes, tobacco), solar inverters for water pumps, solar water heaters, are also described So are a range of food products suitable for our rural areas. One solution is offered to de-fatten ground-nuts and soya beans, without using any solvent or chemicals and while also not losing their original shape. This is suited for the snack food industry, offers high protein and least risk of cholesterol. Curry leave extract, fish maws (obtained from air bladders of marine fish, for the clarification of wines), and oil-fat reduction techniques in deep fried food like potato chips are also available. Using heat-pipe based solar energy driers, agri products can be dried in less time, under constant temperatures of 650 deg. C, and minus the bird menace or the possibility of hazardous contaminations. Rural areas lacking reliable electric supply can use solar inverters for water pumps. Fish wafers are another possible snack, according to to the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology at Kochi-Kerala. Fish, tapioca starch, corn starch and salt go into this product. Researchers in Andhra Pradesh have claimed a "unique process" for reducing the oil and fat in deep fat-fried foods, by using a hydrocolloid as a barrier. Spirulina is a nutritional supplement for humans, and a process has been worked on to process and culture Spirulina algae. This comes from the Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre in Chennai. Punjab-based Institute of Engineering & Technology (Ropar) comes up with the idea of transferring knowledge-technology to rural employable youth. Using lectures and demos through audio-visual techniques, it suggests that farmers could access global agri-based products to improve the quality of their own farm products. Other rural-oriented science offers equipment to extract the 'whole stone' from the aonla fruit, a carcass utilisation plant, chilli-seed extractor machine, and even a coconut husking tool that could be very useful to the coconut growing regions of India. For Rs 45 per person per year, the excess iron can be removed from potable (drinking) water containing ferrous salts. It is done by oxidation. Mango harvesters (costing Rs 80 per unit), technology for making quality fishing-hooks, palmyrah fibre separator machines, fruit-fly traps, pedal operated coconut de-huskers, pedal pumps to lift water from streams, sapota harvesters, tea-leaf plucking machines, tomato and lime seed extractors, a household water filtration assembly, rural portable water analysis kits... these and other solutions are offered. Call it appropriate technology, intermediate technology, low-level technology, low-cost technology...or just rural technology. But the information called in its covers could be useful to millions to whom it could make a difference. Fifty years after programmes of planned development began, hundreds of millions of Indians till live in poverty. Many villages lack road connectivity, access to drinking water, sanitation and other basic amenities, as India's rural development secretary Arun Bhatnagar points out. India's varied diversity, diverse climates and socio-cultural settings have their own solution requirements. Say editors Mathew C Kunnumkal and Bharat R Sant: "Very rare all the available rural technologies are systematically compiled at one place." They point out that way back in 1980-92, the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) brought out a seven-volume directory of rural technologies. These still remain "valuable reference material".(ENDS) LINK: Contact the NIRD via email [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit the website www.nird.org -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org GOAPIX www.goacom.com/wallpapers/ GOARESEARCH www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503 NEWS www.goacom.com/news/ ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
