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rural innovators
Across rural India, Indians have turned serious innovators. These are the stories of individuals, practitioners of rustic science that is compelling, practical and applicable.
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rural innovators
Pasiala, Haryana
Saikat Datta
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rural innovators
Murulya, Karnataka
Sugata Srinivasaraju
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rural innovators
Kalawad, Gujarat
Haresh Pandya
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Gulbarga, Karnataka
Sugata Srinivasaraju
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rural innovators
Nagpur, Maharashtra
Saumya Roy
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rural innovators
Vanch, Gujarat
Haresh Pandya
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rural innovators
Nenmani, Kerala
John Mary
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rural innovators
Mathia Dih, Bihar
Faizan Ahmad
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Nripen Kalita began his career repairing television sets and other electronic
items.Today, he is known as the inventor of the zero-head water turbine, a low-cost equipment that can generate power to light up rural homes and run pumps to irrigate farmers' lands. "Every monsoon, as the water level in the rivers rose, I used to think of ways to utilise hydro power in a cost-effective manner," says
Kalita. In 1998, he developed a water turbine using a bamboo platform to keep the machinery afloat. But he soon realised that using bamboo was not practical.
He then developed an advanced model and has transferred the technology to a local entrepreneur. In a live demonstration, Kalita gets his equipment—an iron wheel with rotor blades, some pulleys, an alternator and a lot of wires—lowered into the river water, with two hollow plastic drums attached to the device to keep it afloat. The rotor blades start moving, lighting up a bulb and turning on a pedestal fan. Kalita has applied for a patent for his innovation but there are bigger dreams too: "I have developed a spinning device that runs on both alternate and direct current. This will be useful for the weavers in Assam." He also wants to create a 'solar gasifier' that can use the sun's energy to generate gas for cooking.