PART-I Innovation from Punjab Innovation from Punjab.pdf · There are a large number of people who may not have been educated much, may in fact be economically poor also, but still

PREFACE

National Innovation Foundation has been pursuing the missionof making India innovative and a creative society since 2000with the active support of Department of Science andTechnology, Government of India. We have not been equallysuccessful in scouting and documenting innovations andtraditional knowledge practices in every state.

Thanks to the support of volunteers of Honey Bee network, wehave been able to discover many unsung heroes and heroinesof our society who have solved local problems without any outsidehelp.

Despite various constraints, NIF has put together a small bookcelebrating creativity, innovations and traditional knowledge fromGujarat. I am conscious of its limitation in terms of coverageand outreach. But if we could uncover so many examples of

the ability of local communities and individuals to solve problemson their own without outside help, how much more can be doneif state and private sector agencies join hands with NIF actively.I invite the state government and its various organs to activelysupport our quest to uncover many more creative communitiesand individuals in rural and urban areas. NIF will then help inbuilding value chain around them.

The book is divided in three parts. The mechanical innovationsdeveloped by innovators from Gujarat are covered in part one.Selected examples of herbal traditional knowledge are given inpart two. The innovations from other parts of the country suitablefor the development of Gujarat are given in part three.

By no stretch of imagination, could we claim that we haveachieved a great deal. We have merely made a simple point.

PREFACE

National Innovation Foundation has been pursuing themission of making India innovative and a creative societysince 2000 with the active support of Department of Scienceand Technology, Government of India. Till date NIF has beenable to scout innovations and traditional knowledge practicesfrom 507 district across India.

Thanks to the support of volunteers of Honey Bee network,we have been able to discover many unsung heroes andheroines of our society who have solved local problemswithout any outside help.

Despite various constraints, NIF has put together a small bookcelebrating creativity, innovations and traditional knowledgefrom Punjab. I am conscious of its limitation in terms ofcoverage and outreach. But if we could uncover so manyexamples of the ability of local communities and individualsto solve problems on their own without outside help, how

much more can be done if state and private sector agenciesjoin hands with NIF actively.

I invite the state government and its various organs to activelysupport our quest to uncover many more creative communitiesand individuals in rural and urban areas. NIF will then helpin building value chain around them.

The book is divided in three parts. The mechanical innovationsdeveloped by innovators from Punjab are covered in partone. Selected examples of herbal traditional knowledge aregiven in part two. The innovations from other parts of thecountry suitable for the development of Punjab are given inpart three.

By no stretch of imagination, could we claim that we haveachieved a great deal. We have merely made a simple point.There are a large number of knowledge rich people who

PUNJAB INNOVATES 4

There are a large number of people who may not have beeneducated much, may in fact be economically poor also, but stillhave the ability to solve a few problems so well.

The challenge really is to work out a synergy so that no creativevoice remains unheard, and no solution remains localized andunrecognized. By adapting public policy in support of grassrootsinnovators and traditional knowledge holders, we can makeeconomic development process more inclusive and sustainable.

This book on innovations has been compiled at the request ofDr Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, Finance Commission and Member,Governing Council of the National Innovation Foundationas a tribute to the creativity and innovation at grassroots. Thispresentation is part of a series of innovation compendiumprepared for each State of India. We hope this will be followed

GUJARAT INNOVATES

up in the form of concrete policy and institutional initiatives ineach State to empower creative people to improve the quality oflife of common people and thus promote inclusive growth.

It is my belief that such examples will act as spur for other Stategovernment departments to look for creative efforts of their staffand users at ground level. I hope that NIF will have the opportunityto work closely with the State government in future and expandknowledge base, add value to selected technologies and helpthem diffuse through commercial and non commercial socialchannels for improving the livelihood of the majority of the people.

R. A. Mashelkar, FRSChairperson, Governing CouncilNational Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad

may not have been educated much, may in fact beeconomically poor also, but still have the ability to solve afew problems so well.

The challenge really is to work out a synergy so that nocreative voice remains unheard, and no solution remainslocalized and unrecognized. By adapting public policy insupport of grassroots innovators and traditional knowledgeholders, we can make economic development process moreinclusive and sustainable.

This book on innovations has been compiled at the requestof Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, Finance Commission andMember, Governing Council of the National InnovationFoundation as a tribute to the creativity and innovation atgrassroots. This presentation is part of a series of innovationcompendium prepared for each State of India. We hope thiswill be followed up in the form of concrete policy and

PUNJAB INNOVATES

institutional initiatives in each State to empower creativepeople to improve the quality of life of common people andthus promote inclusive growth.

It is my belief that such examples will act as spur for otherState government departments to look for creative efforts oftheir staff and users at ground level. I hope that NIF willhave the opportunity to work closely with the State governmentin future and expand knowledge base, add value to selectedtechnologies and help them diffuse through commercial andnon-commercial social channels for improving the livelihoodof the majority of the people.

R. A. Mashelkar, FRSChairperson, Governing CouncilNational Innovation Foundation, [email protected]

PUNJAB INNOVATES 5

To make the Indian development process more inclusive, thereis no escape from building upon creative and innovativeexperiments pursued by common people at village or semi-urban level. Many of these experiments lead to development ofinnovations, which can improve productivity and generateemployment. However, the purpose of a particular innovatormay often be to solve his problem. There is no mechanismavailable for him to share the knowledge, innovation or practicewith other people in different regions. Sometimes, ideas andinnovations get diffused through word of mouth. But many times,these ideas remain localized. In the process, potential growthand social development gets constrained. To overcome thisconstraint, Honey Bee Network with a handful of volunteerstriggered a movement, twenty years ago to scout, spawn andsustain the unaided innovations and outstanding traditionalknowledge from the informal sector of our country.

Drawing upon this experience, NIF (National InnovationFoundation) was set up in 2000 with the help of Department of

Science and Technology, Government of India to scale up theidea of learning from grassroots innovators.

Under the inspiring leadership of Dr. R. A. Mashelkar,Chairperson NIF and former Director General, Council ofScientific and Industrial Research (CSIR ), NIF has taken majorinitiatives to serve the knowledge-rich, economically poor peopleof the country. It is committed to make India innovative bydocumenting, adding value, protecting the intellectual propertyrights of the contemporary unaided technological innovators,as well as of outstanding traditional knowledge holders. It aimsat promoting lateral learning among local communities togenerate low cost affordable solutions of the persistent andemerging problems, and enhance the diffusion of innovationson a commercial as well as non-commercial basis.

How does NIF work?

Primarily, NIF has five functions: (a) Scouting anddocumentation, (b) Value addition and research and

Building a Bridge with Grassroots Innovators in Informal Sector

1 The Honeybee collects pollen from the flowers but they are not impoverished,in the process links one flower to another enabling cross-pollination. Similarly,the Honey Bee Network strengthens people-to-people contacts, learning andnetworking by pooling the solutions developed by individuals across the world

in different sectors. The network acknowledges the innovators, traditionalknowledge producers and communicators so that they do not remainanonymous.

PUNJAB INNOVATES 6

development, (c) Business development and Micro Venture, (d)Intellectual Property Rights protection and (e) Dissemination,database development and IT applications.

NIF has been entrusted with the responsibility of building aNational Register of Grassroots Innovations and TraditionalKnowledge. It is not enough to document or disseminate theinnovations or outstanding traditional knowledge. Value additionis very important for harnessing the full potential of the idea.NIF has entered into MOU with CSIR and Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) besides other organizations. CSIRhas allocated funds to support research on grassrootsinnovations in CSIR labs. Similarly, ICMR supportsresearch on such herbal healing knowledge, whichhas not been documented in the classical texts and formalinstitutional literature. NIF also helps in generating a very largepool of open source / public domain technologies. A smallnumber of innovations are also protected by patents andother IPRs.

PUNJAB INNOVATES

For most innovators, attracting risk capital for convertinginnovations into enterprise is very difficult. They neither canoffer much collateral nor are they able to develop business planor deal with formal R&D system.

A Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF) has been set up withthe help of SIDBI to provide risk capital for technologies atdifferent stages of incubation. Under single signature, innovatorsare trusted and investments are made to help them commercialisetheir innovations. Most innovators do not make good entrepreneurs.For entrepreneurship, one has to make consistent batch bybatch production of products. Innovators are often incorrigibleimprovisers. They seldom make two things alike. NIF has helpedsuch innovators to license their technologies to third partyentrepreneurs. Most of the licenses have been given to smallentrepreneurs and in a few cases, to medium enterprises.

A very elaborate benefit sharing system has been developed,governed by the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) of the knowledge

The Honey Bee Network strongly believes in sharing knowledge among theproviders of innovations in their own language, which is achieved by publishinglocal language versions of Honey Bee newsletter. It also ensures that a fair

share of benefits arising from commercial exploitation of local knowledge andinnovations reaches the innovators and knowledge providers.

PUNJAB INNOVATES 7

providers. Attempt is made to share benefits not only with theinnovators but also with their communities and for natureconservation. In addition, a small part is kept for contingencysupport to needy innovators, for R&D stakeholders, promotingwomen’s innovations and meeting overhead costs.

It is remarkable that grassroots innovations are generating globaldemand, as evident from inquiries from around fifty-five countriesfor various technologies, NIF has succeeded in commercializingproducts across countries in six continents apart from beingsuccessful in materialising thirty cases of technology licensingwith the help of partner agencies.

What has it done?

With major contribution from the Honey Bee Network, NIF hasbeen able to build up a database of more than 1,00,000 ideas,innovations and traditional knowledge practices from over 507districts of the country.

NIF has filed 182 patents in India and seven in US and one PCTapplication. Out of these, 33 patents have been granted tograssroots innovations in India and four in US. NIF has funded113 projects under MVIF to the extent of Rs.1.3 crores. Hundreds

of technologies have diffused through farmer to farmer socialnetwork.

NIF has proved that Indian innovators can match anyone in theworld when it comes to solving problems creatively. Where theyperform better than rest is in generating more affordablesustainable solutions by using local resources frugally.

Those who see poor only as the consumer of cheap goods, missthe knowledge richness at the grassroots level. The Poor can bethe Providers also.

The Grassroots to Global (G2G) model that NIF is propagating isall set to change the way the world looks at the creativity andinnovations at grassroots.

How can state government join hands with NIF?

a. NIF has no field extension unit nor does it want to haveone. However, state government has several fieldfunctionaries in the field of agriculture, education, industry,rural development, women and child care, forestry, etc.There can be a very fruitful partnership between NIF as asource of innovative ideas and technologies and stategovernment as partner in dissemination, value addition and

PUNJAB INNOVATES 8

even commercialization through incentives, promotion,subsidies, etc.

b. State government can join the national campaign forscouting innovations and traditional knowledge and motivateits grassroots functionaries to join hands with NIF inuncovering the talent at the community level.

c. Students in schools and colleges can be motivated to scoutcreative and innovative people in their neighbourhoodsand send the entries to NIF (Post Box No.15051, Ambavadi,Ahmedabad 380 015, [email protected]). Examplesof innovations can also be included in the curriculum ofthe school children.

d. Demonstrations and trials can be organized at variousregional research stations, KVKs (Krishi Vigyan Kendras)so as to create awareness about the creative potential ofcommon people.

e. The research institutions can be mandated to add value tothe knowledge of innovative people and help in protectingtheir knowledge rights.

f. On the state’s website, link to NIF can be given and theinnovations from the region can be displayed to put forwardthe creative face of the state before the people.

PUNJAB INNOVATES

g. Some of the innovative people identified by NIF and/orstate government could be awarded at district and statelevel besides giving them support for further work.

h. A nodal officer could be appointed to keep a dynamictouch with NIF to ensure that all the areas of possiblecooperation are explored.

I hope that NIF would be able to develop a functional, fruitful andfulfilling relationship with the Government of Punjab state.Tremendously rich knowledge of biodiversity, minerals andenvironment can be leveraged through the proposed association.We need to discover far more innovations and traditionalknowledge from Punjab where our record so far is not verygood.

Anil K GuptaExecutive Vice Chairperson, NIF, AhmedabadProfessor, Indian Institute of [email protected]

PUNJAB INNOVATES 9

“Innovation opens up new vistas of knowledge and newdimensions to our imagination to make everyday life moremeaningful and richer in depth and content”.

- Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

“By adapting public policy in support of grassroots innovatorsand traditional knowledge holders, we can make economicdevelopment process more inclusive and sustainable”.

- Dr. R.A. Mashelkar

Balwant SinghLudhiana

Balwant Singh is a Ludhiana technician who lives and breathes engineering and machinesonly. He has made a couple of innovations with regard to gear cutting operations. He hasmade improvements in the methods based on his long experience to improve productivity.He has also modified the machine tools used for gear cutting in order to improve theprecision level of the gears manufactured.

A milling machine is invariably employed for cutting large-size gears, when the face widthis more than about 1-1/2 inches. The other alternative is to use a milling machine fittedwith a hobbing attachment. While this ensures reasonably high output, the machine canalso be used for normal milling operations when there is no gear-cutting work but theoutput is limited because no more than two or three gear blanks can be machined at a

Improvements to the automatic gear-cutting machine

01

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PART I : INNOVATIONS FROM PUNJAB

PUNJAB INNOVATES 13


time. Mr. Singh pondered over the limitation of the design, which compelled frequentloading/unloading of component, which in turn caused loss of productivity. Through aprocess of trial and error, he replaced the universal-joint coupling with a bevel-gearmechanism. The new system consisted of three sets of bevel gears to transmit the spindlemotion to the hobbing attachment. The bevel-gear system is inherently superior to theuniversal-joint coupling because the velocity of the output shaft remains uniformthroughout. This avoids jerks that cause unacceptable vibrations.

For his contribution he won the consolation award in the second national competition ofNational Innovation Foundation.

02

Sardar Darshan SinghTibibaLudhiana

Integrated farming

Darshan Singh Tibiba is a physically challenged person equipped with elementaryeducation. He has contributed significantly for the increase of agricultural productivitythrough his innovative nature and managerial skills. He has integrated his agriculturewith aquaculture, dairy, piggery, poultry, apiary, agro-forestry and horticulture. Darshanis not only a successful farmer but also a very good mechanic. He has indigenouslydevised a timer for water pump; low cost combine harvester; straw reaper; and a uniformlydistributing fish feeder.

He has won ‘Dr. Dhaliwal Best Farmer Award’ conferred by Punjab Agricultural University,‘Jagjivan Ram Kisan Puruskar’ by ICAR, New Delhi and many other awards.

PUNJAB INNOVATES 14


03

Gurdeep Singh Rehanand Manjit Singh RehanLudhiana

Milling machine modified from lathe

Gurdeep and Manjit are educated upto the 12th standard. At present they are runningtheir engineering workshop for primarily making check nuts and auto parts. They werefinding difficulties while doing miling job with the existing machines due to less productionand poor output quality. They have modified a lathe in their workshop. A hybrid one withparts of a CNC machine and a self design cutting tool holder. The machine has a provisionfor automatic as well as manual feeding and automatic indexing.

PUNJAB INNOVATES 15


04

Malkiat Singh is a graduate in arts and a mechanic by profession. He is adept in repairingall types of machineries and specializes in automobiles.

He observed knocking sound in two cylinder engines and thought of reasons behindthis. He found out that this might be due to incorrect firing interval.

To correct the firing interval, he modified the design of the engine which has reducedknocking sound, fuel consumption and emissions considerably. The idea was conceivedby him way back in 1982 but it took him more that two decades to finally come to a pointwhere he is planning to start manufacturing. He plans this as soon as he obtains a processpatent and design registration for the technology.

SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies & Institutions),Ahmedabad has honored him with SRISTI SAMMAN -2007 for his outstandingcontribution.

Malkiat Singh ‘Zero’*Hoshiarpur

Modified two cylinder engine

PUNJAB INNOVATES 16


*As per its mandate, NIF does notconsider such professionals forawards or financial support, but onlyhelps in providing visibil ity orlinkages.

05

Navdeep Sharma*Jhalandar Cant.

Economical science lab for rural area (EPSRA)

Many students in the village primary schools still lack opportunities for practical studiesin their school due to absence of laboratories. Mr.Navdeep Sharma, a teacher byprofession not only thought about this problem but also came out with a solution. Hedeveloped a lab called as EPSRA. This lab can cover practical syllabus from class 3rd

to 10th. He claimes that the total lab can be developed at a cost of two thousand rupeesonly. In addition this lab is compact and portable. Ideas of this kind need wider testingand diffusion.

PUNJAB INNOVATES 17


*As per its mandate, NIF does notconsider such professionals forawards or financial support, but onlyhelps in providing visibil ity orlinkages.

06

Sometimes improper lubrication results an engine to overheat and seize. Mr. PavitarSingh has developed a solution to protect the engine from overheating. The devicecontinuously senses temperature of the engine and gives an audible alarm, whentemperature reaches beyond the preset range. This buzzer indicates when to stop thevehicle, otherwise the device automatically stops the engine.

Mr. Pavitar SinghFirozpur

Engine overheat protector (EOP)

PUNJAB INNOVATES 18


07

Ranjit Singh JagdevHoshiarpur

Annoyed by fuel guzzling, pollution creating motor bikes, Mr. Ranjit Singh wanted toprovide an environment friendly bike within an affordable price range. He developed anelectric bike successfully in 2003 at a cost of Rs. 6000/-. After scrupulous research anddevelopment he could develop a two seater electric bike in 2005; which costs Rs. 9000/- and which can run 40 km after a full charge.

When many international and large companies are introducing much costlier bike ofthis kind, should not state help such small scale producers in getting testing done andcommercialise the technology. NIF will join such efforts.

Low cost electric bike

PUNJAB INNOVATES 19


08

PUNJAB INNOVATES 20


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Sanjha-chula

The innovator wanted to develop an effective, smokeless, and energy efficient stove thatcan handle solid biomass: adapt itself to versatile cooking needs, and also achievecomplete combustion.

Sturdily built in mild steel, with primary and secondary hot air flow for complete combustion,it has three sequential burning assemblies of different temperatures. It has minimal heatloss due to glass wool insulation and fire brick lining. With a heat exchanger, it has a400W electric blower to feed hot air to the firing chamber for fast and complete combustion.

The unit has a chimney to take away the flue gases, with an attached temperaturegauge to indicate the need to fire more fuel in the firing box. This unit has a built infeature for placing chapatti/tandoor tawa inside the first chamber. With a separate ashpot in the fire box, the unit also works with different fuels such as biomass fuel briquettes,wool, coal etc.

Ramesh K Nobhoria*

Chandigarh

*As per its mandate, NIF does notconsider such professionals for awardsor financial support, but only helps inproviding visibility or linkages.

09

Avtar Singh DaffooNavashahr

Rope making machine

Avtar Singh Daffoo has studied up to the10th standard. The innovator has mademechanical devices for making ropes from various natural fibres like jute, coconut coirand other similar raw materials. He has also innovated some machines with which localgrinding and other manual work by women are made easy, e.g. machine for makingseviyan.

During 1952-53, a person from village Saila Khurd of Hoshiarpur district came to hisvillage with a machine to make ropes, Avtar and his brother saw the machine and thoughtof developing something similar for themselves. They developed the model within amonth and then showed it to Mr. Teruram, the original maker of the machine. He confirmedthat the new design was different from the original one. For another three to four decades,their machine was well received by the villagers in and around Khatkar kalan and in theneighboring district of Ropar and Ludhiana.

PUNJAB INNOVATES 21


10

Gurwinder Singh*Moga

Automobile control through mobile phone

Nowadays theft of automobiles, especially motor-bikes is a very common problemthroughout the country. Worried by these problems, Mr. Gurvinder Singh developed amobile phone operated vehicle controller, which can switch on or off the vehicle by justdialing to a configured number.

It would be interesting to see if the vehicles can also be controlled by police control room.The innovator is keen to provide such system compulsorily in all the automobiles whichcan also be tracked by the police control room using this device.

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* Professional registered inNIF’s Professional database. Asper its mandate, NIF does notconsider professionals forawards or financial support, butonly helps in providing visibilityor linkages.

11

Kishan KumarRaghuvanshi*Patiala

Electronic purse

PUNJAB INNOVATES 23


Pick pocketing is very common in crowded or public places; people have to take extracare while carrying the cash and other vulnerable items. Mr. Raghuvanshi has developeda solution years ago, when people hardly knew about credit and debit cards. He hasdesigned an electronic purse in 1995 for which he got a patent in 2003. He got a TePPsupport for developing this purse. The operation is similar to the debit cards prevalenttoday. In his innovative purse, a cable is used for transferring the money.


12

Sukhbir Singh, educated up to 10th standard, has modified the milling machines. Themodified machine can be used for making gear, facing surface (horizontal or vertical),drilling and for cutting threads. The thread cutting job can also be done on lathe but thereis limitation in the number of threads, which is not there in the modified milling machine.Mr Singh developed the machine in 1997 and has sold over 20 machines in Faridabad,Baroda and Indore.

Extruder thread making milling machine

Sukhbir Singh HanspalLudhiana

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Fourteen-year-old Priya is a leading child artist and also an innovative scholar. From atender age, she has several ideas like increasing ground water resources, managementof soil fertility, generation of electricity in high rise buildings etc.

She has participated in several national and international conferences. Her first awardwas the International Child Excellence Scholarship Award in 1996, when she was onlyfour years old. Apart from this she also won prestigious scholarships like Literary Awardby the Readers and Writers Association of India, State Award from the ChandigarhAdministration, Cambridge Young English Senior’s Award from the University ofCambridge and a selection for Pogo Amazing Kids Award.

Student Innovator

PriyaChandigarh

PUNJAB INNOVATES 25

PART I : INNOVATIONS FROM PUNJAB 13

Worried of depleting energy resources and the consequent crisis which society may facein future, Royal and his friends Arvind, Rahul, and Navrish decided to optimize andprototype the various ideas for generation of electricity from vehicles travelling on roads.

The innovation consists of a series of parallel bars fitted on the road and having rubberstamping over them in such a way that these rods rotate whenever they come in contactwith a rotating wheel. These bars are fitted with the chain and sprockets which transmitthe rotation to an alternator thus generating electricity. National Innovation Foundationhas supported the innovators for prototype development under mentoring of Dr. TanujaSrivastava, Director, Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engg. & Tech, Sangrur.

Royal Deep Singh,Arvind Atrri, RahulThakur, Navrish KaushalAmbala

Electricity generation through road transport

14

PUNJAB INNOVATES 26


The innovator has developed a washing machine (with a provision of either manual ormotorized operation) working on the principle of tumble wash. The free suspension ofdrum, provision of manual operation and its low cost makes it different from existingmachines and also quite suitable for rural areas.

In his machine two blocks are provided opposite to each other inside the drum whichhold the clothes for some time and then release them during rotation. This gives theeffect of tumble wash. The arrangement of electrical devices is also made in such a waythat it is kept outside the main assembly; thereby reducing the risk of shock in case ofleakage. At present the machine does not have the provision of drying the clothes. Themachine uses a 0.5 hp motor and has a capacity of about 15 kg.

Manual cum motorized washing machine

Mr. Amrik Singh*Mohali

15

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NATIONAL INNOVATION FOUNDATION, INDIA

The competitionThe NIF, set up by Department of Science and Technology,GOI, seeks entries of unaided technological innovations andtraditional knowledge developed by an individual or groupcomprising farmers, artisans, fishermen and women, slumdwellers, workshop mechanics, students, local communities etc.,in managing natural and/or other resources. The innovationscan be in machines, gadgets, implements, or processes forfarm operations, household utility, transportation, energyconservation or generation, reduction in drudgery, creative useof biodiversity, development of plant varieties, generation ofherbal remedies for human or animal health or developingnew or any other low cost sustainable green technology relatedto various aspects of survival in urban and rural areas. Creativeideas for innovative technologies which have not yet beenreduced to practice are also welcome. Communities developingPeople’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) or People’s KnowledgeRegister (PKR) are encouraged to register/link their knowledgebase with the National Register at the NIF.

The awardsThe best three innovations and traditional knowledge practiceswill be awarded Rs 1,00,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 eachin different categories. In addition, individuals and/ororganizations that make extraordinary contributions in scoutinggrassroots innovations and traditional knowledge may also getawards worth Rs 50,000, 25,000 and 15,000 respectivelybesides recognition to many others. There will be severalconsolation prizes of Rs 10,000 each in different categoriesdepending upon the number of entries and incrementalinventiveness and potential social and environmental impact.Three most outstanding innovative ideas may be given prizesof Rs 50,000, 25,000 and 15,000 in addition to consolationprizes of Rs 5,000 each. There are special prizes for innovationsby or dealing with, physically challenged people. The

innovations /ideas of professionally trained persons are notconsidered for award or financial support. There are specialawards for journalists writing about grassroots innovations and/or traditional knowledge and creating greater awareness aboutNIF’s missions. The award money may be revised in due course.

StudentsYoung inventors and innovators are invited to send their ideas orinnovations for a special category of awards for them. Theseshould be unsupervised, an outcome of their own creativity,without any support from their teachers or outsiders. There willbe prizes worth Rs 15,000, 10,000 and Rs 7,500 for the bestthree entries and several consolation prizes of Rs 5,000 each inthis category.

How to participateIndividuals or groups may send as many entries as they wish onplain paper providing a) genesis of the innovation and traditionalknowledge b) its background and c) educational qualificationand occupation, accompanied by photographs and/or videos ifpossible and any other information that may help in replicatingthe innovations/traditional knowledge. Herbal entries may beaccompanied by dried plant samples to enable properidentification procedure. The Sixth National Competition startedon February 1, 2007 and entries would be accepted till January31, 2009. Every entry should include the full postal address tofacilitate further communications.

Where to send entries?

National Coordinator (Scouting & Documentation), NationalInnovation Foundation, Bungalow No. 1 Satellite Complex,

Premchand Nagar Road, Ahmedabad 380015 GujaratToll Free No 1800 233 5555 Fax: (079) - 2673 1903

email: [email protected]; www.nifindia.org

The Sixth National Biennial Competition for Green Grassroots Unaided TechnologicalInnovations and Traditional Knowledge

Co-sponsors

Honey Bee Network

CSIR

SRISTI

IIM-A

Documents

PART-I Innovation from Punjab Innovation from Punjab.pdf · There are a large number of people who may not have been educated much, may in fact be economically poor also, but still