A two-foot white plastic tube with a switch, a red LED and a piece of metal protruding from the top is the innovation of Mastan Khan that detects leaking electricity and live wires. “On an average, everyday one person dies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh due to electric shock. This device can save hundreds of lives. It vibrates and makes a sound. It can be tested with the static electricity of our body,” says Mr. Khan and touches it, setting off a buzz. “If it is a 11kv line, the electricity can be detected six feet from the source. Many of the accidents happen because of miscommunication about the status of electric line. This can prevent that,” says Mr. Khan about the device which costs only Rs. 400.
Mr. Khan’s device is among the dozens of innovations that were on display at the Rural Innovators and Startup Conclave hosted by the National Institute of Rural Development. A few stalls away is the simple solution of Kilaru Nageshwar Rao. Map all the overhead electric wires and put it online on Google map. “This can save a lot of time and energy for our staff. If all the cities and villages adopt this we can actually understand how our system is functioning and help other utilities to plan their grid,” says Mr. Rao, who works for the electricity department in Khammam.
It looks like an air-cooler from the last century, but it is a water maker, AC and a refrigerator rolled into one, patented by students of Lords Institute of Engineering and Technology. “It can generate 40 litres of water per day, keep the room cool as well as work as a refrigerator,” say the students of the college displaying their prototype.
The other innovators showcased their creations, many of them to do with agriculture field work, harvesting and even processing of food. One innovator showcased a corn sheller which used just pressure of the hand to do the job on four corns at a time. But most of the tools and creations of the innovators lacked finish.
Sharing expertise
“Many of the innovations done in this field are good, but they lack finish. The look. The people doing the innovations are solving problems, but we need to help them scale up. We want to share our expertise and facilitate these innovators to scale up their operations,” said W.R. Reddy of NIRD.
“We are creating a design centre that will boost innovation. There are various stages of innovations, we want to hand hold the innovators and lead them to the next level by bringing in domain experts, investors and partner with NIRD,” informed Priya Balijepalli of Autodesk, which is teaming up NIRD for creating a rural innovation hub. “It should start functioning within the next few months and we expect to help at least 15 rural innovators to mainstream their creations,” said Ms. Balijepalli on the sidelines of the conclave.
