1) Mansukhbhai Raghavabhai Prajapati from a small village in Gujarat has developed what is called poor man’s refrigerator. It is called Mitticool and is made from terracotta body and ceramic. It has a storage chamber for 10 ltrs of water and the bottom compartment can hold 5-7 kgs of vegetable 8- 10 degrees below room temperature to keep them fresh for around a week. It costs mere Rs. 2500 and he has sold 1200 units from 2005.
2) Mathews K , from another small village in kerala has invented a mosquito repellant, which uses solar energy to kill mosquitoes . The device costing about Rs. 1500 is attached to a septic tank to attract the Insects and once attracted, they perish in the heat of the sunlight entering through a plastic cover. He has sold 500 units since 2007.
3) Wazeer Hayeth, from a small town in Tumkur has invented a battery powered stick that alerts blind users about an obstacle through an inbuilt speaker. The alerts are given in the preferred language of the user. He has sold 800 units from 2006 and each stick cost Rs. 1050.
All the above three innovations are indigenous and have been developed in rural India using basic simple technology. All the above innovators have patented their products and are getting enquiries from across the globe for their innovative products.
But there is one thing common to all the three persons mentioned above. They have been moved by incidents in their lives.
Mansukhbhai thought of the fridge when he saw a picture of a broken pot after the Gujarat earthquake, Mathews saw people in rural areas suffering from mosquito menace, Wazeer saw a blind man fall into a pothole.
The above three are only few examples which I am able to give within this short time span. There are many, many more such people who have made extra ordinary products, beneficial to the masses.
What do the above examples indicate?
Grass root innovations need not take place in fancy laboratories or research institutions, but they take place in our day to day life. If the above mentioned innovations have been made by ordinary people, who do not access to study of science and technology in a systematic manner, imagine , what we, who have access to knowledge of science and technology, can work wonders, if only we think out of the box and utilize science and technology for upgrading our lives .
Since the art of making fire and creating handcrafted tools, our civilization has come a long way. Science and Technology have made advances at an amazing rate. From telephones to the Internet, calculators to computers, cars to rockets and satellites, we are submerged in a sea of discoveries and inventions made possible by Science. Fields like Medicine and communications have brought about far-reaching changes in every sphere of our daily life.
Science is proving to be of great help in our daily life. The world would have come to a standstill without inventions of Science.
In the history of mankind, advent of Science is the greatest blessing. Science has come to relieve mankind from sufferings, ignorance and to control nature. It is systematized knowledge which can give rise to greater and greater inventions.
Now we have to continue to innovate further. Powered by imagination and inquisitiveness in character, we have to utilize science and technology for welfare of mankind and make our daily life more prosperous, comfortable and full of happiness.