Annual Report 1999-2000

Societal Programmes

Science & Technology Application for Rural Development

Core grant was extended to 15 groups during the year. Two new groups namely Forum of Scientists, Engineers and Technologists (FOSET), Calcutta and Technology Informatics and Design Endeavour (TIDE), Bangalore were also identified and selected for grant of core support. This programme has allowed unique opportunity of pursuing research and development by interested scientists, especially from the younger generation, in the field of rural development. It has also helped in thematic networking and coordination amongst various voluntary organisations. Most of the core supported organisations are working in difficult geographical locations ranging from Himalayan region to coastal areas. Some of these centres of excellence have been working as Resource Centres on sectors such as watershed management, renewable energy, rural industries, etc. A few distinct technological achievements are mentioned below.

• Through continued efforts of PROGESS, Hyderabad , an integrated technology package has been developed on rainwater conservation and ground water recharge in watershed areas. The programme focussed on physical and qualitative aspects and soil and moisture conservation specially in drought prone areas leading towards improvement in availability of water both for drinking and irrigation. The group has also developed user-friendly software, which gives design specifications, cross sectional diagrams and cost estimates of water harvesting structures.
  
• A solar photovoltaic (SPV) power supply system for operation of Electronic Milk Tester (EMT) has been developed by SPRERI, Vallabh Vidyanagar, to cater to the rural areas. EMT usually runs on grid electricity and has provision of 12V-battery operation. SPV based EMT has been operating successfully and has solved the problem of irregular and erratic power supply. SPRERI has also developed an anaerobic filter treatment system to treat dairy effluent and recover energy in the form of methane gas. The system comprises an anaerobic filter with a vertical bed made up of chemically inert materials supporting microbial growth as a biofilm on the lower end of a reactor. As it moves upward, it comes in contact with the microorganism embedded surface that digests 90 per cent organic matter to produce gas. The effluent becomes safe for disposal on land and can also be used for irrigation.
  
• HESCO, Chamoli has improved the traditional bee-keeping technique in wall hives. Instead of comb, many artificial frames are fit into the hive, thus increasing the volume of hive almost four times. Introduction of separate broad and super chambers has also helped to increase the yield. The group has worked on water mills (2-5 KW) in hilly areas and the feasibility study has indicated a very high potential of such small water mills especially for economic activities such as oil expelling and dehusking, etc.
  
• Mitraniketan , Trivandrum has successfully developed and demonstrated a motorised coir ratt device to enhance the productivity of fibre extraction from coconut husks to eliminate the drudgery in the manual beating method.
  

Coordinated Programmes

Fish seed production and hatchery development: To meet the demand of quality seeds and also for proper stocking and pond management, eco-hatcheries have been set up in Chandrapur (Maharashtra), Ranchi (Bihar), Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Bankura (West Bengal) and Koraput (Orissa) for production of seeds of Indian major carps. These hatcheries are working as resource centres for providing technical back-up to individual fish farmers and training in various fish rearing practices. A large number of fish farmers have been trained and each hatchery is running on a self sustainable basis.

Low cost construction:

This programme has now been successfully completed. The emphasis under this coordinated programme was on use of locally available material i.e. soil, stone, biomass etc. and producing pre-fabricated building elements such as micro-concrete roofing tiles, stablised mud blocks, hollow blocks, treated thatch, etc. The idea has been not to construct houses but to provide cost-effective technology and material options. Seven such production units have been operationalised and are working on a self-sustainable basis. A large number of masonary artisans have also been trained in production techniques and construction of houses for various regions.

Land, biomass and water management:

This programme seeks to address the primary problem of watershed and help in initiating related secondary levels of production activities. Checking soil erosion, moisture conservation, delineating watershed boundaries and above all participation of target population are basic components of the programme. The models created in Angara Block of District Ranchi, Bihar has ensured full scale production of biomass in 650 hectares of degraded land, reducing surface run off by 75% and increase moisture conservation by 25 per cent. 6 projects in different hydrological regions of the country are being designed for implementation..

Rural Technology Park (RTP):

Under this scheme a rural technology park has been set up in village Rajadera, Angara Block of Ranchi , Bihar to make science and technology visible and accessible to rural population through demonstration and application of knowledge in a form, which a simple villager can apply in his day to day activities. Technological empowerment and skill training of people, convergence of income generating activities and creation of sustainable livelihood through the structure by people’s institution (Panchayat) are major and critical components of the RTP.

The concept of RTP, first of its kind in India is providing nucleus of science and technology in 91 villages of Angara block, Ranchi in terms of appropriate technology back-up and management support/services in various sectors like information, organisation and planning; watershed management; agro-forestry processing; energy application and environment; and non-farm activities covering simultaneously the social engineering aspects. Initial three years of implementation has resulted in functioning of 127 farmer’s and women’s self-help groups engaged in nutrition garden and processing activities; 136 units as new enterprise like poultry farm, vermi-compost; processing of natural products, & building block manufacturing etc.; 30 ponds and 3 nurseries for fish production; 12 information centres; and construction of houses in villages with low cost appropriate technology packages designed by SRI, Ranchi. Other support services like health, counselling, marketing and credit are also being taken care of with the support and linkages of other financial/technical institutions to make proposed intervention sustainable.

The concept of RTP has now been taken up as replicable block development model by other states and UNDP as well. Another RTP is also being set up at Ranipur in East Distt. of Sikkim to benefit rural population in Noth –Eastern region.

Other Replicable Projects:

Some of the individual projects having potential for large-scale technology dissemination in rural areas are as under:

In a project implemented by ARTI, Pune a technique has been developed to grow economically useful and salt tolerant species of plants to benefit the rural people in coastal regions as well as in inland regions suffering from high ground water salinity. Based on field experimentation, this group has been able to identify and select potential species namely Casuarina equisetifolia, Cocos nucifera, Prosopis juliflora, Salvadora persica and Thespesia populnea which can grow well on soil beds irrigated daily with sea water. In this technique raised beds help in proper root aeration and flushing out of the beds with sea water prevents the problem of salt accumulation in the root zone.

In another project ARTI has been able to set up pilot scale village production unit as common facility centre at Phaltan, Dist Satara, Maharashtra to demonstrate and train rural youths in low cost technologies standardized by them such as modern plant nursery techniques(e.g. vegetative propagation through rooted cuttings, use of high humidity chamber, hardening of cuttings, propagation through grafts, preparation of potting medium, peat substitute from agro-waste, use of water absorbing gel, etc.); production and sale of seedlings of seasonal crop species; and cultivationof high value crop species on permanent raised beds . These techniques based on scientific principles are immune to external influences like weather and soil factors and are also highly reproducible under a wide spectrum of environment. It is estimated that a small courtyard having an area of a couple of hundred square metres, can generate an annual income ranging from Rs. 10,000 to 20,000. These technologies, requiring relatively small area and low capital expenditure are well disseminated and being practiced by voluntary sector in other parts of the country to train rural youth.

A project is being implemented by Deptt. of Chemistry, H.P. University, Shimla to utilize the waste pine needles of Pinus roxburghi, a renewable forest waste for production of particle boards and utilize the mother liquor from the digested pine needles for preparation of adhesives. The programme will help in avoiding possible fire hazards in forest as well as generating additional employment opportunity for local people. Efforts are being made to standardize the process for graft co-polymerization onto digested pine needles to increase hydrophobic properties and to work out requirements of specific amount of resin with specific amount of pine needles, definite pressure and temperature in a hot press to manufacture particle boards of standard sizes.

New Projects Supported:

Under this programme during the year, number of science and technology based innovative projects were supported in various parts of the country covering wide range of sectors focussing on technology development/modification and transfer and adoption of appropriate technologies at field level. Some of these projects are as under:

• Technology for fuel/fodder needs of women in Garhwal Hills.
  
• Transfer of technology through field demonstration of fresh and brackish water aqua-culture.
  
• Studies on non-conventional edible mushrooms of North-Western Himalaya.
  
• Eco-safe & environment friendly management of major polyphagus insect pests of crops.
  
• Human powered bamboo carts for rural use.
  
• Development of electric/solar van Rickshaw for rural transportation.
  
• Development of insecticides from some plants of North East India.
  
• Assessing the commercial viability of Ipomea based power generation on the Cauvery Delta.
  
• Developing protocols for cultivation of high quality medicinal herbs in Western region of District Pune.
  
• Deriving scientific and technological know how of increasing net primary productivity of degraded tree cover by introducing wild tubers.
  
• Development of a model for Azolla utilization technology in deep water rices system of Sunderban area, West Bengal.
  
• Demarcation of Brackish and saline shallow aquifer zones and developing methodologies /techniques for the supply of irrigation and safe drinking water.
  
• Cost effective housing for the rural areas using bamboo as a structural material.
  
• Production of bio-fertilizers from aquatic weeds through vermi-culture.
  
• Low cost energy saving, local renewable technology for water system development.