Dr. Uddhab Kumar BHARALI Innovator/ Scientist/ Senior Technologist in the field of Agriculture Founder, U K B Agrotech Dr. Uddhab Kumar Bharali is an innovator, scientist and a senior technologist in the field of Agriculture. Dr. Bharali decided to devote his lifetime in exploring new areas of employment by introducing new innovations. To address this, he founded UKB Agrotech, an R & D centre in North Lakhimpur, Assam which specializes in customized machine design and research for better agricultural production. Investing earnings through R & D and Sales in building new innovations Dr. Bharali is a mind boggling Rural Innovator and Inventor from Assam who has devoted his life in helping people with appropriate technology. As an innovator and inventor, he has found over 107 Innovations which has helped to generate new areas of employment. Here is a list of some of his innovations: Pomegranate de-seeder, Passion fruit gel extractor, Cone shape Agarbatti maker, Safed musli peeler, Mosquito repellant making machine(herbal), Manual Bamboo splitting machine, Cassava peeling machine, Garlic peeling machine, Areca Nut peeling mach, Trench digger machine, High productive MUGA reeling machine, Root slicing machine, Sugarcane chips maker, Improvised Muga-reeling machine, Decortications machine for Ramie, Couna Dehydration plant, Dry areca nut De-husking plant, Areca nut Bisector, Remie decortications Machine, Detention chair for mentally challenged person, Mini tea plant, Feeding machine for person without hand, Coconut leaf stick extraction machine, etc… He is a recipient of ‘President’s Grassroots Innovation Award’, 2009. In 2007, he got ‘Shristi Samman Award’. He is the winner of engineering design contest organized by NASA Tech ‘Create the Future Design Contest’ for the year 2012 and 2013. He is also the recipient of ‘Rashtriya Ekta Samman, in 2013. He was one of the speakers in TEDxISMDhanbad held in October 2014.
Artificial glaciers for irrigation
Chewang Norphel Civil Engineer Chewang Norphel (born 1935) is an Indian civil engineer from Ladakh, who has built 15 artificial glaciers. He has earned the nickname – ‘Ice Man’. Coming from a middle-class family of Leh, Norphel went to Amar Singh College in Srinagar as a student of science. He completed a diploma course in civil engineering from Lucknow in 1960. In June 1960, he joined the rural development department of Jammu and Kashmir in Ladakh as a civil engineer. He retired in 1995. In 1996, Norphel joined the Leh Nutrition Project, a non-governmental organisation, as project manager for watershed development. Norphel noticed a small stream had frozen solid under the shade of a group of poplar trees, though it flowed freely elsewhere in his yard. He realized the reason for this phenomenon: the flowing water was moving too quickly to freeze, while the sluggish trickle of water beneath the trees was slow enough to freeze. Based on this, he created artificial glaciers by diverting a river into a valley, slowing the stream by constructing checks. The artificial glaciers increase the ground-water recharge, rejuvenating the spring and providing water for irrigation. He constructed them at lower elevations, so that they melt earlier, expanding the growing season. By 2012, Norphel had built 12 artificial glaciers. Norphel’s largest glacier is the one at the Phuktsey village. It is 1,000 ft long, 150 ft wide and 4 ft in depth. It can supply water for the entire village of 700 people.
Recycling plastic to construct roads
Rajagopalan Vasudevan Indian scientist who has worked mainly in waste management. He has developed an innovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct better, more durable and very cost-effective roads. This method will help in constructing roads much faster and also will save environment from dangerous plastic waste. The bitumen-modified plastic improves the tensile strength of the road by making it more durable and flexible. Plastic also prevents pothole formation. When the layer of molten plastic fills the space between the gravel and bitumen it thwarts rain water from seeping in and causing structural defects. At least 16,000km of road have subsequently been paved in the state of Tamil Nadu. The national government has since approved the idea and sanctioned at least 13,000km across the country to be paved in the material as well. Of this, 8,600km have already been completed, says Dr IK Pateriya of the rural development ministry in Delhi. Using the same process to merge waste plastic and stone with materials like limestone, ceramic waste and granite, Dr Vasudevan has created another eco-friendly building material that consumes up to 40% more waste plastic than that used in the road laying process. He calls this material “plastone” and says that it is lasting, durable and cheap. Each plastone block consumes nearly 300 plastic bags and between four and six plastic bottles. He was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honour Padma Shri in 2018, for his groundbreaking research on re-using waste plastic – in a very unusual way. He is currently a professor in Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai 625015, TamilNadu, India.