Annual Report 2000-2001

Societal Programmes

The Societal programmes of the Department primarily aim at reaching technology to the weaker sections of the society so that they derive benefit in terms of enhanced income, reduced drudgery and in general an improved quality of life. While, in the previous few years the emphasis was on development of appropriate technology packages, during this year a deliberate attempt has been made to enlarge the scope of the activities through coordinated programmes implemented all over the country. Apart from viable technology packages such programmes have also demonstrated the successful interface between S&T field groups, R&D and Technology Institutions. This has helped to evolve a successful system of technology transfer for generation of sustainable livelihood. Details of various programmes under the scheme are given below:

Science & Technology for Women

This programme is aimed at empowerment of women through inputs of Science and Technology. Under this scheme support is provided to projects, aimed at identifying gap areas relating to technological needs of women, development and adaptation of technology or transferring the available ones for the benefit of women. A salient feature of this scheme is its unconventional approach, women centered policies and involvement of women at all the stages of the programme from problem identification to dissemination of technology. During the course of the year, 35 projects were approved in the priority sectors such as Post harvest technologies, Land-based activities, Women's health, Income generation activities and Drudgery removal, Rural engineering, Medicinal plants, Pottery and Natural dyes.

Coordinated Programmes

Some successful technology models developed in individual projects are now being replicated in different parts of the country as coordinated programmes. Three such programmes have been taken up this year:

Low Cost processing & preservation of horticultural produce.

This programme is now being implemented in selected locations in the Northeastern states .The objectives of this programme is to facilitate women cooperatives to set up viable units for processing and preservation of horticultural produce, development of new and innovative recipes, creating awareness amongst women regarding quality control and hygienic handling of products and marketing aspects.

Cultivation, processing and marketing of high value Medicinal Plants.

A Coordinated programme on cultivation, processing and marketing of high value medicinal plants involving women is underway in seven states of the country. This programme has now been extended to the hill states to include J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and hilly region of Uttar Pradesh and now covers almost all the agro climatic locations of the country. To meet the demand of good quality planting material mother nurseries have been established at all the locations where multiplication of medicinal plants are being done by both seeds and vegetative methods. The objective of this effort is to make available quality planting material. Women groups are being trained in Low cost agro technologies for cultivation, semi processing, storage and marketing of medicinal plants. Some high value plants taken up for cultivation are Cymbopogan citrates, Piper longum, Tinospora cordifolia, Withania somnifera, Alpinia calcurata, Andrographis paninculata, Rubia cordifolia, Hemidesmus indicus, Acorus calamus, Addhatoda gilanica and Asparagus racemosus.

Owning and Sustaining Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programmes through Rural Women in Selected Villages of India.

A Coordinated Project on owning and sustaining rural water supply and sanitation programmes through rural women in ten selected villages of India has been launched with an aim to identify cost effective appropriate technologies to solve specific problems, measure the effectiveness of water conservation techniques in various agroclimatic zones of the country, field test some technological options, and mobilize women for owning and sustaining drinking water and sanitation programmes

Women's Technology Park

Technology Parks exclusively for women to act, as windows for providing information, creating awareness, giving training and providing backward and forward linkages at Dehradun (Uttranchal) and Manipal (Karnataka) are now fully functional. Training programmes for skill upgradation and capacity building have commenced in areas such as mushroom cultivation, floriculture, animal husbandry, natural dyes, vanilla bean cultivation, medicinal plant cultivation, nursery raising, aquaculture, fibre utilization, women's health and Information technology. The Technology Park for the arid region at Barmer has been sanctioned. Location specific programmes identified for this park are sustainable fodder management, women's health, post harvest technology, solar energy utilization medicinal plants, processing and weaving of local wool.

Programme on Women's Health

A conscious effort has been made to evolve strategies to identify specific health problems of women and to develop an intervention strategy.

• Three low cost diagnostic kits for detection of urinary tract infection, anemia, blood glucose, have been developed and are presently undergoing validation trials at AIIMS. Field validation and training of health workers in use of these kits is being done at Bilaspur district of Madhya Pradesh.
  
• Design and development of load handling devices and personal protective gear for women working in the construction industry and in stone quarries is being done at IIT Bombay and National Institute of Small Mines, Calcutta.
  
• Development and popularization of low cost health and Hygiene related products and manufacture by rural women
  
• Combating micronutrient deficiencies through enhanced production and social Marketing.
  
• Programme of intervention for non-communicable diseases women in the postmenopausal & the reproductive age.
  
• Intervention strategy for women rag pickers handling hospital waste.

Other Projects

Some Individual projects sanctioned during this year include

• Empowerment of women through sericulture.
  
• Development of natural products as biopesticides at village level
  
• Solar electrification of Changu village.
  
• Rearing of Japanese quail.
  
• Hand made paper production technology.
  
• Design and development of manually operated wool card cloth making machine for weavers of the Himalayan region.
  
• Cultivation of Orchids in degraded jhum lands in Arunachal pradesh.
  
• Fish breeding and identification of their disease.

Completed Projects

During the year, 25 projects were completed successfully. Some of the achievements are as follows:

• Modern sericulture activities and utilization of waste and by- products
  
• Reutilization of non destructive waste of plastic poly bags
  
• Dehydration of flowers and foliage in solar cooker.
  
• Organic manure production by using bio pith.
  
• Electronic assembly and circuit wiring.
  
• Development of a bio mass fired dryer for fruits and vegetable.
  
• Design of looms for carpet weaving in Kinnaur.

Future Programmes:

Some of the areas that will be focused in future programmes are:

• · Facilitating a Centre for Natural Dyes In the Himalayan region, Women Technology Park for the East coastal region and Central India, Fuel and Energy, Pottery and ceramics, ergonomically designed Tools and Implements and user friendly to women, Horticulture, Post harvest technology, Drinking water management, and IT software.
  
• · The Department has announced a National award to an individual/ organization that has made outstanding contribution for the benefit of women through the application of Science and Technology. This award will be given for the first time on International Women Day.

Core Grant:

Core grant was extended to 18 groups during the year. This programme has allowed unique opportunity of pursuing research and development in the area of rural development by committed scientists. It has also helped in thematic networking and coordination amongst various science and technology based field groups. These core supported organizations are working in different geographical locations at grassroots level focusing on cost effective technological interventions on location specific problems covering sectors such as watershed management; sustainable agriculture and agro-processing; rural housing & sanitation; renewable energy, resource mapping, rural industries, etc.

Replicable Projects:

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

• In a project implemented by FOSET, Calcutta to work on alternative appropriate technology package for developing cost effective fishing hooks for artisans of this trade, techniques have been developed & standardized for heat treatment of indigenous steel wire to get required physical properties and metallurgical structure; identifying suitable anti-corrosive coating material for the protection of the hooks from sea water corrosion/conditions; mechanization of the fabrication technique by designing high carbon high chromium metal die-punch system to ensure uniform shape , size for increased productivity of the hooks. Use of this improved technology package with less input cost has resulted in 20% increases in production rate as compared to the traditional method, thus, benefiting the artisans to get more income as well as less dependency on costly imported steel wire to make hooks.
  
• A technique has been optimized by ARTI, Pune for growing medicinally useful roots through nutrient flow system in which pre-germinated seedlings are placed in channels. The nutrient solution, flowing in the form of a continuous film along the bottom of the brick channel filled with fine sand, provides the roots with water and organic manure to get adequate moisture and nutrients to develop in the horizon. One can even harvest a part of the roots, without killing the plants. The roots produced in this manner are clean and free from contaminants, thus, ideally suited to meet the growing demand of herbal industry for organically grown plants. This group has been able to select & grow potential species namely Glycirrhiza glabra, Asparagus racemosus, Acorus calamus & Aegle marmelos etc. Further trials would be continued to assess the economic feasibility of this system with variety of species.
  
• In another project, attempt has been made by a group of scientists from Integrated Rural Technology Centre, Palakad, Kerala to field test and transfer new scientific rubber tapping technology without using hazardous chemical stimulant as is the practice in traditional system of tapping. Tapping was done in the new system in upward direction on inclined panel using the Jebong knife and in the control blocks in the existing system with down-ward tapping on vertical panel using the Michie-go-ludge type of knife. A spillage preventing device was also introduced and fixed wherever required. New technology has added advantage over traditional technology as latex yield increases to the tune of 22 to 50% and more importantly, significant reduction in incidences of brown blast thereby increasing the economic life span of the rubber tree. Local tappers have been trained in demonstration plots on the application of new technique and its innumerable benefits over the existing method, which is now being well accepted by them for application in their own plots.
  
• In an innovative approach under a project probiotic fertilizer extension experiment, Institute for studies and Transformations, Ahmedabad has been able to demonstrate and train farmers in production and application of low cost probiotic fertilizers, a class of organic fertilizers made by converting local agricultural residues and animal manure by adding 1.5 - 2.0 % supplements of nutrients deficient in the arable soils. It has been reported that probiotic fertilizers are a cost effective substitute to nitrogenous chemical fertilizers for seed treatments. As soil fertilizers it has demonstrated a considerable potential for economic return under rain-fed & irrigated conditions. Use of such nutrient fortified composts help to protect plants against fungal diseases and for improvement of crop yields substantially as reported in several crops specially cotton, wheat and paddy. Computer models have been designed and developed by this group for village level probiotic fertilizer production based on location specific agronomic data generated by experiments on farmer's fields in five districts of Gujarat state.
  
• A project is being implemented by Centre of Science for Villages, Wardha for increasing net primary productivity of degraded tree cover by introducing wild tubers/rhizomes in some selected areas of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The multiplication methods(in situ or ex situ) have been optimized and adopted for 20 major edible and medicinal tubers by studying micro-climatic requirements for large scale plantation using seeds, stem cuttings, tuber cuttings, tissue culture and by splitting of crown. Efforts are being made by this group to establish a viable replicable system of production, harvesting, processing, storage and marketing of value added products based on traditional knowledge and scientific methods involving a network of trained farmers as primary stakeholders in such process.
  
• In another project entitled "Studies on non -conventional edible mushrooms of N.W. Himalayas" being implemented by Himalayan Research Group, Shimla, efforts are being made to identify potential wild edible species of mushroom such as Lactarius deliciosus, Hericium coralloides & Sparassis crispa commonly consumed by local inhabitants by studying ecological, ethnomycological & soil details and isolating their culture isolates for conducting cultivation trials. Studies are being conducted to analyze nutritional values of such species rich in major and minor nutrients for local consumption as well as generating additional employment opportunity for local people. Dry and wet preservation techniques have been optimized and demonstrated for long term storage at the level of rural household for off-season use.

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 focusing on technology development/modulation, transfer and adoption of appropriate technologies at field level. Some of these projects are as under:

• Introduction of low tech agro-technologies for economic uplift to rural areas in Lahul & Ladakh Himalayas.
  
• Development of suitable technologies for utilization of unmarketable leaf and plant parts of Piper betle.
  
• Evaluation and technology upgradation of essential oil processing industry in the small and tiny sector.
  
• Field level optimization of cultivation technology of the mushroom Calocybe indica as a stable source of income for the people of Sunderban area.
  
• Bio-control of water hyacinth using mycoherbicide.
  
• Integrated farming system to upgrade local dairy stock.
  
• Culture of Penaeus monodon in fresh water grow out ponds for sustainable farming practices.
  
• Improving availability of safe drinking water through science and technology application and community participation.
  
• Safe environmental replicable sullage disposal system for rural settlements.
  
• Development & application of a computer compatible auto punch machine for the artisanal handloom designers.

Co-ordinated programme on Land, biomass and water management has been initiated recently to address the primary problem of watershed and help in initiating related secondary levels of production activities with appropriate technological interventions. Few Rural Technology Parks(RTP) are being set up in North Eastern states, as a nucleus of science and technology for technological empowerment of poor people in terms of appropriate technology back-up and management support/services in various sectors like information, organisation and planning; watershed management; agro-forestry processing; sustainable agriculture; horticulture and bamboo farming; rural energy and environment; and non-farm activities. Major focus of this programme is 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. Skill training of people for value addition, convergence of income generating activities and creation of sustainable livelihood through the structure of people's institution (panchayat) are major and critical components of the RTP. Science and Technology Application for Weaker Section

The scheme is aimed at the development of economically weaker sections of the society in rural and urban areas. It focuses attention of specific S&T inputs for improvement of rural artisans, landless labourers etc. Emphasis is placed on multi-sectoral approach incorporating original ideas based on locally available resources and incorporating the direct beneficiary groups in decision making.. The objectives include promotion of research, development and adaptation of science and technology for improving quality of life of weaker section and to motivate scientists for applying their knowledge and expertise to the problems of weaker community. The scheme has both Coordinated programmes and individual projects

Coordinated Programmes

Artisanal Pottery

This programme is now in its second phase. R&D work has been continuing in development of appropriate furnace, matching glazes, body recipes and new product range. Earlier work has resulted in design and standardization. Similarly, simple genetic technologies for common clay, body recipe, glazing analysis, firing system have also been taken up. The package will be ready within another 6 months period for use of individual and groups of artisans.

Non-Edible Oil

The programme has just started. Center for Technology Development, New Delhi, which is the coordinating agency has been able to visit and involve Non-Edible Research Institute, Anantpur ( Andhra Pradesh ). Detailed discussions have led to identification of specific technological gaps and designing research activities accordingly. Simultaneously, field groups have completed the field investigation in their respective areas regarding the availability of fruits, flowers, plants, seeds etc. of various types and which contain non-edible oil. Action is also being initiated to design and develop appropriate oil expelling and oil extraction techniques.

Individual Projects

16 new projects including 6 on model village development were sanctioned on various subjects. The salient features and outcome of the some of the project is given below:-

• Design Development of appropriate kiln for the traditional pottery products.

Centre for Social Development, Kanyakumari District, has developed an efficient kiln specially to reduce energy consumption, breakages as well as to produce quality products at individual artisanal level. The new kiln consumes less fuel, produces better quality wares and is easy to construct and maintain. Various combinations such as kilns with ash pit, fire box and false platforms; kiln with fire mouth and false platforms; kilns with arranged false platforms (with damaged pots); square type, rectangular type and round type kilns, etc. have been tested for optimum efficiency. The final result and the optimized design of kiln will be available within a couple of months.

• Standardising the techniques of conical (Guna) tiles fabrication

With a view to determining and processing methods for fabrication of conical tiles, Centre for Social Development, Kanyakumari District has tried out clay processing (with 75-80% plastic clay sieved at 10 mesh, mixed with 20-25% fine sand and 2 days aging), throwing at potter's wheel can produce both big and smaller size of tiles. Fabrication of tiles was also tried out using Jigger and Jolley. In both these processes, the products were tested for shrinkage, water absorption, and compressive strength. Completely dried tiles were loaded in an updraught kiln and fired upto 900^oC and the product was found to be of excellent quality.

• Investigation on the suitability of non-edible rural vegetable oils in mould making and preparation of resins.

Literature and field studies about the availability and quantities of vegetables of the plants was undertaken in Bankura and Midnapore districts. In these two areas, seeds of Sal , Mahua, Neem, Mango, Kusum, Karang, are available in sufficient quantities. NML, Jamshedpur has evaluated the foundry properties of the oils and sand mixtures were prepared using with or without water, bentonite, and dextrine with different percentage of oil in the Laboratory. The sand samples so prepared were polymerized and the temperature ranging between 200 - 300 C for different lengths of time to arrive at a time - temperature combination for optimal tensile strength. From the study of polymerization characteristics of the oil bonded sands, it is found that Mahua and Karanj oils are suitable for foundry mould/ core making application. Melting trials were also undertaken and the surface finish of the casting and collapsibility of the Core were found to be excellent. This development will have far reaching effect in the economics of foundry operation at small scale level.

• Semi mechanization of traditional pit looms of North Karnataka for enhanced of productivity and product quality.

As the traditional looms is ergonomically very inefficient and the weavers have to sit in highly congested pit while working with limited product range and thereby a low return, SRI Jagadguru Guru Siddheshwara Vidhya Vardha and Sanskritaka Samastha, Guledgudda Bagalkot has taken up the upgradation of traditional pit loom by adding take-up and let-off mechanism through inexpensive do it yourself add on kits. The device can undertake weaving of complicated designs and has improved ergonomics features of framed loom. The innovative aspects of the project is essentially a set of mechanical devices such as gear trains and suitable fly wheels. The dimensions of the flywheel to be attached will be decided on the basis of movements required per minute.

T wo Integrated Village Development Projects have also been sanctioned during the year. The first project has been take-up in village Dudhai, Sahaspur, Block, Distt. Dehra Dun and the major work elements include Water Harvesting and Waste Land Restoration. Income generation activities are horticultural processing, pyrolysis, nursery development etc. In addition community health and sanitation work have also been take-up. The second village development project has been take-up at Coastal village Chinnandikuppam in Chennai Distt. The major work elements of the projects are launching of fish aggregation device, fish pouch making, solar fish drying, post harvest technology. The other important aspect of the project is to develop human skills and providing training in the areas mentioned above.