Rural Technology Development and Delivery

Spinning wool by drop spindle or spinning wheel has been a traditional occupation in the Himalayan regions. Manual spinning is not an attractive option with low production rate and very few of these still continue to spin to increase their earnings and livelihood opportunities. Hand spinning of wool is laborious and time-consuming. To promote higher earnings, RuTAG Center, IIT Roorkee developed a spinning wheel to reduce the drudgery in spinning and improve the productivity. The charkha is fabricated and operated by solar-powered PV motor with a speed control mechanism while its foot paddle mechanism has been retained. The manual-operated charkha has been fully automated by introducing speed controller, electrical motor, solar panel, battery backup, generator (dynamo), USB Socket, modified flyer, and a crank for lateral motion of bobbin. A spinner could spin 1.5 kg of eight count wool by this modified charkha compared to nearly 600 g of eight count woolen yarn by traditional charkha within the same time period of 8 h. The production rate is found to be improved and high-quality thread is produced using the automated charkha. For spinning coarse and fine quality yarn, knob control is introduced. USB socket, battery backup, lightweight structure, and its components can be dismantled for easy transport in the remote areas and assembled again at site. The present paper presents the details of the components of solar-based modified charkha along with its technical aspects.

This paper describes the use of digital fabrication in developing Appropriate Technologies and their dissemination. Appropriate Technologies are low-cost and simple solutions. Most of these solutions are developed using traditional tools. The author presents case studies of Appropriate Technologies developed in the Fab Lab at Vigyan Ashram. In this paper, the author advocates use of digital fabrication for Appropriate Technology development.

This paper presents the design of a device that runs on 100-W AC motor for making beads for Tulsi malas. The machine performs turning and drilling operations simultaneously to produce the beads from Tulsi stem of variable sizes. Artisans from Jait village in Mathura, U.P., make beads whose diameter varies from 5 to 25 mm. RuTAG IIT Delhi has already developed a device to make Tulsi mala beads which runs on 12 V DC motor but has limitation to produce beads only up to 10 mm diameter. So, to overcome this limitation, a new device was designed which is powered by AC motor. Suitable changes were brought in by systematically studying and designing the various components relevant to the machining of larger dimeters Tulsi stem.

Agrarian distress is a global issue and is directly linked to poverty and hunger in developing countries. In India, agrarian distress has been manifested in the form of farmers’ suicide for the past 20 years. Agrarian distress in the farm household is resulting in deteriorated living standards, challenges in getting a quality education, forced migration, unmanageable health expenses, and poor nutrition level. In this regard, financial analysis is an effective method to identify the severity of the agrarian distress in the farm households (FHH). In this study, a financial analysis of 150 FHHs from Yavatmal district (being India’s most agrarian distressed area) has been conducted for three consecutive years from 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2018–19. After preparing financial statements and computing financial performance measures, FHHs have been categorized into five groups (i) FHHs not earning profit from the farm, (ii) FHHs not able to save money at the end of the year, (iii) FHHs putting their asset in risk, (iv) FHHs not able to repay the loan, and (v) FHHs not able to earn sufficient from farm to fulfill their HH expenditure. It has been observed that 22%, 16%, and 14% of the sampled FHHs, respectively in the year 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2018–19 earned sufficient from their farm to fulfill their domestic expenditure (category v). Thus, it was found that year on year the percentage of farmers able to meet their household expenditure was decreasing which could be of help to policymakers in deciding the remedies to improve the financial status of the distressed FHHs.

The study examined 139 pedal threshing operators from three districts of West Bengal, India. Using a structured interviewer schedule, data gathered on the physical characteristics of operators, technical measurements of operator–machine interface, cardio-respiratory response from the recording of heart rates during work, postural analysis using RULA, the unit work output as well as perceived stress and strain of the operators. The studied pedal thresher was divided into three groups depending upon the circumference of threshing drum, i.e., 76–91 cm, 92–105 cm, 106–121 cm and labeled as pedal thresher 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The statistical treatment of the data using one-way ANOVA showed significant difference between the three groups of threshers. According to Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) technique, the working conditions of the 83% of the thresher operators required further investigation for design modification and work improvement. Further treatment of the data using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique, allowed clustering of measurement variables into three components, namely design features of the thresher, body dimensions of operators, and bodily strains, explaining about two-third of the total variance. The summated weights of the component scores yielded into a numerical equation to work severity indicator (WSI = 0.3 ∗ X₁ + 0.3 ∗ X₂ + 0.4 ∗ X₃), where, WSI = Work Severity Indicator, X₁ = Design Features, X₂ = Body Dimensions, X₃ = Bodily strain. The relative usefulness of the pedal threshers was evaluated based on the defined usability criteria such as: sophistication, orientation, effectiveness, operability, maintainability, and drudgery proneness. The area covered under the polar graph by different criteria for each type of pedal thresher indicates its relative usability. In brief, the study provides an approach to quantitatively define the WSI of pedal thresher and usability of the farm tool in paddy cultivation.

Only those soil minerals that are dissolved in water can be absorbed by plants. Direct absorption of soil minerals is restricted because of their low concentration (about 10^–6 mol lit⁻¹) in the soil solution. Therefore, farmers use highly water soluble chemical fertilizers. The soil micro-organisms are supposed to enhance the soil fertility by decomposing the organic matter in the soil to release the minerals from the organic matter. The author suggests that plants obtain minerals from the soil micro-organisms by killing and consuming them. This assumption is based on the fact that the root exudates of all plants contain biocides and digestive enzymes, and also on the Root Zone Technology, which can reduce the number of coliform bacteria and also the quantity of organic matter in fecally contaminated wastewater. The author demonstrated that the application of pure sugar to the soil induced the soil bacteria to proliferate. Since sugar does not contain any minerals, it was obvious that the proliferating bacteria absorbed minerals from the soil solution. In nature, the plants induce the soil bacteria to proliferate by feeding them with leaves, flowers and fruits dropped on the ground. The fact that plants consume the soil bacteria was demonstrated by the author with the help of a pot experiment. The soil in pots with plants had about 75% less bacteria than corresponding pots without plants. The new hypothesis not only provides a scientific basis to agriculture without chemical fertilizers but it also throws light on the evolution of terrestrial plants.

Hirda, a tropical medicinal fruit is an important non-timber forest produce collected by tribals in various states of India. In a study conducted by CTARA IIT Bombay in tribal areas of Pune district of Maharashtra, it was found that despite hirda being the primary source of income, the tribals who were the hirda collectors, were getting a very low share of value in the value chain. In this connection, RuTAG IIT Bombay has initiated a project to study the supply chain and value chain of hirda and to identify various issues associated with it. Designing suitable interventions for the identified gap areas is also planned. The project is currently in progress and is expected to be completed by November 2020. The scope of this paper is limited to work done by RuTAG IIT Bombay in Ambegaon, Khed, and Junnar blocks of Pune district. Though the study has been conducted in Pune district, it is expected to present a template of replicable interventions for other hirda growing regions of Maharashtra.

A significant amount (8.6%) of the total population comprises tribal people in India according to the 2011 census. The major portion of the tribal population is an inhabitant of the forest area and their entire life revolves around the forest. Plate making by using leaves is an environment-friendly industry and a huge number of tribal females are involved in it. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of study on occupational health in this sector. Our previous study showed that a large number of tribal females suffered from work-related musculoskeletal problems. The present study aimed at the development of low-cost ergonomic workstations for them. A low-cost prototype of a workstation was designed based on the ergonomic principle. The newly designed work station used by 50 female workers for two weeks and feedback was collected. The Body Part Discomfort (BPD) rating and working postures were evaluated by Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) methods. The ergonomic prototype was well accepted by them and a significant reduction in body discomfort rating during work was observed. The development of more prototypes and ergonomic evaluation is needed for the improvement of their quality of life of them.

This research article focuses on designing a scale-down version of CTC roller for small tea growers of Assam, India. The input capacity of the production unit is considered as per the production volume of the small tea growers. Field studies have been carried out in the tea gardens and factories of the state to have a first-hand understanding of the detailed manufacturing process of CTC tea. The existing unit of CTC Roller has been scaled down to a factor of 0.5. Both parent and scaled-down models are simulated; and stress, deformation, and temperature profiles are studied.

We present the dissolution characteristics of lac dye from lac resin. Lac samples of various mass M_L are agitated at various rates (ω) in different volumes of water (V_w) having various granule size (S_L) and the concentration of dye in water was measured as a function of time. We show that the remaining amount of lac dye in the lac samples reduce exponentially with time. Time for achieving 30% of the initial mass of the dye in the lac sample (t₃₀) is seen to decrease with increase in surface area of the lac (S_L), agitation rate (ω) and the volume of the water. We obtain a relation for t₃₀ as \(t_{30} \omega = f\left( \zeta \right)\) where \(\zeta = \frac{{C_{{\text{d}}_i } \rho_{\text{L}} S_{\text{L}} v_{\text{w}}^{1/3} }}{{M_{\text{L}} }}\) and \(f\left( \zeta \right)\) is an exponential function. This relation could now be used to design intervention strategies in the washing process to improve the process.

Pottery is one of the basic village industries, which had been sustaining the village economic since times immemorial. Large numbers of traditional potters are engaged in manufacturing traditional pottery products like earthen pots, pans, figurines, flower pots, garden pots, cook wares etc. Artisan pottery industry is as old as our civilization and legendry. The age of old traditional craft is found to be declining due to the lack of demand and hence the inadequate return. The industrial products out of metals, plastics etc. which are high quality attracted the public. The traditional pottery products users become less and hence less marketing of pottery products.

Technology entrepreneurs in rural areas are one of the important agents of rural development. They depend on technologies for processing raw materials, production of outputs and distribution of outputs to end-users. One of the sources of technologies is research labs based in academic institutions, government scientific agencies and non-governmental organizations. New Product Development (NPD) is the framework applied to the study of technology dissemination, which includes technology transfer, technology commercialization. However, this framework is limited because it does not include the different settings for the flow of technologies through the processes in NPD. Hence, metrics developed independently don’t adequately monitor and correct the processes. This paper presents an integrated framework with conditions and parameters for the measurement of the progress of processes and makes corrective actions.

Lac cultivation is the primary source of income for more than a million tribal families living in different states of India. Traditional lac cultivation methods involve extensive use of water for extracting different products, and the scarcity of water in the summer matches the harvesting season hindering value addition to the lac. Also, exposure to high temperatures and fumes during lac-processing is a health hazard. A safer, less water-requiring resin extraction process will thus help utilize the full livelihood potential in lac-permissive regions. Here we report a relatively less water-dependent process wherein crude lac was subjected to a sodium carbonate-based cascaded hot-wash process that softens the resin for easy removal of impurities and simultaneous removal of dissolved lac dye. Next, while the washed lac-resin is further extruded through cloth-filter for further purification, the lac dye (dissolved in wash discharge rich in sodium carbonate) was stirred with oxalic acid to retrieve the lac dye (laccaic acid). The solubility and purity of the lac resin were tested in isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and the solubility of the lac dye in water. Finally, a preliminary prototype for extruder-assembly is explored for the extraction of lac resin.

Historically, the surface water holding structures have been a primary water source for the people of Madurai, a South-Indian city in Tamil Nadu, India. Since the 1990s, the city has been experiencing rapid urbanization. The encroachment issues have started degrading the river Vaigai and system of water holding tanks called the Vandiyur tank cascade system (VTCS). Due to limited holistic hydrological understanding of the region, conservation efforts at VTCS have limited efficiency. To increase understanding of the regional hydrology, this study analyzed normal and actual annual rainfall for the district based on the 50 years of IMD data (1969–2018). The LULC change was studied using remote sensing images from 2002 to 2018. Results indicated that rainfall, with an average percentage departure of 22%, recorded an overall reduction of 11.2% during N–E monsoon and 10.6% during S–W monsoon. Using aerial imagery, a rapid increase in the urban catchments, up to 330%, and the curve number, up to 86%, was recorded in peri-urban and urban catchments. As a result of this, water availability in VTCS was observed to be highly fluctuating (5 to 100%). Field investigation further revealed that about 30 to 70% of the total volume of the tanks was occupied by the silt and muck deposited either from the upstream tanks or due to sewage discharge. Subsequently, the practice of tank-fed agriculture became limited to one season from previously two or three seasons. Reviving VTCS was the most pressing recommendation discussed that would possibly provide scope for holistic ground-surface water management.

The vast semi-arid Southern peninsular region of India is irrigated using a traditional surface water infrastructure called Tank Cascade Systems (TCS). The TCS is a common-property resource that was constructed about 2000 years ago and has been managed since then for generations using public-participatory approaches. Furthermore, the application of TCS is not only limited to irrigation but also domestic water supply, livestock management, retarding negative impacts from extreme events such as seasonal flooding and recurrent droughts. In addition, the indirect benefits of TCS in providing environmental services, being essentially controlling the micro-climatic conditions, are numerous. However, TCS has been degrading since the colonial rule due to limited TCS management. The policy on the rights to manage minor irrigation works (tank irrigation) lies in the hands of the estate continued even during the post-independence period. As a consequence, the rural economy and livelihood security, which was essentially dependent on TCS, collapsed. Nevertheless, since the 1980s, the Indian Government started realizing the significance of traditional TCS in the view of climate change, rapid urbanization, and demographic explosion. Several schemes and programs were launched in bilateral associations with local and foreign agencies including the World Bank. The evidence indicated that the policy interventions in regards to scientific revival and ecological restoration, and rehabilitation of tanks for providing substantial benefits to the stakeholders (farmers and local communities) are rational. Interventions for tank management are much-needed with a case-to-case approach rather than implementing the ideology of one model fits all.

In view of demand to design and promote a solution empowering farmers to preserve their crops, a low-cost cold storage unit was designed and developed by RuTAG, IIT Roorkee which could help farmers for better preservation of fruits and vegetables for a long period. In addition, the Himalayan region and mountain areas of the country are endowed with natural water falls, streams and rivers flowing down the hills. The present paper discusses the installation of a cold storage unit powered by Pico hydropower, installed in the remote area of Uttarakhand. It is observed that the wastage of locally grown fruits and vegetables due to non-existence of appropriate cold storage facilities vary from 10 to 50%. As a result, farmers sell most of their fruits and vegetables to the market immediately at low prices due to absence of proper storage and preserving facilities. In order to power the cold storage for local food processing, the hydro energy is good alternative source in rural mountains areas where large potential in water at small scale are available. Such Pico hydropower plants can be used to power a chain of cold storage units to develop the required facilities of storage for off-season vegetable and fruits. The integration of micro hydropower with cold storage is economically viable and feasible solution for un-electrified remote areas or villages. In view of above, a Pico hydropower-based cold storage unit is successfully installed and tested in the field and discussed in this paper.

Women in rural areas, tribal women especially cook on inefficient and hazardous cookstoves built in their homes. An inefficient cookstove adds to drudgery of lives of women and affects them socially, physically, and economically. Inefficient cookstoves produce harmful emissions, including particulate matter, soot and unburnt hydrocarbons leading to household air pollution causing premature deaths of children. Current work is an extension of thermo-chemical modeling by Honkalaskar et al. for cookstove. 9.57% energy of total heat input is transferred to cookstove wall body in cooking process. Cookstove efficiency can be increased by trapping and channelizing this energy to cooking pot using insulation technique. Steady-state analytical insulation modeling considers the thermal insulation on both sides of cookstove wall along with emissivity of inner material. Effects of insulation are further analyzed in detail on thermal performance parameters (Input Power, Thermal efficiency, Heat transfer coefficient, CO/CO₂ ratio, Excess air ratio, Wall temperature, Specific fuel consumption (SFC)), on normal cookstove, cookstove with grate and cookstove with twisted tape along with impact of continuously increasing insulation. Addition of insulation increases thermal efficiency of cookstove. For improving efficiency of cookstove, emissivity of inner insulating material should be minimum, insulation thickness of outer and inner material should be maximum and thermal conductivity of outer and inner material should be minimum. However, some thermal performance parameters impose limits on insulation thickness and thermal conductivity values. Thermal performance parameters show variation in behavior (have increasing, decreasing and optimum value nature) on changing insulation parameters.

Though sanitation was given importance since early Harrapan civilizations, in recent times, India is struggling to become an open defecation-free (ODF) country. This paper systematically reviews the philosophical shift in independent India’s sanitation policies and creates a timeline of these events. During 1947- 1980, water and sanitation programs were launched together with 244 urban water supply (WS) schemes, 65 urban sewerage schemes, and 228 rural WS schemes being sanctioned. However, it is very clear from the ratio of sanitation schemes to water schemes that WS coverage has been given more importance than sanitation. This period can be considered as the “water supply coverage era” as also the stationary phase of Indian rural sanitation. During 1981–2008, realizing the importance of sanitation in the development of India, separate schemes for sanitation were launched. Massive subsidies were provided by the Government of India (GoI) for the eradication of open defecation (OD), and this period can be referred to as “eradication of OD era”, also as the lag phase of Indian rural sanitation. Though GoI tried to subsidize the toilet construction cost, 74% rural India still follows OD as per WHO report (2006). To catch up with the MDGs, from 2008, GoI focused on the construction of toilets all over India, and 2008–2019 can be referred to as the “sanitation coverage era” which can also be called as the exponential phase of Indian rural sanitation. This review concludes that there is a need for a paradigm shift required from the construction of toilets to sustainable sanitation chain management in India.

Migration from rural to urban areas is one of the main problems in India. To tackle this problem, the GoI introduced Rurban Mission in 2016, aiming to create 300 Rurban clusters in three phases by providing support through scheme convergence and critical gap funding to the potential regions in Rural India. This study is based on evaluating this scheme, identifying flaws at each step and exploring the scope for intervention. Thus, it helps prepare a robust regional development plan by addressing the limitations in further implementation of the scheme. As a part of the evaluation, the proceedings in cluster categorization, selection, funding and ICAP preparation were inspected and corresponding confounding factors were pointed out. A comparison between six ICAPs from Maharashtra unveiled that all clusters are not alike in needs and preferences. The spatial analysis of 296 Rurban clusters showed up a peculiar pattern in tribal clusters’ distribution extending in India’s central part. Since this pattern was similar to that of scheduled tribal districts in India, tribal clusters’ locations were overlaid with scheduled districts on the map and found that 68% of the tribal clusters were in scheduled tribal districts which is an additional advantage for tribal districts. This study brought out significant insights and suggests adopting a separate classification rather than following the age-old articles, giving more freedom to the states in cluster selection rather than promoting government schemes, considering more relevant factors than population alone and increasing the fund for tribal clusters development.

The problem of municipal solid waste treatment and disposal is increasing day by day in rural areas due to the surging levels of solid waste which is attributed to the population increase, growing consumerism, changing lifestyles, etc. Due to the rising health and environmental concerns, there is a need to treat this municipal solid waste in a responsible manner. A large number of solid waste treatment options are available for decision-makers to choose from however the selection of an appropriate solid waste treatment method for a particular area is a challenging task as it requires trade-off between a pool of economic, environmental, social, and technical criteria. In recent decades, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) has emerged as a convenient tool to address such challenging decision-making problems. This paper highlights the application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision-making technique, in the selection of the most suitable solid waste treatment method in the context of rural areas. Three alternatives viz. Anaerobic Digestion, Vermicomposting, and Windrow Composting are evaluated against 10 criteria to obtain the priorities of the alternatives. In AHP, the final priorities of alternatives can be synthesized in two different modes: Distributive mode and Ideal mode. In this paper also, both the modes have been used and their results are compared. In both the modes, Anaerobic Digestion emerged as the most appropriate solid waste treatment method for the selected study area. To check the robustness of the results obtained, a sensitivity analysis has also been performed by adopting a scenario-based approach.