R&D CENTRE FOR ORGANIC FARMING AT MAVAL

Pune : The organic farming movement, which is still at a nascent stage in the country, will get a big boost with Asia’s first research and development centre for organic farming coming up at Maval, about 50 km from here.

Work on the centre is already underway, but it will take at least another year to start functioning.

At present there are only about three such institutes in the world in the US, in South Africa and in the UK.

The centre, to be funded by the International Institute of Sustainable Agriculture (IISA), will be run jointly by city based Maharashtra Organic Farming Federation (MOFF), V.B. Foundation, an NGO, and the Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI).

The 55-acre research centre will also have a training institute, records office, library, lobby office as well as a certification office for participatory guarantee scheme.

“The training institute will also offer certificate, diploma and post-graduate courses in organic farming,” said MOFF vice-chairman Dilip Baradkar. “The courses will focus on farmers who want to shift to organic farming courses for upgrading knowledge of organic farmers, courses for upgrading knowledge of organic farmers, trainers courses for trainers, awareness sessions for consumer groups, and training for school children for introduction of organic kitchen garden.”

SWATI SHINDE, 6-05-2008

When a Portable toilet is a precious gift!

What qualifies as the perfect marriage gift? Jewellery, dress, diamonds or a luxurious car? None of the above, feels Savitri Mane, who has decided to give her niece the most ‘precious’ gift of all – a portable toilet.
Katraj-resident Savitri’s niece Raksha is marrying a youth from Bhor this week. When Raksha’s parents noticed that the groom’s house does not have a toilet, they decided to gift the bride one.
“It has become a trend nowadays to buy portable toilets as gifts. The demand is on the rise this reason. Parents, whose daughters are marrying rural youths, have added a portable toilet to their list of gifts offered to the groom,” said Ramdas Mane of Mane Industries in Bhosari. His firm has received orders for more than 1,000 toilets in the past few days. “Already, we have provided 2,500 toilets in 200 villages in Pune, Satara and Kolhapur,” he said. Many other small firms are in the portable toilet business and share Mane’s experience.
“Girls these days refuse to accept a groom whose house does not have a toilet. Even low-income families in city have toilets. But even some rich families in villages feel that a toilet is unnecessary,” said Ramesh Sonawane, who has gifted his daughter one. These toilets cost between Rs 7,000 and Rs 12,000, depending on the quality.
These toilets come with ready-made RCC walls and a sceptic tank which could be carried easily. While the tank is ideally placed by digging a hole, it takes hardly two hours to fix the walls.
“Basically, girls from urban areas are not willing to marry into rural families. A girl from the police lines in Pune was married in Sangli and had to suffer a lot because there was no toilet facility,” said Pratima Joshi of Shelter Associates. She added that city girls make sure that these basic amenities are available in their in-laws’ houses before getting married.
“When my uncle asked about the marriage gift, I suggested a portable toilet. As a new bride I would not be in a position to ask my in-laws to construct a toilet at their place. So while leaving Pune, I will carry my toilet,” said Ekta Tare, who is getting married to a youth from Khatav In Satara.
The government is also taking initiative in providing low-cost toilets. In Satara district, the zilla parishad has developed a model of low-cost toilet. “The response has been good. Even people from Pune have approached us. Many villages have decided that girls from their village will marry only to those boys whose house has toilet facility,” said Irshad Bagwan, information and communication officer in Satara.

Courtesy: Times of India Pune, 3-5-08

Prabhakar Wawge brings solar energy to every home

Energy conservation is the ‘in’ thing today, but using alternative methods are not easy. Keeping this in mind , a city-based researcher has acquired a patent for his innovation which promises to bring solar energy to every home.
Conventional solar heating systems use large space and have to be placed on open premises only. But Prabhakar Wawge, a renewable energy engineer and consultant, has invented a solar collector which can be used in multi-storied buildings without using the terrace area. That means any flat owner can install and utilize this system in whatever place is available.
Describing the system Wawge states, “This system reduces the cost by Rs. 300-3500 in comparison with a normal solar system. It can also be used as a wall integrated solar collector and does not require any pumping mechanism for circulation.” Wawge has recently received the patent from the Government of India, for which he has applied in September 2005.
According to Wawge,”Even though people have funds to install solar systems, bad aesthetics and lack of space do not allow them to do so. However, this system, which is basically a flat plate collector system, can be integrated in the wall. It has been devised keeping in view seasonal changes and the path of the sun for the whole year.
Incidently, Wawge approached MEDA so they could exploit his invention, however authorities asked him to approach private companies which Wawge refused.

Courtesy: Pune Mirror, May 2, 2008

SOLAR ENERGY FOR ENDING WATER WOES OF RURAL FOLKS

If the mission of a Pune-based private firm bears fruit, three villages may get over the water shortage and will soon see filtered drinking water flowing through their taps.
Aar-em Electronics Pvt.Ltd, makers of Champion UPS, is all set to go ahead with the goodwill gesture once the technology, which uses solar energy to pump water from wells gets ready.
“The firm will be using membrane filter developed by National Chemical Laboratory and already got in touch with manufacturers of the membrane filter. Water is cleaned of viruses and bacteria while passing through the membrane, which was developed by NCL’s polymer division. The membrane allows only tiniest of molecules to pass through it. NCL’s membrane filter, which received a US patent last year, works on gravity.
The success story of Mohri, a village situated about 100km from Pune, where the firm put an end to the 60-year-old electricity blackout by installing equipment that works on solar energy gives them the backing.
Once the firm succeeds in providing light and water to three villages (using solar energy), they plan to get in touch with the Maharashtra Government in order to replicate their Pune model across the State.

Courtesy: INDIAN EXPRESS, apri,16th 2008

This charka can light up bulb and radio!

Now, you can spin the yarn, and through that, listen to the radio and do some reading as well. This is thanks to rural development minister G Chinna Reddy on Friday launching e-charka, an electric improvisation over what was made famous by Mahatma Gandhi.

Attached with a specially-designed portable generator, the e-charka can help a person earn his livelihood by spinning yarn or handloom. In addition, thanks to the attached generator, the person gets seven hours of electricity which will enable him to listen to a transistor and afford one light bulb.

Speaking to the media after the launch, the minister said the e-charka has been developed by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission in association with a Bangalore-based company and that it would enable the spinner living in the hinterland to spin yarn and earn anything between Rs 15 and Rs 60 depending on the size of the charka.

There are four variants, from two spindle to eight spindle e-charkas.

The base model of the two spindle charka costs Rs 5000.

The KVIC would buy the yarn from the spinners, the minister said. The government would also examine the possibility of giving subsidy for the financially weaker sections to buy the charka.

This could provide additional source of income particularly for the beedi rollers which mostly consists of women mainly from the Telangana region. With the danger symbols on beedi packets becoming mandatory, the beedi rollers fear that they may soon be out of job and this charka could come handy for them.

Since the two and four spindle charkas are easy to operate, even women and children can spin it and contribute to the family income, he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/This_charka_can_light_up_bulb_radio/articleshow/2962714.cms

Mohri Village lights up with solar energy

Till recently, the villagers of Mohri 100 kms from Pune in Velhe taluka used kerosene lamps. But today, the village is the proud advocate of solar energy. Mohri is a sleepy hamlet with 25 houses belonging to shepherds, woodcutters and small farmers.

Ranjit Mohite, a Pune-based UPS manufacturer, on 18th March installed two KED (light-emiting diode) lamps in the homes, along with solar streetlamps for the entire village. Today the village is 100 per cent powered. Having used polluting kerosene lamps all this while, the villagers are now getting used to the new power, self-financed by Mohite at a budget of Rs. 4 lakhs. Each home now has two solar lamps, support by a solar panel and a battery, which are used for two hours in the day and for five hours every night.

LED bulbs last 10 times more a compared to conventional compact fluroscents (CFLs) and 50 to 100 times longer than typical incandescent lamp or bulbs in everyday situations.

Courtesy: Maharashtra Herald Pune

Mahajane villagers tap biodiesel alternative

When it comes to using ecofriendly energy, the residents of Mahajane village in Raigad district have shown the way. They use karanj oil to operate tractors and machines and save on fossil fuels.
Pune-based Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) has begun a project in which oil is extracted form karanj (Pongamia pinnata) seeds to help meet the energy requirements, provide employment and increase the income of the 800-odd villagers in Mahajane.

It is one of 17 projects in the world and one of the three projects in India funded by the World Bank to generate biofuel to improve rural energy services and reduce proverty.

Speaking to TOI, deputy director and project-in-charge, Jayant Sarnaik, said that Mahajane had been chosen since it has the highest density of karanj trees. The seeds yield 25 to 30 per cent oil.

AERF has set up an oil-extracting machine at a cost of around Rs 1.5 lakh in a two-room house in the village. The machine has the capacity to crush 20 kg of seeds per hour. Two village youths, Manoj Avachatkar and Devidas Patil, have been trained to operate the machine.

Sarnaik said that the seeds are bought at the price of Rs 6 per kilo while the oil is to be sold at Rs 30 per litre and oilcake at Rs 9 per kg to villagers and Rs 10 per kg to outsiders. “The oil needs to be filtered and heated to 60 or 65 degrees Celsius to make it thinner, so that it can be used as fuel in vehicles,” he explained.

Elaborating on the uses of the oil, Sarnaik said that it can be used to run tractors, powertillers, flour mills and vehicles, The Mahajane villagers have tested and reported that a 5 HP engine operated on one litre of biodiesel functioned for 15 minutes longer than one operated on diesel. He said that within a year, the use of biodiesel is expected to go up in the village once they start getting a larger quantity of seeds. Resort owners in Nagaon Akshi, located nearby, have shown a willingness to use the oil in gensets if it is provided at a lower price than diesel. “The oil could be also used to run a genset for the village to generate power during load-shedding”, Sarnaik stated.

Courtesy: Times of India, June 28, 2007

LIVING ARCHITECTURE FOR URBAN SPACES

Architecture is not just the index of civilisation, but also a celebration of life, says noted architect and planner Christopher Charles Benninger, based in Pune

Benninger's focus has been on "the Middle Path in Buddhism", the balance between humans and nature and between the built fabric and its natural terrain. Using INTELLIGENT URBANISM, Benninger tries to find a balance between humans and nature in his designs

In 1968, Benninger, an alumnus of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Urban Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first came to India on a Fulbright scholarship. Three years later, this disciple of Spain's Jose Luis Sert and a former member of the Delos think-tank on modern social and urban planning returned to India as a Ford Foundation consultant to set up the School of Urban Planning at Ahmedabad. But this time around, he was here for good.

For Benninger, moving to India has spelt liberation from various "forms of entrapment". Being in America and Europe, he notes, would only have dissolved him in a mob goaded in "one, pre-defined right direction" by media, money, fame and a smothering sense of self-importance. "America is great because you can pretend to be what you aren't, but India is great because you can find yourself and be what you are."

Self-imposed exile
For well over 35 years since then, this American has lived and worked in a "self-imposed exile" in India, conceiving award-winning designs for institutions, residential schools, hotels, corporate offices and large-scale housing projects, preparing plans for the governments of Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, and advising the World Bank, UNO and Asian Development Bank on development projects in Asia and Africa.

In Pune, among some of his works are the Mahindra World College and the Centre for Planning and Architecture, both of which have used traditional Marathi wada styles of achictecture

As an architect, much like a cinematographer, Benninger programmes human experiences of moving through the spaces he designs. Informing this preconceived "kinetic architecture" are real people who transform these spaces into "places", imbuing them with life and meaning.

What fascinates Benninger about Indian architecture is its vacillating context defined by the happenings within, a far cry from "the dull, fixed images of packaged consumer items" that pass off as architecture in the West. He makes no secret of his dismay, and surprise, at the Indian awe of Western "stunts parading as architecture" that he equates with children screaming for attention. To qualify as true architecture, a structure, he believes, must span the continuum of time. "What are more interesting are the precursors to the events that give shape to the form, and the impact of the forms on future events."

To Benninger, the very chaos, uncertainties and contradictions that fetch Indian cities generous disparagement are indeed the "raw material of creativity and free thought". "While everyone has heard of Newark or New Jersey where there is no soul, no life and just empty shells and lost memories, Indian cities represent the dynamism and energy that thrive out on the periphery of the global system." This is perhaps why he is pained to see India redefine itself based on "consumption and the false sense of personal power it engenders".


Compiled from HARSH KABRA , Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 16, 2006

DR PATHAK’S BIOGAS PLANTS GIVE DIGNITY TO UNTOUCHABLES

Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh International, has been conferred this year’s Energy Globe Award. Dr. Pathak is the leader of a national crusade for restoration of human rights and dignity to millions of scavengers traditionally known as untouchables by providing safe and hygienic human waste disposal system. This is a multipronged effort to bringing scavengers into the mainstream of national life and has taken the shape of a movement for social justice. He is now an internationally acclaim medical expert on sanitation and has developed and implemented on pan-Indian scale a low cost and appropriate toilet technolgy recommended by UN bodies for about three billion people across the globe.

The widespread phenomenon of open defecation remains grim even after 50 years of independence. Especially women have to suffer a lot due to non-availability of toilets. Even today 110 million Indian houses have no toilets and 10 million Indian houses have bucket toilets causing filth and disease. The situation is so appalling that about half million children die every year due to dehydration caused by open defecation.


Dr. Pathak is probably the first person in the world who has promoted on a massive scale, the idea of obtaining biogas from human excreta collected in large-sized public toilets used by 2000n to 5000 persons a day. It has been amply demonstrated by him that in the absence of sewerage facility, the best option for human waste disposal to be used in conjunction with large public toilets, is the biogas plant. It has the added advantage of being a source of renewable energy which is lacking in the septic tank system. Another first to Dr. Pathak’s credit is the granulated organic manure obtained from the dried sludge of biogas plants.


After Gandhi, Dr Pathak is the man who has championed sanitation and upliftment of the untouchables. For the last three decades Pathak has been working relentlessly to keep the ecosystem clean and bring the marginalized sections of the society in the mainstream. He has given a new dimension to the Gandhian movement and broad-based his principled fight against all kinds of discrimination. He knew that slogans alone will not help and hence developed a technology which has become a credible alternative to toilets.


Courtesy Maharashtra Herald, December 20, 2006

CHEAP ETHANOL STOVE FOR VILLAGES DESIGNED BY SATARA ENGINEER

Anil K Rajvanshi, a Phaltan-based IITian, who has devoted his life to addressing the energy needs of rural India, has developed an innovative stove and a lamp that works on locally made “low concentration ethanol”. This fuel is much cheaper than kerosene and has distinct advantages over biogas which requires bulky equipment for gas production.

Rajvanshi, who heads the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) at Phaltan in Satara, received the 2001 Jamnalal Bajaj foundation for the use of science and technology in rural development. His institute has pioneered a number of initiatives in agriculture, renweable energy, animal husbandry and sustainable development.

The large scale production of this fuel in rural areas, through simple distillation of any sugary biomass as sugarcane or sweet sorghum, would not only provide a very safe and efficient cooking fuel but also go a long way to reducing the hardship of women who use firewood, biomass or kerosene for cooking. Some women who cook on kerosene stove said this stove is much better than the kerosene stove because it is completely silent and no smell comes out after extinguishing it. Some of them also felt that it is much safer than kerosene stove since it requires much les pumping.

While the stove could be mass-produced for Rs. 800-1000, low concentration ethanol could be produced around Rs 16 per litre which is highly affordable as compared to Rs.25 liter for kerorene or Rs.310 per cyclinder for LPG.


There is a need to change government policies so that low grade ethanol can be made available as a cooking and lighting fuel for household purposes. It will not only improve the quality of life for the rural population but also help in creating wealth in these areas.

Courtesy Times of India Dec 2006

PUNE DRAFT LAW TO EXPLOIT RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

Pune based World Institute of Sustainable Energy WISE has prepared a draft law to exploit renewable energy resources. Among some of the provisions of this law are:
Mandatory solar water heating by 2012
Solar lighting in govt. buildings by 2010
Captive diesel plants to be converted to bio-fuel
Trade of renewable energy certificates between states
Renewable transport fuel obligations for oil companies
Policy of automotive bio-fuel expected in six months
Energy efficiency programme for railroad and air traffic

The draft law does not put any financial burden on state governments and no subsidies have been proposed. It recommended the setting up a separate fund for encouraging renewable energy sources. Inorder to facilitate effecting enforcement of the law, several existing laws such as the Boiler Act, Motor Vehicles Act and the Environment Protection Acts would need to be ammended. This draft law if passed will be a roadmap for a new independence in energy resources.

DR KARVE'S SMOKELESS CHULHAS HELP BACKYARD VILLAGES

Dr. Priyadarshini Karve , a local college teacher has been awarded the prestigious World Technology Network WTN Award 2005 for her innovate smokeless chulhas which she designed with the local NGO ARTI Pune. Charcoal is made by burning agricultural waste in an oxygenless condition and then crushing the charred remains into a fine poweer. The fine powder is then compressed into small cubes, which are fed for the specially designed chulhas designed for optimum combustion. This way the harmful affects of indoor pollution which claims lives of more than five lakh children and women in India is prevented. Dr. Karve has also been involved in designing a special cement kiln which burns wood efficiently thus not producing smoke. ARTI has sold more than 50,000 of such chulhas in the villages and in the last two years, it has trained nearly 140 articsans from villages to mass produce these smokeless kilns.

Courtesy Indian Express Pune

MEDA PUNE'S RS.5 CRORE BIO-DIESEL PARK AT TATHWADE

The Maharashtra Energy Development Agency MEDA is planning to set up a biodiesel park – the first of its kind in Asia at Tathwade Dairy. The 100 acre park will comprise a research laboratory as well as a plantation area for different species of oil producting plants like jatropa, karanja and castor. The park will be used for research, publicity and training of farmers on bio-diesel. MEDA is also working out plans to counter the energy crisis plaguing the State. Starting 2006, 240 villages are to be electrified through solar energy. Currently 600 MW wind energy is being produced through windmills and an addition 600 MW wind energy is to be added by March 2006 in Brahmangaon in Dhule district.

Courtesy Indian Express

PUNE COMPANY TO SUPPLY BIODIESEL THROUGH MOBILE VANS

Shirke Biohealtare, a private Pune company, has started supplying 5000 litres of biodiesel through mobile vans in different areas of the city. The company has entered into an agreement under contract farming arrangements, with the Bank of Maharashtra and farmers for promoting cultivation of Jatropha the seeds of which are used for producing the biodiesel. Biodesel is available at the same price as diesel but provides 14 percent more mileage than diesel. The refinery capacity of the company is being increased to 50,000 litres per day for which it needs 1 lakh hectare Jatropha cultivation. Loans are provided to farmers at competitive rates for Jatropha cultivation. The company also wants to promote the cultivation of other plants that can yield biodiesel.

Courtesy Maharashtra Herald Pune

ARTI PUNE BIOGAS ALTERNATIVE TO LPG

Biogas has see many changes with voluntary organizations and environmental groups developing indigenous units to make the technology urban in outlook and use. Pune’s Appropriate Rural Technology Initiative ARTI has developed a compact unit that is made of plastic and is as big as a refrigerator. It comes in two variants of 500 litres and 750 litres. The initial cost of the apparatus is between Rs.6000 and Rs.7000. Dr. Anand Karve, chief functionary of ARTI says that family kitchen waste of even rotten fruits, potato peels or spoilt milt, produces far more methane. A family spends Rs.10 a day on LPG and this can be brought down by bio-gas. Space may be the only major hitch when it comes to erecting a bio-gas plant for a housing society of 200 families.

Few other NGOs in Pune like Jnana Probhodini and BAIf are also working on the concept.

Courtesy Maharashtra Herald Pune