22nd SHODHYATRA

The Call from Champaran

We saw in this ShodhYatra one of the most beautiful etchings on a grain bin, a young student who represented
his ideas at international platform, innovators who had solved problems of pollution, drudgery, transportation,
etc., and met traditional knowledge holders who shared their knowledge generously. The 22nd Shodhyatra started
from Motihari on 29thDecember, 2008 and concluded in Lauria on 3rd January, 2009. A question still remained
unanswered. Why did not this place transform economically for so long?

C
hamparan has a special place in the
history of the country because Gandhi
perfected the instrument of Satyagrah
here in 1917 after lessening the exploitation of
indigo farmers within six months. This experience
eventually led to the call for full freedom in 1929.
When Shri Raj Kumar Shukla and others invited
him to study the problems of indigo cultivators,
Gandhi may not have anticipated the degree of
exploitation. The tragedy is that even after 60 years
of independence, the exploitation of the poor has
not ended significantly. The wage rates are
extremely low and economic opportunities are
very limited. And yet, the knowledge system is
very rich. Even before the ShodhYatra formally
began on 29th Dec 2008, the learning exploration
started on 28th night itself. Shri Birendra Kumar
Sinha had invented a silencer cum pollution control
device. Shri Rozadin had developed a very
ingenious coffee-making machine (see
accompanying box on innovations encountered
during the ShodhYatra).
Homage to Gandhi
One of the questions raised in the inaugural session
near Gandhi memorial was, “why do we need
ShodhYatra, shouldn’t such creative people have
been known to people not only in every village
but also everywhere else ?” There
was no satisfactory answer to this
question. One could blame it on the
prevalent mindset, colonial history, post-
colonial obsession with exogenous
models of development or just the inertia
among the developmental practitioners.
After paying homage to Gandhi, we
started the walk. Many old time
Gandhians bemoaned the fact that
Motihari never got the place in Indian
history as it deserved. Paintings of a
young boy, Santosh in Banjaria
Santosh
village, left everybody spellbound. He
expressed his artistic talent in a wide
range of ways.
Just before leaving for the next
village, suddenly there was an
extraordinary sight in front of us. A
circular grain bin made of clay outside
one of the houses had extraordinary
art work all around on the surface.
We inquired about the artist and thus
discovered Smt Ram Tiwari Devi,
Chailaha village, who had made the
three dimensional artwork on the
grain bin (khop).
She had learnt this art from her mother
and felt that it was the only way she
knew making a grain bin. When art
becomes the only alternative,
creativity achieves its purpose. For
the rest of the journey, we kept on
looking for similar designs, and did
find nice paintings and sketches. But,
we could not find even one more bin
with similar three-dimensional or
embossed artwork. For more than
100 km, not one replication of the
design (though some variations of less
complex designs were indeed seen)
was encountered. Did she know how
distinctive she was? Would the
planners and thinkers consider
learning about humility from such
artist for whom the workspace is co-

Artisan or an Artist

Can't do it any other way! Ramtiwari Devi, Champaran, 22nd ShodhYatra, Bihar

Honey Bee Vol 20(1) January - March 2009

4 A Dialogue on People’s Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation
terminus with life and art space, amidst all the
struggles for survival? Readers may recall a similar
artwork in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, on a roadside
dung cake heap, and on a wall of a hut in Purulia,
West Bengal. Every time we witness such
signatures of women’s creativity manifested in
the spaces accessible to them, we become
conscious of what could have been the potential
if they had been given better institutional space
instead of only domestic space.
After crossing Ajgari village, we took lunch at
Gokhula and passed through a site where there
was a memorial known as Battakh Miya ki Majar,
Mohamedpur. Battakh Miya was a freedom fighter
long forgotten, only recently remembered. Here
the yatris met Shri Karmoola Khan, 60, who was
a local healer and used to give medicine for
pyorrhoea and many other ailments including
sprains, stomach ache, etc. Just consuming black
pepper (Piper nigrum L.) for a month everyday
in the morning was supposed to help in the sciatica
pain. While passing through Siswaniya, Gobari
and Mokhalishpur, we showed innovations from
other parts of the country on a laptop with both
sided screen developed by Dr Janardhan Reddy
and Shri Narayan of Chennai. We stayed at Bhela
Chhepra Primary School. From there, we
proceeded to Semra. At Chapra Bahas, a freedom
fighter Shri Baidnath Prasad sang a patriotic song
and shared his knowledge of herbal medicine.
After facilitating him, ShodhYatris facilitated
another freedom fighter, Janab Sheikh Yusuf at
his house.
At Sugauli, there was a recipe competition among
school children and also a small function
organised to honour local healers and innovators.
Just a canvas or a ploy to arrest the onlooker's attention!
Smt Bhabhi Mahato, Purulia, 20th ShodhYatra, West Bengal
Honey Bee Vol 20(1) January - March 2009
When did you last think of a new idea ?
We stopped by at the house of Shri
Pramod Stephen who had been
serving the local communities
through traditional medicine. On the
way to Madhopur Krishi Vigyan
Kendra, we came across several
interesting innovations and depressing
sites of closed down sugar mills. A
young boy, Abhay Kumar Yadav, class
VII of Sripur chowk had made an
electro magnetic collector of metallic
pieces from the waste/compost so
that these pieces did not reach the
field and hurt the animals. Shri
Stephen carried a flag all along the
Abhay Kumar Yadav
yatra with a slogan, ‘‘Neeche dharti
upar akash, beech se nikle gyan ka
prakash” (a blue sky above the earth,
the light of knowledge emanates in
between). On the way to Jaukhatiya,
we observed two labourers cutting
dried palm tree trunk on a makeshift
stand. This was an interesting design
which most yatris had not seen
before. One of the yatris had a pain
in his leg and a herbal healer, Shri
Ganesh Baitha came to rescue. After
he suggested the medicine, yatris
Coating dung cakes with designs and dreams! Anonymous,
Baghpat, 18th ShodhYatra, Western Uttar Pradesh
asked him as to how did he learn it in
the first place? Shri Ganesh replied
poetically, Kekra se kahal bekar ba,
murkh koi naikhe sabe hoshiyar ba
(What to say to whom, nobody is
foolish, everybody is intelligent).
Later, at Motilal High School,
Manjhwaliya and Primary School at
Mahodipur, interesting discussion
took place about how to generate
local solutions using biodiversity in
the region. Example of a lesson learnt
in Kutch, Gujarat was narrated where
a farmer after listening to the
importance of herbal pesticides,
summarized his understanding as: “all
plants which were not eaten by
animals could be a source of herbal
pesticide”. Farmers found such an
insight very practical and worth
trying. The erosion of knowledge
due to weakening of the ties between
grandparents and grand children was
also discussed. After reaching Shri
Bipin High School, Bettiah, late in the
night, most yatris were very tired. But
some wanted to celebrate the dawn
of New Year. Next day was very
5
 insightful pressure cooker and machine for
because cutting & cleaning vegetables were
s e v e r a l suggested by Ramu Kumar.
innovators
such as At the next stop, ShodhYatris relished
Nishant, several local recipes such as guma
Sandeep, ka sag, gular ka halwa, and mahua
Meraz , Janki ka halwa. Guma [Leucas aspera
Devi and (Willd.) Link.] is a plant that was
o t h e r found along the road side in the
knowledge depressions almost all along the
h o l d e r s ShodhYatra route. Its leaves were
Shri Ganesh Baitha
joined the reported to have pain relieving effect
Yatra. On the way to Ranipur we also stayed for and its roots were helpful in
a few minutes at the ancient temple of Kalimata. toothache. Plants like these can
When we reached Bunyadi Vidyalaya, Ranipur, the become the anchor of local
students and teachers had organized a very knowledge based enterprises. Given
elaborate function. This was the first Bunyadi its widespread presence, there is a
Vidyalaya set up by Gandhiji after a six-day national very little chance that poor people will
conclave organized at Vrindavan village in 1939. be excluded from accessing it.
A memorial had been built viz., Prerna Kuti,
maintained since then by Shri Mathura Bhagat. The visit to Shaheed Chowk, Bettiah
was a memorable one. During the
One of the Nav Nirman movement of Jai Prakash
highlights of the Narayan, several youth activists were
function at the killed in police action. This memorial
B u n y a d i is built in their memory. All Yatris
Vidyalaya was a were received by Meraz here and then
speech by Rohit introduced to his young team trying
Kumar Mishra, a to bring about an educational
class 11 student transformation.
Shri Mathura Bhagat
who had
represented his While Shri Sinha’s pollution control
village in an international youth festival in Norway. device was bigger in size, Shri
After the function, all the yatris visited Prerna Nandeshwar Sharma has designed
Kuti and listened to the interesting anecdotes a compact silencer cum pollution
about Gandhiji from Shri Mathura Bhagat. control device similar to an exhaust
pipe of a two wheeler. On the last
It was already late in the evening, but Shri AS day, after passing through Padri,
Prakasha Rao, principal of Jawahar Navodaya Kudwa Mathiya, we reached
Vidyalaya was very responsive and had invited Marahia. There were some labourers
400 students to interact with the ShodhYatris. who were watching us from a
Vishwa Bharti won the first prize for an idea of distance and whose confidence we
egg shell breaking machine. Ideas about a modified could not win enough to get them
Meeting with the innovators & villagers Meeting at the Bunyadi Vidyalaya
Honey Bee Vol 20(1) January - March 2009
6 A Dialogue on People’s Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation
Guma
to join us. On the way to Lauria,
the last stop, we halted at
Nandangarh fort and a Buddhist
Stupa. The marvel of 2000 year old
technologies, particularly of brick
laying and architecture were visible
before our eyes. The local villagers
showed us how people at that time
mixed pulses and some other grains
in the clay while baking the
bricks. Isn’t it ironic that a
technology which has stood the test
of the time for 2000 years is still
waiting for recognition and formal
assimilation in the modern science,
technology and institutional
structures?
A question remained unanswered.
Why the call of freedom from
poverty, exploitation and domination,
given by the Father of Nation so long
ago was not really answered properly
in all these years? Economic freedom
is something that still remains to be
achieved by a large majority. May be
this walk will imbue in us, a
determination to persist with the
missions of finding self-reliant,
decentralized entrepreneurial
alternatives based on local
knowledge, resources, and
institutions.
Learning through Motibhai's puppets

Yatra of Innovations
T
he Champaran ShodhYatra was
interspersed with pleasant discoveries of
innovations; most of them were born out
of compassion to assuage the sufferings around.
Silencer cum Pollution Control Device
Birendra Sinha, had a school right
opposite to his workshop where
he made steel doors, fencing and
other materials. He used a diesel
genset (generator coupled with
stationary engine) of 15 hp as an
alternative to the erratic electricity
supply. The problem was that the genset made a
lot of noise, released considerable smoke causing
pollution and also disturbed the children. Neither
the school nor the workshop could be moved
away. But empathizing with the difficulty of the
children, Birendra did what most users of diesel
engine had not even
attempted. He
invented a silencer
cum pollution
control device
which has a hole in the cover of the cooker. One
number of fins.
The exhaust gases
strike against them
continuously while
passing through this innovative attachment. In
about six to eight months, it collects 12 to 14 kg
of carbon, which can be easily taken out by beating
the cylinder from outside. The smoke which
comes out eventually is very clean and leaves no
trace of carbon on the leaves of the tree growing
nearby or in the atmosphere. The noise also
reduced considerably and both the workshop and
school could co-exist. The court judgment against
him in response to the protest by neighbours had
also forced him to develop this device, apart from
his compassion towards the children and the
environment. NIF has got it tested by BIT Mesra
and they found about 30 % reduction in carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide emission and a
drastic reduction in the temperature of exhaust
gases. This innovation is all set to change the
emission standards for engines. NIF has filed the
patent (1520/KOL/2008) in the name of Birendra
Kumar Sinha for his outstanding innovation. A
large number of workshop mechanics use such
Honey Bee Vol 20(1) January - March 2009
When did you last confess to your children that you did not know the answer to their question?
engines which create both noise and
air pollution and yet there are not
many examples of such devices.
Akasi from Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu had
developed one such device way back
in 2000 and was awarded in the first
annual grassroots innovation award
function of NIF in 2001. There is a
need to pool such expertise and help
in developing a real competitive
technology by engaging experts in
this field.
Coffee-making Machine
S h o d h Ya t r i s
observed a very
ingenious coffee-
making machine
innovated by
Mohammed
Rozadin. A
pressure cooker
had been modified by attaching a
valve and a copper pipe in a separate
could release the steam to make
coffee. Unlike the big coffee-making
machine, which required electricity job during the weekdays. Sandeep
for powering it, this one could work desires to license this technology to
on stove or any source of fire. In a some entrepreneur. Anyone listening!
few hundred rupees, one could enjoy
cappuccino/espresso coffee. Even if
such a device existed elsewhere,
none of the ShodhYatris had seen it
ever before. More than a 100 tea
shack owners are grateful to
Mohammed Rozadin for
supplementing their income with his
coffee making attachment.
SHODHYATRA
Folding Bicycle
Sandeep, another
innovator had
innovated a folding
bicycle which can
be assembled in a
few minutes. His
feat was significant as he could
achieve it despite his physical
handicap. The quality of finishing of
his folding cycle was extremely good.
He got it fabricated by sitting with local
workshop mechanics for hours on
weekends, since he was busy with his
Electronic Mouse Trap
Meraz, a young innovator
demonstrated his innovations like
electronic mousetrap, magnetic
balance, clock for displaying minutes
and seconds, AC/DC mobile charger,
etc. The mousestrap not only captures
mice but also produces audio signal
after capturing. It is an electronic
machine, which works on 6V battery.
It is made up of wooden block, inside
which there is an iron plate at the end
and is connected with a circuit through
a switch. A piece of bread kept
beneath the plate disconnects the
circuit, which is completed when the
rat pulls the bread. The shutter of the
box closes within a second with audio
7
signal. He also has made zig-zag path inside the
box so the rat cannot escape out easily. His lines
inspired everybody:
“Jo gyan samasyaon ka samadhan kare wahi
vigyan hai, suvigyan hai tatha adhunik yug ke
vikas ka mantra hai. Pratyek vyakti vaigyanik
hai aur uski pratham khoj hai- apne bhitar
chhupe guno ko khojana, nikharana” (Knowledge
that solves problems of others is good science
and a key to development. Every man is a scientist
and his first discovery is to look for his virtues
within and augment them.)
Silencer cum Pollution Control Device
Shri Nandeshwar Sharma
has innovated a silencer cum
pollution control device,
similar to the silencer of a
two-wheeler. It could be
attached to the diesel engine
used for irrigation. It is ironic
that not a single diesel engine used by farmers in
the country is fitted with such a device. Bureau
of Indian Standards [BIS] does not even require
that every pump set should be fitted with a silencer
and pollution control device. This along with that
of Shri Birendra Kumar Sinha’s innovation could
have a major impact on the quality of life and
environment for the farmers and labourers. Shri
Sharma has made another innovation for managing
the pressure in the pump. Normally before starting
an irrigation pump, farmers have to put a hand to
create the suction pressure. To avoid that problem,
he developed a one-way valve operated by a hand
Honey Bee Vol 20(1) January - March 2009
8 A Dialogue on People’s Creativity, Experimentation & Innovation
Community Septic Tank System
in Indonesia
In 1985, the tributaries of Brantas
River in Malang city of Indonesia
were flooded throwing up human
waste and causing an immediate
outbreak of diarrhoea which claimed
five lives. Agus Gunarto, now 51,
working with the city cleaning
department, was moved and in his
quest for finding a solution hit upon
the idea of devising community
septic tank system. He connected
two septic tanks, each with a diameter
of 1.5 m and a depth of 2.5 m and
pump so that after pumping a few used concrete wall baffles to
times, irrigation pump could be easily breakdown the solid wastes and also
started. to prevent it from entering the settling
tanks. The outflow from the septic
Herbal Pesticide tank passed through six settling tanks
or precipitate pools (generally two
Smt Janaki are used) planted with water hyacinth
Devi has (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.)
innovated a Solms.). He connected this to a
h e r b a l network of houses. The pipes were
pesticide. NIF laid down along the slope so that
helped her file a the sewage water moved smoothly
patent (1699/Kol/2008) on her and backflow was automatically
formulation with her consent. The checked. He used six settling tanks
initial results of her formulation seem instead of two to facilitate aerobic
quite promising. oxidation and partial sterilization.
Water hyacinth used, is a notorious
Rickshaw Gear aquatic but found very effective in
removing pollutants like suspended
Nishant materials, organic matter, heavy
displayed his metals and pathogens.
device, a
gear for a The innovation might not be
rickshaw. In considered a technological
this gear, breakthrough but the way it changed
when one pedals backwards, gear the lives of the people of Malang,
gets activated and the rickshaw puller got him awards and recognition in
is required to put less effort for the international arena. Agus, with
climbing uphill or even starting it. This no technical education could do it
is a compact and easily retrofittable because he believed that he could
gear compared to other alternatives bring a change instead of just
available in market. becoming a passive recipient! Can
we identify the tangential elements
in such innovators which drive them
to change things, break institutions
while the larger sections still prefer
to persist in their self-inflicted, yet
uncomfortable inertia?
Source:web.mit.edu/d-lab/DlabIII06/
ofthepeople.pdf