ATMs are becoming more accessible to rural India

In India there are about 30,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATM) as of late 2007. Most of these are located in urban areas. However, now Banks are extending this service to rural areas through the following steps:

• Banks are beginning to introduce ATMs in rural areas.
• Some banks have started providing ATM cards to Kisan Credit Card (KCC) holders. As a result of this, these farmers need to go to the bank only to get their KCC loans sanctioned. After that, they can do most of their transactions using an ATM machine.

Also, ATMs are being introduced with features that makes it easier for rural people to use:

• Lower cost ATMs designed by IIT, Madras and IIT, Bombay.
• Voice navigation in local Indian languages.
• Fingerprint verification.
• Back-up power to ensure smooth operation during power failures.
• Can work in dusty environment.

Better rural credit through the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and the Swarojgar Credit Card (SCC)

The Government of India introduced the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme in 1999.

According to a recent survey report, over 65 million KCCs had been issued by early 2007.

This credit, typically, covers the working capital needs of the farmers for a crop cycle. You borrow the money when you need to buy inputs such as seeds, tools, fertilizer, pesticides and labour. Once the crop is harvested and sold, the amount has to be repaid. The credit becomes available again for the next season. This helps the farmers to avoid traditional money lenders and the exorbitant interest rates charged by them.

In 2004 this scheme was expanded to cover more types of loans:

• Term loans for agriculture and allied activities.
• A reasonable component to meet consumption needs.
• Many banks also offer Personal Accident Insurance Scheme at a very nominal premium.
• Some of the banks have launched KCCs that can be used in an ATM machine.

The Swarojgar Credit Card Scheme (SCC) was introduced in 2003. The SCC aims at providing working capital and term loans to small artisans, handloom weavers, fishermen, self employed persons, rickshaw owners, other micro-entrepreneurs, self help groups (SHG), etc. Farm sector activities like fisheries, dairy, etc., can also be covered under the scheme. About half a million SCCs had been issued by Sept 2006.

You can get a Kisan Credit Card or a Swarojgar Credit Card from any of the following:

• Commercial banks
• Co-operative banks
• Regional Rural Banks (RRB)

Tissue culture plants help increase yield and profits

Theni District of Tamil Nadu is the emerging hub for tissue culture banana variety called Grande Naine.

Plant tissue culture, also known as micro propagation, is gaining popularity due to the following advantages:

• Higher yield
• Resistant to disease
• Saplings available throughout the year
• Mass propagation of selected elite varieties
  

The following are examples of plants that are being successfully propagated in large scale through tissue culture in India:

• Fruits: Banana, Pineapple
• Sugar cane: Sugar factories are increasingly using tissue culture plants.
• Spices: The Spices Board, Cochin, has brought large area under tissue culture cardamom and vanilla cultivation through involvement of progressive farmers.
• Medicinal plants: Aloe, Safed Musali
• Flowers: Carnation, Gerbera
• Trees: Sandal wood, Eucalyptus, Teak
  

The Department of Biotechnology has set up two micropropagation technology parks:

• The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi
• National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune

Central and Sate Government subsidy is available for planting tissue culture plants as well as for exporting plant products. Please check with your local Agriculture Office.

Some banks like Canara Bank have also been financing tissue culture projects as a priority.

The Sixth National Competition for Rural Innovations

Raisin grading machine invented by Ramdas Madhavrao Jagtap of Nashik, Maharashtra that won a National Award in the Third Competition.

The best three inventions and traditional knowledge practices will be awarded Rs 1,00,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 each in different categories. There will be several consolation prizes of Rs 10,000 each in different categories.

• Type of inventions: Can be in machines, gadgets, implements, or processes for farm operations, household utility, transportation for improved efficiency, energy conservation or generation, and reduction in drudgery, creative use of biodiversity, plant varieties, generation of herbal remedies for human or animal health or developing new or any other low cost sustainable green technology.
• Who can apply: Individuals or groups who have achieved distinction in improving quality and productivity.

Your invention may also qualify for additional funding by Micro Venture Innovation Fund for the following:

• Incubation and business plan.
• Testing and prototype development.
• Pilot scale production.
• Commercial production.

For example, Hyderabad-based Matrix BioSciences, signed a deal with NIF to license some of these inventions. Matrix plans to put the name of each inventor on the label. It will share profits with the inventors.
Products launched by Matrix include:

• A natural pesticide that fights mites and prevents leaf-curl disease, developed by Popatbhai Rupabhai Jambucha, an illiterate farmer from Gujarat.
• A herbal pesticide that keeps aphids, white flies and mealy bugs away, made by Arkhiben Mithabhai Vankar, a village healer and midwife.

How to participate:

• Individuals or groups may send as many entries as they wish on plain paper providing a) genesis of innovation and traditional knowledge b) background of innovation and c) background with complete educational qualification of the innovators/ traditional knowledge holders, accompanied by photographs and/or videos if possible and any other information that may help in replicating the innovations/traditional knowledge. Herbal entries may be accompanied by dried plant samples to enable proper identification procedure.
• Last date: December 31, 2008
• Where to send entries: National Coordinator (scouting and documentation), National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Satellite Complex, Bungalow No 1, Premchandnagar Road , Jodhpur Tekra, Ahmedabad 380015 Gujarat or by email to: campaign@nifindia.org

Low cost method for disinfecting water in the village

How does it work?

1. Get clear bottles made of plastic or glass with lid. Wash the bottles well the first time you use it.
2. Now fill up the bottles with water fully and close the lid.
3. Place the bottles on a corrugated iron sheet exposed to sunlight.
4. Or put them on the roof, as shown in the picture.
5. Leave it in the sun for at least 6 hours.
6. The water is now ready for use.

• Uses solar UV-A radiation and higher water temperature due to sunlight to inactivate pathogens causing diarrhoea.
  
• Reduces risk of water-borne diseases, especially diarrhoea.
• Process developed by the Swiss Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries.
• You can read about the results of trials conducted near Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu.

Other tips:

• Use clear bottles, not colored bottles such as brown or green.
• Do not use very large bottles, not more than 1 to 2 litres.
  

Low cost, smokeless stove for rural households

Smokeless biomass 'Oorja' stove that runs on burning pellets made up of agricultural waste being used in a house at Aviyur in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu.

Over 5,000 rural households in Madurai and Virudhunagar districts now have smokeless kitchens. No longer do housewives have to put up with irritation in their eyes by blowing into the traditional ovens. Nor do they have to bear huge LPG cylinder bills.

• Developed in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
• A mini-fan, powered by rechargeable batteries, blows air to fan the flames.
• Costs Rs. 675.
• A family of six consumes about six bags of pellets (a 5-kg bag costs Rs. 20) and three litres of kerosene. This combination of fuel costs about Rs. 147 a month, whereas the family was spending Rs. 390 a month earlier.
• Pellets are made from agricultural waste such as sugarcane bagasse, groundnut husk and maize cobs.
  
• Available in parts of Tamil Nadu, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Limitations of the biomass stove:

• Making `dosas' and `chappatis' is a problem, as the stove generates excessive heat.
• Once it is lit, it cannot be stopped unlike LPG or kerosene stoves.
• Refuelling cannot be done midway. The entire ash has to be replaced, and the stove has to be lit afresh. However, this can be done in a few minutes.