Rural Innovations Are Thriving in Jharkhand’s Small Town

At the age of 18, Indrajeet Singh has developed many innovations to simplify the life of the tribal communities in his hometown West Singhbhum in Jharkhand. From solar cycles to agri-machines and drones, here is how a rural innovator is creating a change from a young age.

What are our plans after the lockdown is lifted? Everyone wants to get out, meet friends, go to their favorite food joints, basically resume their pre-COVID-19 life. But an 18-years-old boy, hailing from a small village in Jharkhand, plans on generating employment and innovating India post-lockdown. His name is Indrajeet Singh.

Indrajeet, who was interested in projects and innovation from a young age, is presently pursuing Bsc. Physics Hons. Not just that, he also founded an NGO called Tribal and Rural Innovation Foundation India. The organization helps rural innovators to make their innovation reach the masses.

“Innovation comes with problems. Since most of the people in my area are tribals, they have lived a hard life. Via this NGO, I want to work with them and promote their unique ideas for the development of our Country. It would be like a self-employment startup, where their innovations will generate employment and eventually eradicate poverty,” Indrajeet shared.

Low-cost portable chironaji decorticator, Ignite awards

One mind, many innovations

Indrajeet had a curious mind since childhood. At the mere age of 15, he developed an automatic drain cleaner machine in his school.

Indrajeet expressed: “Even though I  faced financial problems, I always saved some pocket money to work on my projects. There was no selfish motive. I always wanted to help the tribal population of my area.”

Every project that Indrajeet has ever worked upon had an interesting background story. He got inspired to work on the solar cycle model after hearing the hardships of his school friends. They had to travel long distances on manual cycles and couldn’t afford motorcycles or bikes.

Indrajeet researched extensively on electric cycles. He started converting his own cycle into an e-cycle after taking out the batteries from old household machines. When those weren’t enough, he bought car batteries at lower prices. He used the solar panels of his school and turned the e-cycle into a solar cycle.

“A solar cycle, which normally costs forty to fifty thousand was now available to people at around ten thousand. People started putting up orders after watching my YouTube channel. Soon, many people got interested in this project. After lockdown, I wish to work on more projects like this where I can make smart cars, smart bikes, etc.,” said Indrajeet.

The next innovation was the Chironji decorticator. The idea popped up in Indrajeet’s head when he saw the difficulty faced by the tribal community in removing the seeds of the nut. Even though it’s not that famous across India, Chironji is a very healthy and nutritional nut. Indrajeet did some research and found out that these same nuts were sold to people at Rs 800, but the tribals were getting only Rs. 200.

Indrajeet expressed his anguish and said: “It was not just about the money loss, but also the tedious exercise of removing seeds from the nuts was affecting farmers’ hand. So, just like a bamboo juicer machine, I made a low-cost Chironji decorticator which would be affordable as well as safer for the farmers.”

Not wasting any second of the lockdown, Indrajeet has also come up with some Drone ideas, which can be helpful in a pandemic like this.

An innovation during the COVID19 pandemic

“Even though this project needs government approval first, I am thinking of making a drone names Air Servizio C19. It is a food and medicine transportation drone with a loading capacity of 10 kgs and an automatic sanitation spray. It also has a camera that will help police in patrolling the containment regions without compromising their health,” said Indrajeet.

Indrajeet believes that the drone can also help in improving security and decreasing the number of rape cases. “There is no end to innovations and learning even in this lockdown,” he said.

Indrajeet Singh was honored by the former President of India for his low-cost Portable Chironji Decorticator at APJ Abdul Kalam Ignite Awards in 2018. He also secured a 9th position at the national level Inspire Awards for his solar cycle model.

Indrajeet also expressed his disappointment in the government as according to him the awards alone do not benefit the innovators much.

“Getting rewarded is not enough. We neither get any help from the government nor any motivation. We don’t want appreciation. What we want is that our innovations should reach people. India has great thinkers. If only they get the required amount of resources from the government, they can change the world.”

 Even though Indrajeet comes from a small town in Jharkhand, he never compromised with his ideas and innovations. At such a young age, he is ready to change the world and has only one thing to say: “Nothing changes just by saying it. If you really want things to change, then work hard for it. If you truly are passionate about something, you can take out time. And, if you can dream of something, then you can achieve it as well.”

Indrajeet is waiting for the lockdown to be lifted. He’s not eager to go shopping or go to his favorite food joint. He’s actually eager to help the needy people and the tribals of his area. He’s eager to generate employment and eradicate poverty through his NGO.

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