NIF ignites students’ minds to help save dignity of rural woman carrying water on head ÂÂ
A Bunch of young innovators has developed a unique device that promises to bring hope especially to women living in far-flung areas who regularly trudge long distances across undulating terrains to fetch water.
Four engineering students, have designed a water jacket, a wearable vest capable of holding water that when strapped to the body, provides a cushioning effort to the wearer by distributing the weight of the water evenly.
“About 20 kg of water can be stored in this jacket – 10 in the front chamber and an equal volume of liquid in the back chamber. The chambers are designed to maintain a balance in the body so that no part of the body gets strained,” says T R Neelakantan, one of the innovators, who was recently awarded National Innovation Foundation’s (NIF) fourth national awards by President A P J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi.
The other three contributors are Balaji T K, Kunal Kumar and Arun Rosh, all students at the S R M Engineering College, Chennai.
When asked about the need for such a product, Anil Gupta, executive vice-president of National Innovation Foundation (NIF), said, “I showed a picture of a woman carrying water on her head on the sands of Rajasthan to IIT students and they took it up as a challenge and designed a water-vest for her so that she could be saved the indignity of carrying water on her head.”
Based in Ahmedabad, NIF is an autonomous body set up by the Department of Science and Technology, to provide a nurturing platform for augmenting unaided green grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge practices developed by local communities and individuals to solve their problems.
An engineering graduate describes the working principle behind this device. He says water jacket is fitted with a zipper, Velcro locks, a belt and cushioned shoulder straps used for anchoring the vest with its front and back water chambers.
“The presence of a faucet ensures that you can take out water from it and there is a water level indicator to show how much water is there,” he points out.
A prototype of the jacket was presented at IIT, Chennai and it has been forwarded to NIF for further upgradation.
“Some of the areas requiring further design intervention include maintaining cleanliness, optimizing inlet port and water capacity, optimizing front chamber contour so that the line of sight is not obstructed,” said Neelakantan, adding that the second refined prototype would be presented before a panel of experts soon to get final consent for commercial production.
Once ready to hit the markets, a business development cell created under NIF will promote the jacket. The organisation has managed to attract entrepreneurs to market such innovations commercially and fetched Rs 10 crore.
“We have about 50,000 innovations and traditional knowledge at NIF,” says Gupta, who also grooms future corporates at IIM, Ahmedabad.
The affordable water vest will be available in four sizes as per the body dimensions and load carrying capacity and can be easily modified to carry fruits and vegetables by making slight changes to widen the inlet.
