Hyderabad Institute of Technology & Management has adopted five villages under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan scheme - Gowdavelli, Basuregadi, Gnanapoor, D Pochampally, and Kolanupaka. The institute conducted 4 Gram Sabhas in these adopted villages. Emphasis was given on recognizing the common problems faced by villagers for which students will work together to provide solutions while understanding their needs.
Cow dung difficult to clean properly in village dairies (left); Cow dung cleaner developed by HITAM-UBA
It was identified that dairies in Kolanupaka village are huge and it is quite a tedious task to remove cow dung manually. Hence, HITAM-UBA students worked on a cow dung remover project that uses mechanical techniques to clean the waste of animals every day.
Wastages in D Pochamplally Village pond (left); Pond cleaner (right)
HITAM-UBA team identified one of the major problems of the D Pochamplally village which was to clean the pond water. To cater to this problem, students created a mobile-operated device that collects trash from the water and makes the pond clean that too without entering into the water. Now, the same pond water can be used for various purposes.
A farmer carrying the ordinary fertilizer tank on his back in Kolanupaka Village (left); Solar fertilizer sprayer.
In Kolanupaka village, which is a remote area, some people spray fertilizers in the fields for daily wages, carrying the fertilizer tank on their back to the fields. It was observed that people engaged in this particular job were facing the problem of unavailability of electricity while spraying the fertilizers and they were also suffering from regular back pains & skin allergies. The problem was well analyzed by the HITAM-UBA students and a solar fertilizer sprayer was created for spraying organic fertilizers. It doesn’t require much labor and one person can easily complete the task in lesser time when compared to ordinary sprayers. The usage of organic fertilizers was also proposed to the farmers in order to decrease skin allergies.
Keeping the environment clean is the most difficult task for some villagers in the village. It was identified that the water supplier of the Gowdavelli village, who supplies water to the 3000 odd families, faces a problem with the overflow of water while he fills the village tanks. By interacting with him we also came to know that he would like to get the job automated so as to prevent the wastage of water caused during the filling of tanks. Hence, a device was established that automatically fills up the tank without wasting water. It consumes little electricity and is perfect for ongoing operations.
Overflowing water tank and wastage of water (left); Project on controlling wastage of water in Gowdavelli village – Water tank (right)
HITAM-UBA team is also working on waste management to provide a convenient way to keep surroundings clean so that the spreading of different types of diseases can be controlled and avoided. This technique will send messages to the responsible and accountable persons so that garbage bins will be cleaned in time.
Garbage being dumped on the roadside in Basuregadi village (left); Garbage dustbins provided for waste management project in Basuregadi village (right)
With the help of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, students are able to understand the actual needs of the rural areas. By providing reasonable solutions to the problems of the villagers, students are improving their skills as well and they are very focused on providing more sustainable solutions to the problems.
