A collection of real world problems and ideas with potential impact on ground communities
PROBLEM-IDEA
Power supply to the machines being used by fruit juice vendors
Problem
Power supply to the machines being used by fruit juice vendors
Specific Brief:
Solar panels to be separately fitted over the food cart to run the machines that make fruit juices. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
Usually the fruit juice vendors using the roadside cart illegally tap into the Power supply to run their machines that make fruit juice. Thus, they get into a lot of problems and end up paying bribes to the government officials to let them use the Power.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Install solar panels above their carts such that these panels continuously supply the required power to let them run the machines that make fruit juices. These panels can also recharge batteries that would store enough power to let them run through the night.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
Food Truck India; Bhogal Cycles; Jagdambey Pre-fab, New Delhi, India; Maniar Engineers,Ahmedabad”
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Design and build solar embedded juicers that would directly run on solar supply.
Re-design and supply the traditional old mechanical juicers that run without power supply.
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Education and Adoption of schools in rural areas
Problem
Education and Adoption of schools in rural areas
Specific Brief:
Design an adoption program for schools in rural areas based on already available examples. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
Although schools in Rural areas have good government intervention, they lack proper educational tools and content. The various governments have provided the necessary policies but failed to implement the same on the ground level. Therefore the quality of education has drastically fallen and reached very low levels.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Design your own indigenous model for adopting and running the school in rural areas and while scaling it- partner with other organizations who are already adopting schools in rural areas and implement their model elsewhere.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
Teach for India; Gandhi Fellowship; Isha Foundation; Nirmaan Organization; India Literacy Project; Grameena Vidya.
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Collaborate with the government and using the Skill India initiative, train the teachers to better run the schools.
Assist the Corporates and philanthropists to adopt various schools, but here the education could be marginalized.
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Lack of light while climbing a temple after dark in MM Hills
Problem
Lack of light while climbing a temple after dark in MM Hills
Specific Brief:
Build a rental model by providing a new torch design such that the price doesn’t cost much both to the end user and the vendor *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
People visit Male Madeshwarabetta in MM Hills after dark but due to lack of proper light, they use torches from the local vendors outside the temples. These torches are very cheap and inefficient thus would not last the entire journey of climbing and getting down the hill of around 6 hrs that includes the prayer time.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Design and build a very high efficiency torch using Design to Cost principle so that the end customer would be able to afford it. By doing the design indigenously, you will be able to control the end pricing and thus assist the vendor to rent it out at nominal prices to the end customer without much of a trouble.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
N/A
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Educate the masses in using the torch light present in their mobile phones.
Make it mandatory for people to carry torches or lamps when climbing up the temple.
Assist the local vendors in selling high cost lights by getting them on high credit or EMI’s.
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Lack of understanding of financial services that are offered in the rural areas
Problem
Lack of understanding of financial services that are offered in the rural areas
Specific Brief:
Design a training and workshop module indigenously and provide the services effectively. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
In the rural areas, there is a lack of understanding of the financial products and services that are offered by various banks thus leading to financial instability of the people. There is a need for educating and training them for the same.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Banker workshops to teach financial inclusion and planning. If the people are associated in full/part time with the bank, then it gives more credibility to their training program.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
N/A
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Banker workshops to teach financial inclusion and planning.
Awareness programs by other MFI’s on the latest development in the financial sectors.
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Emission of Carbon in villages
Problem
Emission of Carbon in villages
Specific Brief:
A change in the policy must be shown where the focus should change from smart village to a sustainable low carbon emission village. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
Carbon emission directly/indirectly leads to a lot of environmental damage and there are several reasons behind the carbon emission beginning from the everyday basic usage of plastics to vehicular pollution. There is a misconception that a lot of carbon is emitted from the cities or the urban areas, even villages spread a lot of carbon unintentionally.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Develop a holistic operational model that focuses on all the areas that require change like economic, human, personal and social aspect of things. There needs to be a behavioral change in the attitude and the way of life of the person living in the village to ensure low carbon emissions.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
Selco Foundation, Bangalore, India; TERI, Bangalore, India; APEC, Tokyo, Japan; The Climate Group, Delhi, India.
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Policy Intervention to build low carbon model villages by bringing about stringent rules to be followed.
Educate the residents of the villages on the need for low carbon emissions by repeated campaigns and engagement with the communities.
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Cleaning of Ragi Millets outside the agricultural field
Problem
Cleaning of Ragi Millets outside the agricultural field
Specific Brief:
Usage of regular table fans for dehusking and powering them with solar panel *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
This is a seasonal challenge for a few months when the millets are placed out on the road besides the field. Then the dependency on the wind is shown that would blow away the husks from the crop. It is time consuming, inefficient and creates a lot of problems for nearby travelers.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Build a solar based portable fan that would be able to give the necessary wind supply to the husk.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
Dhan Foundation, Krishnagiri, India; Star Industries, Belgaum, India; Kavita Solar Energy Pvt.Ltd, UP,India;S.R.Electronics, Delhi, India;Saurya Enertech, Gurgaon, India;Urjakart.com, Delhi, India; Leap Industries, Bengaluru, India; Nano Sciences and Ozone Tech, Bengaluru, India”
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Clean the millets in a closed space by using the wind from a fan, this would avoid creating trouble for nearby passersby.
Use a De-husking machine to clean the millets. This would be the most appropriate solution, if space and electricity was available.
Partner with the manufacturers of De-husking machines to build a solar run portable machine that can be used in outside fields.
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Difference in VAT policies of the State and Central Govt
Problem
Difference in VAT policies of the State and Central Govt
Specific Brief:
Collect necessary data that can be submitted to the Govt. Of India to validate the problem of the current policies. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
Every state government in India charges a separate VAT that is again in addition to the separate tax from the Central Government, this difference is felt by the end consumer especially in the rural sector and also by the urban poor. In specific, it affects the renewable energy devices and services.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
While GST has been passed in the Parliament, its yet to be discussed and therefore will take some more time for implementation. Until then, the tax consultants must use the ground level data to showcase the need for the policy change.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
CBGA, New Delhi;Datakind, Bangalore;TERI;Shakthi Foundation; Various Energy Departments.
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
The data must be collected at the ground level with proper calculations to showcase the effect of the huge tax difference between the two governments is creating.
Tie up with reputed tax consultants who could convince the government on the necessary policy change in order to bring about a positive effect on the growth of the renewable tech economy.
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Access to basic Education when children are unable to commute to school
Problem
Access to basic Education when children are unable to commute to school
Specific Brief:
Design the transportation facilities or better commuting options for kids enabling them to attend school regularly. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
A large number of kids have no access to education even after RTE coming into place due to distance and commuting problems from the school. These kids are a part of urban, rural and even tribal areas. To give them the necessary access – if they cannot come to school, the school must go to them.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Work with the Government to implement Mobile schools as a policy under the RTE act thus enabling them to provide with Mobile schools at different geographies across India. Also, can partner with transport organizations and teachers and build the mobile school indigenously.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
Children’s Hope India,NY, USA; Agastya Foundation, Andhra Pradesh, India; Butterflies NGO, New Delhi, India.
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Partner with organizations providing Mobile schools to different children across India.
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Cumbersome and time consuming process of churning the butter
Problem
Cumbersome and time consuming process of churning the butter
Specific Brief:
Design and build a solar powered butter churner that can effectively reduce the cost of operations and provide uninterrupted power source. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
Mechanical churners are widely used that become quite cumbersome to work with, thus there is a requirement of automated butter churner but this needs to have a good power supply. With any interruption in the power supply, the mixture turns sour and all the curd goes waste.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Solar powered butter churners can be used even during major power cuts by storing the required amount of energy within the battery. Also, the amount of speed of churning can be adjusted by programming the motor within it. This effectively reduces the cost of operations and effort as well.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
N/A
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Mechanical Butter Churners use a lot of effort to churn little amount of butter, so use gear mechanism in the butter churner to multiply the force applied.
Electric Butter Churners can make a lot of butter in very little amount of time.
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Interrupted Power Supply affecting the use of computers in Rural areas
Problem
Interrupted Power Supply affecting the use of computers in Rural areas
Specific Brief:
Become an aggregator for solar computing by integrating it with people in rural areas especially with schools, hospitals and tribals. *Status – Can be shown in the specific brief itself by giving a color reference. *Also a Click reference to connect to us in case they want to work on the Problem.
Problem Description:
Due to the power shortage in rural areas, regular Desktops and Laptops are often unused thus affecting the digitalization of those areas. This leads to disinterest in learning and usage of the most basic technological equipment thus affecting their mindset growth in concurrence with the urban areas. Children, students, hospitals are the most affected of all.
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Solution
Potential Solution/Pathways
Source the entire setup from a computer hardware manufacturer/supplier who can provide service assistance and integrate the power supply with a solar power system.
Organizations that work on Similar Solutions:
Thinvent Technologies Pvt.Ltd - Gurgaon, India; Thinlabs - PA,USA & London, UK; Aleutia - Hampshire, UK; Tritronics(India) Pvt Ltd - Delhi, India.
Other Solutions(Pictorial):
Assemble the computer hardware with the required specification from a hardware supplier and integrate the solar panel with an Inverter supplying the power.
If the requirement is in bulk, then a customized order can be given to a reputed computer hardware and solar panel manufacturer to match the required specifications.
Use Raspberry Pi as a cost effective solution.
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