Cleaning India and... creating value... Heavy duty!

End of January this is the mission Amma, my spiritual master and Mahatma from Amritapuri, the ashram and University in Kerala where I am starting my PhD... gave me!

I must admit I have often felt 'solutionless', quite helpless in front of such a task!

But all along, now since 8 months working on it, I am trusting that grace will flow and that the work will pay off ...some day.

Well, this week, 2 very important steps have been made in the direction of 'Solutions':

• 2nd workshop between people doing seva, passionated about waste management, practical apects and University/academic/technical people: mixing 2 worlds, getting inspiring and very highly motivated people doing selfless service, sometimes experts in their fields (water sanitation, composting...) to drive technical people from Labs, from faculty side!!! and inspire them with their energy as well as get the technical team support they need to build their ideas/solutions.... 

this led to 30 to 35 proposed projects in various field as diverse as:

•ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONICS

•MECHANICAL

•RENEWABLE ENERGY

•INDUSTRIALIZATION/PROCESS MANAGEMENT

And then yesterday:

• a 2nd meeting of presentation of social innovation projects to Engineering students led 120 students of 3rd School of Eng to engage in most of the projects...

Of course getting students involved does not mean only good ressources to find 'Solutions' but as well educating Indian young generation, getting them inspired to embrace that cause!
And that is very exciting and motivating.

So next steps will of course entail:

• setting all 30 to 35 projects as diverse as:

•ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONICS:

•Waste management PILOT: off grid solutions, self sustained: energy, water…

•1 electric or manual built alongside Amma’s bridge, powered by flux and reflux

•Installing new solar panels Ashram and Campus side to reach 50% NRJ usage

•MECHANICAL:

•Robust and light bicycle with trailer to pick up waste in rural areas

•Machineries for Composting and Recycling

•Plastic compressor: simple and cheap

•Shredder for compost

•Sorting machine for ABC and compost

•RENEWABLE ENERGY:

•Bio Gas solutions for private houses (espc poor villages)

•Bio Gas plant for new kitchen in ashram

•Bio Gas plant for Ayurveda college

•Rain water harvesting system for AB centers

•No water toilets, best RE toilets solutions

•Cellulose waste into Fuel

•Installing wind mills meditation beach side for AB centers

•INDUSTRIALIZATION/PROCESS MGT

•Waste Mgt Pilot: taking big scale processes to small scale

•Waste Mgt Pilot: Building with recycled materials

•DB syst: Collecting data for optimized water mgt

•Knowledge transfer: fabrication processes to make simple and cheap community craft products

•Dirty Plastic cleaning solutions: with a waste market study on soft plastic market in India, where, list of prices…

I know this is just a first step, but after 8 months of research, involvement in seva in the ashram intensively... reports, meetings... it feels like a big step.

Very far from any pragmatic solution yet, any pilot for BoP easy solutions, but a big step in the right direction.

Cleaningness if Holiness! 
...and PhD on its way with concrete applications...
Final entrance exams next week... bloddy GRE! :-)