A nation is defined by the people living in it. Development in its entirety is impossible until and unless every stratum of society is a part of it.

India, with its substantial rural population, needs to improve the living standards of the people in rural areas to be claimed as a developed nation. There is an urgent need to pay heed to their woes and worries. Utkarsh was born out of the vision of bringing about a change in the rural sector by identifying the prevalent problems and finding concrete solutions. Now the responsibility lies in our hands. Let your thoughts proliferate, let your ideas consolidate, and let your actions instantiate a new form of development in India.

In line with the above thoughts, Utkarsh invites all forms of innovations for rural development.

Cash prizes worth INR 1,00,000 to be won

Download the problem statement

Register for Utkarsh (non-students can also participate)

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Note: The problems given here are just guidelines to give an idea as to what type of innovations are expected. So, do not limit your minds. You can come up with a solution for an all together different problem plaguing rural society.

1) Quick installation temporary structures for water impounding in streams/ nallahs
Many seasonal streams flow for 4 to 8 months. If water is impounded within the stream channel (no spill over on banks / no submergence), the small decentralized water storages can be available for a few more months. This can make possible better returns from agriculture. Such impounding can be done using low cost methods such as plugging the nallah using sand bags. The method is messy and requires considerable labour from a number of persons for a few days. Also during the following monsoon, the flood waters will wash away the remnants of the earlier barrier; or the old gunny bags will decompose. Such structures will therefore require to be erected each year. An alternative is required - simple impounding arrangements using materials and structural arrangements which can be quickly erected or dismantled when the use is over.
Following issues should be dealt with :

Cost per cubic metre of volume of water impounded

Erection time and dismantling time

Robustness of design for leakage through the structure or beneath the structure

Height of water impounded

Maximum height possible

2) Efficient pedal/treadle power applications
Pedal power is the source of getting energy from human beings. It can be described as the transfer of energy generated through the movement of human feet and hands in some cases.
Some of the greatest inventions of the century using pedal power are pedal power laptops, pedal power snowplow, pedal power wheel chairs, and pedal power dynapod.
Refer to the link for more details about pedal power applications: Understanding Pedal Power
Various low energy input applications can be achieved using pedal/treadle power. Examples are:

Low head pumping

Energy storage as pressurized air/water for operating pneumatic/hydraulic devices

Transportation of goods in small lots, or patients in rural areas

Considerable developments in pedal power technology have happened in bicycle transportation. These advances need to be adapted for the above applications.
Following issues should be dealt with :

Cost per unit of energy generated (energy equivalent of the work done by the machine should be found out for above measurement)

Size of the community targeted

Novelty of application

Drudgery reduction

3) Safe Drinking Water
The health burden of poor water quality is enormous. It is estimated that around 37.7 million Indians are affected by waterborne diseases annually; 1.5 million children are estimated to die of diarrhoea alone.
The aim here is to develop an affordable and effective water purification technique for households in rural India. This system should purify a given quantity of water to basic standards of portable water in a short period of time.
Following issues should be dealt with :

Installation Cost (in litres per day the machine/technique would purify)

Operation Cost (in litres of water the machine/technique will operate on)

Maintainability by local people

Level of purity and type of impurities tackled

4) Organic Farming
The small and marginal farmers in India have been practicing a sort of organic farming in the form of the traditional farming system. They use local or own farm renewable resources and carry on the agricultural practices in an ecologically friendly environment. However, now the costs of the organic inputs are higher than those of industrially produced chemical fertilizers and pesticides including other inputs used in the conventional farming system. The groundnut cake, neem seed and cake, vermi-compost, silt, cow dung, other manures, etc. applied as organic manure are increasingly becoming costly making them unaffordable to the small cultivators.
Products of traditional nature, preferably prepared at the farm from local plants, animals and microorganisms should be used for pests, diseases and weed management. Design such a product considering its cost effectiveness as compared to chemical elements.
Following issues should be dealt with :

Organic carbon content

What all nutrients are added in the soil

What all available subsidies and government policies are used/involved

Ease of application and transport

Cost per acre of the land

Hazards on the soil

5) Mosquito Eradication
Mosquitoes are a great nemesis for the people in hot countries. Various forms of mosquito destroyers are used by the people, but they are not as effective in reducing mosquitoes because a mosquito lays thousands of eggs during its lifetime. In addition, the devices are harmful to our health and the environment. There were some herbs to kill mosquitoes, but mild in comparison to chemical remedies, and thereby mosquitoes were all adjusted to them easily. Thus, a completely new way of thinking is needed to get rid of the growing threat mosquito.
Suggest techniques to get rid of this problem. One example is Grass Roots Green autonomous innovation - Solar Mosquito Destroyer
Following issues should be dealt with :

Cost (in an appropriate unit)

Hazards on the environment

What other rodents are affected

Issues of acceptability by the rural conservative population

6) Efficient chullah for rural people
The chullahs which exist in the market today are mainly designed to provide efficient boiling. There are majorly three types of cooking viz. boiling, frying and roasting.
Design a chullah with some kind of a regulator such that all three forms of cooking i.e. boiling, roasting and frying can be supported.
Following issues should be dealt with :

Cost of the device

Usage of firewood per unit of heat output (or in any appropriate unit)

Novelty of application like for warming the house, etc. besides just cooking

Ease of design

Availability to rural population

7) Standardized structural elements for rural housing
Rural housing has shifted substantially from using thatch, straw and mud to the use of bricks, cement and steel. There is now a good possibility of promoting enterprises in the form of "Building Centers" to provide ready-made structural components for quick-erection and good quality building construction. Some "products" which are already in vogue are concrete grills and concrete poles.
Many more structural elements can be conceived. Some of them can be prestressed while some can be designed to use local, renewable material. Identifying and developing such "products" is necessary.
Following issues should be dealt with :

Cost per structural element (also compare it with its present cost in non-structural format)

Benefits of making the structural element

Cost of making the structural element (industrial cost, labour cost, transportation cost, etc.)

Benefits like increased strength of houses, etc. by using these structural elements

Availability of these elements to rural population

8) Extending shelf life of fruits and vegetables
Everyone benefits from healthy fruits and vegetables, from the consumer right through to the producer. Approximately $200 million are lost each year due to waste caused by postharvest diseases, poor temperature management, bruising and other factors.
The areas to maximise shelf life are:

Developing packaging and handling systems to maintain the skin colour of lychees through the supply chain

Developing modified atmosphere packaging to extend the shelf life of Asian leafy vegetables

Developing packaging options for semi-processed pumpkins

Investigating ways of stimulating natural defence mechanisms in avocados to ward off postharvest diseases

Breeding pineapple's resistance to blackheart (a major post harvest quality defect in pineapples that develops during cold storage)

Following issues should be dealt with :

Complete cost analysis

Side effects if any of the technique/machine/mechanism developed

9) Rope ways for hilly areas
In hilly areas, transportation of farm products or farm inputs means a lot of drudgery. When roads dont exist, it means carrying headloads on foot paths. If roads exist, often their annual maintenance requirements are high.
Possible solution can be use of small-size, low-cost ropeways to transport goods across a hillslope. We should expect ropeways to be developed from a ridge point (say from a road going along a ridge / high elevation) going down to a hamlet in a valley (say about 100 - 200 meters elevation difference) or the other way round. Required number of towers will need to be provided. The ropeway baskets will include one set which will move up and the other set which will move down (and of course turn around at both ends around large pulleys). This anyway is the standard system. Normally this is powered by electricity / diesel engines. Where the design challenge lies is in powering the system using gravity -- the load in one set of baskets counterbalanced by ballast in the other set of baskets. The differential weight is just enough to facilitate controlled movement under gravity. The ballast has to be of easily available no-cost / low-cost material such as stones or water. Such designs need to be developed and standardized.
Following issues should be dealt with and clearly mentioned :

Ease of erection and operation

Safety issues

Amount of loads which can be safely transported

Length of the ropeway

Cost issues

Robustness

10) Inland Fisheries
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry.
The fish hatchery, where the young fish are produced year after year and distributed to fish growers, has become an essential part of modern fish culture. It is obvious that the smaller fish farmers do not have the facilities nor the skill to produce their own requirement of fish seed, especially of those fishes which are not easy to propagate or do not propagate normally in confined waters.
There are two types of hatcheries: one for handling only one species of fish (special hatchery), and the other where many fish species can be handled. The present trend is to establish multi-species hatcheries, in keeping with the modern trend of mixed culture or composite culture of different species with different food habits, so as to utilize all the food resources of the pond to achieve the highest possible yield.
The production capacity of a hatchery depends on many factors such as : the number and size of the brood stock; the number of species to be propagated; the differences in their spawning season; the capacity of ward tanks; incubators and larva-rearing devices; quantity and quality of the water; and the expertise of the operators. The capacity of fry nursing and fingerling rearing tanks and the rate of distribution of the young fish are other important factors.
Suggest a design of a low cost hatchery for inland fishing.

Some more problems

1) Rainfed Agriculture : Suggest better methods of dryland farming (or rainfed agriculture) which will help in increase of soil moisture, storage of crops, soil conservation, vegetative cover increase, crop and tree intensification system, etc.

2) Vertical Gardens : For small-holders and the landless in rural areas and for the city dwellers, land available for cultivation of home gardens is limited. However, gardening can be made vertical so as to use minimal land surface area. Various designs for such vertical gardens for both rural and urban areas need to be standardized.

3) Efficient Irrigation Practices : Design efficient irrigation practices which are cost effective as well as waste minimum amount of water. Some examples already in use are : Drip irrigation, Treadle pumps, simple air pressure tanks (for taking water over a long distance or at a height), storage tanks, siphon irrigation system, etc.

Results have been declared. The following teams have been shortlisted for the final presentation at Techfest, IIT Bombay:

UT 1071	UT 1596	UT 1906	UT 1985
UT 2010	UT 2194	UT 2398	UT 5481
UT 5633	UT 5742	UT 5765	UT 5767

Timeline

Abstract Stage	10th September, 2011	To be considered for mentorship, participants have to register and submit their abstract before 10th September in the specified format
Mentorship Stage	20th September, 2011 - 30th November, 2011	Mentors will be allotted to the shortlisted participants on 20th September. Participants will have to submit the first progress report of their project before 10th October. The second project report has to be sent before 30th October. The final documentation with video of the working model should be submitted before 30th November, 2011.
Registration Deadline for open entries	5th November, 2011	Last date for registration of open entries as well as international participants. However, the final report and video of working model can be submitted till 30th November.
Project Report and Video	30th November, 2011	Final project report with a video of the working model/ prototype will have to be submitted before 30th November.
Improvisation Stage	Upto 5th January, 2012	Shortlisted participants are to improve upon the working model/ prototype of their project and prepare a presentation for the final round.
Final Presentation and Video submission	25th December, 2011	Participants have to submit the final video and presentation to be displayed during the festival before 25th December.
Presentation Stage	6th-8th January, 2012	Final presentation along with a demonstration of the working model/ prototype.

Technical Report Format

The following points must be included and clearly highlighted in the abstract:

Title
Abstract
1.	Objectives
2.	Beneficiaries (For whom)
3.	Value of results (Use)

Background

Statement of Problem
1.	Succinct definition of problem (follows from material in the background section)

Research
1.	Present methods of tackling the problem (if any)
2.	Proposed Solution
3.	Alternate soultions/approaches
4.	Novelty of Approach: How is your solution better than existing products that address the same problem.

Technical Report
1.	Description of concepts, theories or approach involved in the proposed solution.
2.	Technical aspect of the proposed solution.
3.	Detailed technical specifications and pictorial representations (block diagrams)
4.	Description of the flow of operations demonstrating key features and functionality
5.	Performance estimate of the solution.
6.	Experimentation done to establish the workability of the above
7.	A link to the video of the working model/ prototype.

Results
1.	Actual findings, significant output of tests and analysis (Must be readable)
2.	Include problems encountered, believability of results, accuracy estimates
3.	Pros and Cons of your solution
4.	Utility of results

Application
1.	Your idea as a solution to the problem
2.	Additional applications
3.	Benefits to the users

Any other specific details

Technical Report Submission

The report should be mailed to utkarsh@techfest.org with the subject "Ideate: Utkarsh: Technical Report: Team Id" (For ex. Ideate: Utkarsh: Technical Report: UT1243) before 23:59 hrs on 30th November, 2011. Do not forget to mention your Team Id in the subject while sending it. Teams must follow the following details for the submission:

1. The abstract must be submitted in pdf format only
   
2. The abstract must not exceed 15 pages in length
   
3. Format for the abstract must be the same as above
4. Font: Verdana
   
5. Size: 11
   

Mentorship Stage

Mentorship is a unique feature of Ideate(Elixir, Earth, Utkarsh and Inspire India) which makes it different from our other competitions. Our mentors are intellectuals from elite educational institutes and industries. Teams can avail themselves of this opportunity by submitting an abstract of their idea latest by 10th September, 2011.

Participants unable to submit their abstracts by 10th September 2011 or those who haven't been shortlisted for mentor allocation can still participate by registering before 5th November 2011 and sending us a detailed technical report along with a video of the working model/prototype by 30th November 2011.

Prototype and Final Presentation

After declaration of the finalists, participants are required to improve upon the prototype/ working model of their project. They will also have to make a presentation covering the technical and financial aspects of their product in a detailed manner. This final presentation and the video will have to be submitted at utkarsh[at]techfest[dot]org before 25th December, 2011. The teams can however, continue to work on their prototypes till 5th January, 2011. The teams will have to bring their prototypes to be judged and showcased at Techfest 2012. The working prototype should be as close as possible to the product that the team intends to present to the end user. This would also help in deciding a better estimate of the cost of the prototype, reflecting closely the actual cost of the product.

General Rules

1. The competition is open to all (students, research scholars and professionals).
2. Every team has to register online on our website for the competition. A registration number will be allocated to the team on registration which shall be used for future references.
3. A team can register at any point of time before 5th November, 2011 and can submit final abstract and video (as mentioned in structure). However, only those abstracts that are submitted before 10th September, 2011 would be considered for mentorship.
4. All teams will have to submit the videos of their prototypes along with an abstract before 30th November, 2011.
5. The decision of judges shall be treated as final and binding on all.
6. Note that at any point of time the latest information will be that which is on the site. The information provided in the pdf downloaded earlier may not be the latest. However, registered participants will be informed through mail about any changes on the site.

For International Participants

All international participants will have to register before 5th November 2011, and will have to submit the videos of their prototypes along with a complete report before 30th November 2011.

Certificate Policy

Those teams that are shortlisted for the final round and give a final presentation about their work during Techfest 2012 will be awarded a Certificate of Participation. The top entries from this event will be provided with Certificate of Excellence.

Team Specifications

The participating entries must be in a team of a maximum of 4 [four] people. If the participating team feels that their idea requires more participants, they can forward their request, with suitable reasons, to utkarsh[at]techfest[dot]org with the subject "Utkarsh team number increase".

Judging Criteria

Utkarsh will be judged by a panel of experts. Following are the broad guidelines for judging:

1. Implementability.
2. Acceptability and User-friendliness (simplicity of the product).
3. Ease of production using local skills.
4. Better use of resources which are available in the local areas or ease of availability of raw materials and other resources available locally.
5. Performance and maintenance of the product.
6. Affordability of the product.
7. Novelty of thought.
8. Environmental friendliness.
9. Ergonomics if the team decides to make a well designed product.

Note: In some cases where it is not possible to make a working model then the team should make a prototype of their design. The prototype, though not necessarily working, should be anything that in some sense signifies how the actual model would look and work. However, only those ideas that require large scale implementation and high initial costs may remain into non-working prototypes.