This man from Assam has invented over 100 engineering devices to solve agricultural problems
Uddhab Bharali was born in Lakhimpur, Assam. He excelled in academics, and was notorious for asking too many questions. He dropped out of college in 1987 due to poverty. Trying to cope with his situation, he continued building gadgets in his free time. When the bank authorities told them to vacate their home due to his father’s debts, Uddhab built a polythene-making machine and sold it for Rs 67,000, against the market price of 5 lakhs.
Although he continued building products for rural and commercial purposes, it was only in 2005, when Uddhab’s talent was truly recognized. The National Innovation Foundation took him aboard as a grassroots innovator, where he soon came up with a design for a pomegranate de-seeding machine. His machine was recognized as the first of its kind not only in India, but across the world. As reported by The Hindu, Uddhab has also started a research workshop in his hometown to help local communities solve their technological needs.
The serial innovator has since then built a mini tea plant which helps small-time farmers, an areca nut peeling machine with a capacity to peel 100-120 nuts in a minute, a portable cassava peeler that can process up to 5 kg of cassava per minute, a garlic peeling machine, a tobacco leaf cutter, a paddy thresher, a cane stripping machine, a brass utensil polishing machine, a safed musli peeling machine, a jatropha de-seeder, a mechanized weeding machine, and a trench digger; among over hundred other inventions, mostly solving problems in the field of agriculture.
Uddhab recieved the ‘President’s Grassroots Innovation Award’ in 2009. He also received the ‘Shristi Samman Award’ in 2007. He is the winner of engineering design contest organized by NASA Tech ‘Create the Future Design Contest’ for the year 2012 and 2013. He also won the ‘Rashtriya Ekta Samman, in 2013. In an interview with Rediff, Uddhab said, “Even now, I have 53 projects on hand and I am currently responsible for an average of eight projects a month.” He uses the money he makes in housing 20 underprivileged kids, providing them with food, amenities, and training them in technology.
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