Fwd: Rural Tech – BSNL Irrigation Systems Controlled By Mobile Phones

[A K Ravishankar]

The best part about technology isn’t how it makes the already hassle free urban life easier but how it impacts the rural sector. Technological advancements have been very slow in trickling down to the rural population. There are a lot of problems in rural areas which if solved through technology, would make lives in villages much easier. Agriculture has been the principle occupation in Indian villages from ancient times. Since there haven’t been a lot of advancements in the agricultural sector, a simple task like switching off the irrigation systems also has a lot of danger associated with it. In many villages, night is only the time when uninterrupted power supple is available. So when a farmer has to either switch on or switch off the irrigation system at this time, he has to walk all the way to the fields and at times encounter snakes as well. M.P. Rajkumar, a 45 year old engineer from Tamil Nadu chose to tackle this problem and automate the whole process of switching on and switching off the irrigation system by making a mobile based control system to be attached onto the irrigation motor. Thanks to the telecom sector’s deep penetration in India almost every family has at least one mobile phone handset that is capable of receiving calls and sending messages. Rajkumar chose to use mobile phones as a remote for the control system he developed. Every unit of the control system has a BSNL modem attached to it which enables it to receive command and also send information via SMS or calls. By sending an SMS to a certain number the farmer can switch on or switch off the irrigation system. The farmer also gets SMS or call alerts when powers goes down and comes back up again. These call alerts are available in regional languages for farmers who can’t read. It also has an anti-theft alarm. The unit cost varies from Rs. 3,500 to 9,000 depending on the features. Rajkumar’s company EMRAL has sold 750 units in the past four years and hopes to sell 1,500 units this year. He concludes by saying that, “It’s all worth it if the innovation can prevent a worker from dying of a snake bite because he had to go out in the dark to turn on a motor”.

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Ravishankar A.K.
Founder&Managing Director
Aurobindo Bio Solutions (Chennai & Hyderabad)
Co-founder-
JaRID(jaridindia.wordpress.com)
Freelance Bio Consultant –
Vista Research Inc (www.vistaresearch.com)
Ambassador-
I-Genius India (www.i-genius.org)
GKP Young Social Entrepreneur Fellow.


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