Rural Technology Development and Delivery, 1st ed. 2019
RuTAG and Its Synergy with Other Initiatives
Design Science and Innovation Series

This book comprises the proceedings of a rural technologies conference organised by the Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG), which was conceptualized and initiated by Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India R. Chidambaram in 2003?04. The book highlights case studies and research into providing science and technology interventions for the development of rural areas. Covering various aspects of research carried out in the area of rural technologies, it offers a valuable resource for researchers, professionals, and policymakers alike.

Summary of Keynote Lectures and Panel Discussions of RTDD-2018.- Improved Technologies Under the Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG) at IIT Delhi.- Technology Interventions for Rural Development by RuTAG IIT Bombay: A Review.- Review of Science and Technology Interventions developed by Rural Technology Action Group- Tamil Nadu, IIT Madras.- A Comprehensive Review on Projects carried out by RuTAG Centre IIT Roorkee.- Design and Development of Technology Appropriate for Rural Community to Address Sustainability.- Understanding Barriers to Adoption of Grass-root Innovations – A Case Study of RuTAG Technologies.- Development of a Solar-powered Treadle Pump.- Failure Analysis of Comb for Sheep Hair Shearing Device.- High-frame-rate Video Analysis for Mobile Vibration-based Crop Inspection.- Tribology of steel-steel contact: Comb-cutter assembly for Sheep hair shearing device developed at IIT Delhi.- Redesigning the humble NMC (New model charkha).- Improving the Design of Bullock Driven Tractor (BDT) to Make it User-Friendly.- Developments to Overcome Problems in Traditional Process of Making Glass Bangles.- Technologies to support the technologies.- Development of a Low-Cost Ground Water Level Measuring Device.- Evolution of ‘Floating fish cages for inland waters’ developed by RuTAG IIT Bombay.-  Study of supply chain, production potential of hirda and design of hirda decortication machine for livelihood generation for tribal people.- Street Food Cart Design: a critical component of Food Safety.- Design of a Low-Cost Full-Face Mask for Stone Carvers.- Chirala Handloom Cluster - A solution to convert the tedious job of street sizing into a more of efficient/ergonomic/easier process.- Development of Modified Pump Used as Turbine in Micro Hydro Plants.- A Cost Effective and Field Deployable System for Soil Macronutrient Analysis Based on Near-infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy.-Designing a cow lift for downer cow: Experience of working on a rural technology.- Design and Development of Mechanical and Electronic Jacquard Handloom for Fine-Korai-Mat Weaving.- Development of Modified Bageshwari Wool Charkha.

Prof. Subir Kumar Saha received his mechanical engineering degree from RE College (now NIT), Durgapur, India, in 1983, prior to completing his M.Tech. at the IIT Kharagpur, India, and his Ph.D. at McGill University, Canada. After his studies, he joined Toshiba Corporation’s R&D Center in Japan. After four years of work experience in Japan, he has been with IIT Delhi since 1996, and is currently a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is actively engaged in teaching, research, and technology, and has completed projects worth more than US$ 1 million. He established the Mechatronics Laboratory at the IIT Delhi in 2001. In recognition of his international contributions, Prof. Saha was awarded a Humboldt Fellowship by the AvH Foundation, Germany, in 1999, and a Naren Gupta Chair Professorship at the IIT Delhi in 2010. He has also been a visiting faculty member in Canada, Australia, and Italy. Prof. Saha has authored more than 175 research publications in reputed journals/conference proceedings, delivered more than 150 invited/keynote lectures in India and abroad, written several books and helped developed RoboAnalyzer, a software package intended to make learning robotics fun.  

Prof. M. R. Ravi is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi. He received his M.E. and PhD. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1988 and 1991, respectively. His areas of interest include heat transfer, computational fluid dynamics, combustion, biomass energy and rural energy systems, and his research currently focuses on characterizing gaseous fuel mixtures, and developing energy-efficient biomass gasification and rural industrial energy systems. Prior to joining the IIT Delhi, he worked at the IIT Bombay, CNRS (France) and TU Delft (the Netherlands).