Nellayappan B
Assistant Director
Directorate of School Education
Kohima, Nagaland
Few days back I had the privilege of attending a two days summit on Innovations and New Knowledge in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene organized by the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad in association with the Government of Telangana where over 100 innovations in the areas of water potability and quality, water conservation and reuse, wastewater management, municipal solid waste management, plastic and e-waste, and faecal sludge management were showcased. The summit was attended by nearly 200 delegates comprising city commissioners, smart city professionals, representatives from public and private sector enterprises, venture capitalists, incubators etc. and senior bureaucrats from Telangana and GOI.
I was deputed to attend the summit mainly to get insight on latest technologies available to solve issues of school toilets becoming non-functional due to water scarcity and other similar issues related to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at Schools. Though my mind was initially curious to find solutions for few problems, the presentations made by the innovators were so fascinating that I fully got involved with the summit.
Of late, Governments and people with social concern have woken up to realize the gravity of water shortage the world faces now and would face in the next few decades. Even it is feared that the third world war would be fought over water. Though many initiatives have been taken at various levels to conserve water, contributions made by organizations such as industries, universities, colleges, schools, Govt. establishments , civic bodies , apartments , individual households etc to recycle water is very much negligible. The concept of recycling of waste water still remains foreign to many of us and we are still at the stage of infancy in case of solid waste management. Almost all the models exhibited by the innovators are adoptable to rural Indian environment, successfully tested and been functioning well in many places. The following are some of the important innovations/best practices that we could adopt in our State.
Dry San-Toilet ( Water free-No flush system), Solar zero flush zero odour toilet, Waterless and odourless urinal system, Smart sanitation o/s for smart cities, Toilet seat sanitizer, Safe and portable water purifier for remote areas and disaster zones, Waste water recycle plant, Sewage Treatment plant, Floating Islands for restoring and beautifying water bodies, Hard water softener, Sanitary napkin disposal & recycling machine, Geo care reusable cloth sanitary pads, Faecal sledge management systems, Kitchen waste compost , Waste management services through wastepickers, The Suz-Hook for collection of plastic waste, Multi sustainable rainwater scheme, etc.
The most interesting thing I have seen at the summit is that majority of the innovators are young professionals who gave up well paid corporate jobs to pursue their passion of innovating technology for a social cause. These young entrepreneurs spent their own money on research and development of the devices/units and now seek support of Govt. departments and public so that the fruits of their hard work could become tools of development of the nation. More importantly, the products are priced economically compared to the long term benefits they would yield. Though few State Governments encourage these entrepreneurs, finding financial support to produce and market their products seems to be their major obstacle.
Most of the innovations listed above are well suited for hilly regions like Nagaland and I sincerely believe that schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, business establishments, Govt. organizations etc could make use of these innovations and new knowledge and serve as a role model to the public. I humbly request authorities of all educational institutions to spare few minutes of their time to go through the brief descriptions of these innovative products and implement at least few of them in their institutions. We all know that schools and colleges are the right places to begin initiatives for social change. If we can inculcate healthy habits in children at young age, it will naturally bring desirable changes in the society within a short span of time.
Those interested to get soft copies of the ‘Catalogue of Innovations’ and the ‘Book of Innovations’ distributed at the summit may contact me through WhatsApp @ ‘9862925660’ or through email @ ‘bnellayappan@gmail.com’.
