This village is producing electricity in a mud pot with the Cow-dung and discarded battery cells. Here’s how?

You would have heard of Bio-gas plant, but here’s a totally different story.

This story is of village Poorejham Tiwari located on the Sultanpur road 5 kms. from Haidergarh town in Barabanki of Uttar Pradesh.

Brijesh Tripathi, a young farmer in village Poorejham, who is just intermediate passed out has invented this new way of producing electricity in a mud pot with cow-dung and discarded battery cells.

He takes cheap Chinese bulbs used in electric welts, and 3 discarded battery cells. He replaces the cover of those discarded cells and connects the positive and negative wires to it and then dip then in three mud pots filled with cow-dung paste and then he mixes a small quantity of salt and detergent powder to the paste and his process works well to generate electricity.

The village is deprived of electricity and only 2 liters of kerosene oil is distributed per family from the ration stores. In such conditions, the lives of the people of Poorejham village is miserable in the absence of any electricity. Few years ago only pillars for electricity have been installed in the village but no wires or electricity ever came to this village.

Brijesh says he read in the newspaper about the process and he thought of testing the same. When he experimented first the bulb lighted, then he checked it for radio and it worked and next he thought to charge the cellphone and the process worked.

Following Brijesh most of the villagers of Poorejham are producing electricity by his method and making their life easier. Now this formulae of Brijesh has became a hit in his village as well as in most of the nearby villages. Even the children in the village also know the formulae and are happy as they have electricity to carry on their studies.

Villagers are happy and surprised with the experiments that they get some electricity for their daily usage but they don’t know what chemical process goes behind to produce electricity in a mud pot filled with cow-dung and discarded battery cells. They hope when technical people will discover their experiment someday, they will create a better technology using their formulae.

We hope spreading their story can bring a change as well as electricity to their village.

 

 

Can you imagine what street children, rag-pickers and labor kids can do?

Delhi’s labor kids, street children and rag-pickers are doing a tremendous job. They are the reporters and publishers of their self – owned newspaper “Baalaknama.” Here’s the story:

“Where there is a will there is a way” or “Age is just the numbers” are all those proverbs which fit accurately to these kids. They have crossed the barriers of their age as well as the misconception what kids cannot accomplish.

It’s the story of these Delhi’s labor and rag-picker kids who are publishing and selling their own newspaper named “Baalaknama”. The story is totally a different and interesting one from what one can expect from any kid.

Chandni, chief editor of Balaknama, started this work when she was just 5. Chandni’s father died when she was quiet young, which made her responsible to feed her family and the circumstances led her to become a rag-picker. But, then she had her own dreams which led her to work this way.

The newspaper publishes the news about child abuse, child crime and child labor. The reporting network is spread across Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. They have a team of 2 reporters in every area who collect news from their designated areas. Most of the team members are rag-pickers or labors.

The main area of concern is that till now more than 10000 kids have been joined the team as reporters. Those who cannot write narrate their news orally. Those who are 18 years and above are appointed as advisors in the newspaper.

An NGO named Chetna is also helping these kids in accomplishing their mission. At times these kids distribute free copies of their newspaper too so that their news can reach people at large.

The price for the newspaper is set for ₹ 2/- only, which is much cheaper than any other newspaper. These kids are engaged in their initiative towards creativity and journalism which will provide them a healthier life safe from robbery, begging, rag-picking and other child crimes.

Also read a similar story of 9 years old Hilde Lysiak, a self made reporter and a publisher of Orange Street News in Pennsylvania .

Above story also reminds me of 10-Years-Old Ishita Katyal who says, “Instead of asking children what they want to do in future, ask them what they want to do now. Ask them their vision for a better world. Ask them what they are doing to change this world. Ask them the real life problems they are solving. This will allow you all to empower a new generation to go faster than any generation ever has.”

“We can do a lot in this moment, in the present. The problem is our world has many forces working against the dreams of children.” says Ishita Katyal, the youngest Indian Ted-X Speaker.

All these kids are a big source of inspiration to others and we wish them good-luck in all their future endeavors.

Yourdost.com started by these IITians have saved 70k people from suicide after quitting their MNC jobs

The startup Yourdost.com is a brainchild of Richa Singh, an IIT Guwahati alumni and her former colleague Puneet Manuja, a graduate of IIT Calicut.

Though the duo was happy in their well paying jobs at multinational companies, they felt the need to start a forum that can help youngsters deal with emotional problems. They wanted it to be a tech-based platform.

The result was YOURDOST, which kicked off operations in December 2014. It now gets over 12,000 hits a month.

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“Not everyone goes to a psychologist when they feel low. There is a certain stigma attached to it. Hence, the online platform. We have a trained set of psychologists who deal with everything from relationship matters and peer pressure to anxiety, stress and parental issues,” said Richa.

The service is free. When asked what made her quit a well paying job and start the venture with her savings, Richa said: “When I was studying in IIT Guwahati in 2008, a friend of mine committed suicide. It shook me. There was a psychologist on campus but not many approached the expert. I realized people were hesitant to talk about their problems. That’s when I started collecting contact details of psychologists across India and even met many. I had come to Bengaluru too. After talking to them, I understood what the hitch was -recognizing the problem itself.”

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One homemaker worried about her son failing in BE and wanting to become a chef to a squabbling couple, they come across diverse cases.”It’s all about emotional wellness, how to make oneself more productive and happy in a relationship. The task is how to reduce the high-stress levels among young adults,” said Puneet.

The counsellors at YOURDOST are called special friends. They are online 24X7. Shaifali Verma, a psychologist, recalled the case of a man who was contemplating suicide. “He came from a dysfunctional family and was suffering from insomnia and vitamin B12 deficiency. Working for long hours had taken a toll on him. We were able to calm him down and he was asked to meet a psychiatrist the next day,” said Verma

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Social Stigma

“If a person can’t easily strike a conversation or mingle with friends, there is a problem that needs to be addressed. If you have a stomach ache, don’t you go to the doctor? Then why not when you can’t do something as simple as talking to people. Social stigma is to blame,” said Richa.

Success stories are regularly uploaded on YOURDOST website, so that those dealing with similar issues can relate to them and seek help, she added. Richa is one of the three INK2015 fellows chosen from Bengaluru for her work.

Originally Published at Times Of India.

At the age 17, Eshaan Balbale bridged a muddy gap constructing 100 feets long bamboo bridge in just 8 days

Here’s the story of  a 17 years old Eshaan Balbale student of Thane’s Bedekar College who says just talking or politicizing over issues don’t solve out problems while working on them does.

Meet 17 years old Eshaan Balbale, who created a temporary bamboo bridge 100 feets long in just 8 days and promises for it’s maintenance so that the students in the area can reach their school with safely and hygiene. 

At such an age of 17, realizing the need of the hour to construct the bridge for the Sathe Nagar students and residents he did a tremendous job in just 8 days which politicians and corporations fail to do in years. He constructed 4 feet wide and a 100 feet long temporary bamboo bridge over the fetid nullah in just 8 days over which 50 people can cross the bridge at a time.

He was deeply moved to see the Sathe Nagar students walking through a 1.5 km long filthy, foul smelling sewage to reach school everyday as he spend most of his time in the area. Few residents had even lost their lives during rainy season when water level rises.

The bridge connects Sathe Nagar and PGMP Colony. Crossing the nullah daily for reaching schools was very risky for many children attracting various skin infections and diseases like malaria, dengue and many other, which was also being a cause for various students to drop school. Several parents were also reluctant to send their children to school. I felt terrible when I saw the children wade through the disgusting sludge,” he says. plan to visit the site at least once a month. If the bridge is used responsibly, it should easily last for a couple of years. In the meantime, I will repair the bridge as and when the need arises,” he promises.

Eshaan Balbale set up the NGO Nirbhay Yuva Pratishthan, where he encourages other youngsters to participate in similar philanthropic ventures. He marks his act as a new learning experience for him.

Eshaan’s future aim is to build toilets and improve sanitation conditions in the area. We wish him goodluck in all his future endevours and hope he becomes an inspiration to more young minds via his NGO Nirbhay Yuva Pratishthan.