Every morning, as I walk to the bus stand, I cross a local school here, a government school. I hear loud singing voices; the same songs every morning – the prayers and the national anthem. I pause and smile. School is such a beautiful feeling! Only when I am returning home in the afternoon do I mutter curses under my breath. Swarms of children run madly in all directions in and out of the school. With their uniform loosely hanging over their bodies and a few torn books falling out of their bags, I see the dismal picture of ‘education’. I wish these kids had a way to study at better schools, where they would truly be educated. There could also be an alternate option. Why not improve the quality of education in these government schools? That’s exactly what Sikshana does.

In 2002, Mr. E S Ramamurthy, retired chairman of BHEL in Bangalore wanted to work on a social cause. He started working with a primary school to understand their functioning and their problems. Initially he remained associated with aangan badis, overseeing the midday meal programmes. Yet, after it was taken up by the government, Ramamurthy decided to do something more. He decided to focus on the quality of education in government schools and act as a facilitator. The founder member of Sivasri Trust, which operates Sikshana, Ramamurthy started out in 2004. In the next one year, he could cover ten schools. Since then, there his idea has known no bounds. He gradually strengthened the Trust and found more board members. In 2007, one of the funders, Mr V.R. Prasanna, having returned from the US after 16 years, joined the Board as a fulltime Director.

Prasanna explains the Sikshana model, “I realised that the model was very successful and could be replicated. I joined as the Programme Director with a view to scale it up. It is a decentralized approach. We try to understand the basic needs of each school, based on the village and community conditions. The idea was to empower schools by disbursing funds and bring in management concepts. Since 99% of our schools are in rural areas, we noticed that students found it difficult to express what they knew. Hence, we focused on four skills – Read, Write, Compute and Express!”

What started with ten schools has today grown to 375 schools, covering almost 50 000 students. Sikshana acts as a facilitator, providing resources and guidance to the schools. In India, 90% of all children in the 6-14 age group attend a public school, which is why the Sikshana team felt that any meaningful effort to improve the educational standards of the new generation should necessarily start here. The value additions are countless. Take technology, for instance. Prasanna explains, “We started our initiative of providing one laptop per school and one pendrive per child. Being able to access a computer helps children overcome their fear of technology. Kids are even learning English faster, because of computers. We have English-Kannada dictionary installed in every system. We make sure every child comes forward to use the facility. We also help those who excel or are able to do better than the others by conducting summer technology camps for them. At the end of every year, we organise a computer summit, across schools. Two students from each school give presentations. This increases their confidence levels. We know that our students will be able to become whatever they want in life, because of the kind of exposure they get.”

Many individuals who want to make a difference in the society often wonder how they would do it all by themselves. When I look at Sikshana and the magnitude, impact and diversity of their projects, I am assured that anything is possible if you want it bad enough. Prasanna writes on the Sikshana blog, “With Sikshana yet to hit the 20 employee mark and the need to manage nearly 375 schools in 7 blocks, a question that naturally comes to one’s mind is how is Sikshana able to conduct such large events in addition to mentoring all the schools. I am seeing increasing signs of the teachers and the department taking ownership of Sikshana. An increasing number of teachers have started to believe in themselves.”

Thus, on one hand children are imbued with an enthusiasm to learn actively and on the other, the staff is more aware of its role and potential. With Skishana playing the facilitator, the day is not far when public schools will be at par with, if not superior to, the private schools.

Twenty one year old Amol Pashilkar attempted his SSC examination in the year 2004-05. Unfortunately, he could not clear his examinations; he passed only in English. Since his confidence levels suffered a blow, he found it very difficult to reappear. After a four year long gap, in 2009, he took admission in Milind Night High School. With his renewed focus, could he clear the examinations?

Amol got 74% in his SSC. How did this drastic improvement come about? Amol could leap forward in academics because of the extra classes conducted by a Maharashtra based social organization that goes by the name Masoom. Masoom works with night schools in Mumbai, with the aim of improving academic performance of night school students.

Masoom is the first organization in Maharashtra to run a comprehensive intervention program for night schools. Masoom offers a unique approach to planning and implementing a comprehensive program for night schools based on their different needs. Masoom’s strategy for sustainable change is to work in the spirit of partnership with all major stakeholders in the education system. Because of Masoom, many like Amol could complete their education. Their interest in studies increases tremendously.

Tracing the beginnings

Nikita Ketkar, the founder of Masoom, stumbled upon the idea of helping night schools back in 2001. She was working in the civil services and was appointed on a project to identify child domestic workers, in the night school of Mumbai. Nikita adds, “I came across students who were largely self-motivated. They worked during the day and would attend classes in the evening. Nobody was forcing them to school. They came because they wanted to learn. It was sad to see that justice wasn’t being delivered to their aspirations.”

In 2006, Nikita further undertook research related to problems faced by night school students, under the Pukar Scholarship. Based on the findings, she decided to do something about these issues. She resigned from office and founded Masoom in 2008, her entire research team by her side. To facilitate learning for night school students, Masoom has developed a three pronged approach:

1. Providing Infrastructure such as computers, Science laboratory apparatus, mathematic kits, library books, notebooks, educational charts, workbooks and worksheets, teacher training material, Braille textbooks and audio-visual material

2. Capacity Building by organizing training sessions and workshops for teachers, parents and students, vocational guidance for students, counseling, extra curricular classes such as Life skills, yoga, meditation

3. Advocacy: Masoom works closely with all stakeholders and intend to act as an advocate for all issues concerning night schools

Since night schools are run from 6:30 to 9:30 in the evening, most of these kids come after long hours of work. By providing meals, Masoom ensures that they can study more efficiently. Nikita adds, “We want to build not just academic strength but also employability. Many students who earlier had to study with an empty stomach could not focus. Now we provide meals. The kids call it ‘nashta’ as sometimes it is the only meal they have in the day.”

In its own unique way, Masoom has touched the lives of many students, growing from just two schools to now ten. There are courses called the ‘bridge courses’ that help drop outs overcome gaps and at the same time, there is facility of psycho counseling for students with learning disabilities. They also help link students to government certified computer courses, for which they have initiated scholarships for part funding. With such personal care and concern for holistic development, there are bound to be many many success stories like Amol’s.

Visit Masoom’s website here: http://masoomforu.org/

In this article, we write about the Biomass Cooking Stove innovation that is being nurtured by the Villgro foundation.

Context and problems with LPG

Micro and small establishments that provide boarding services to 40 – 100 individuals in rural and semi-rural areas face the three pronged problem of not having the access, both financially and in terms of availability , to LPG, having to incur the costs of large amounts of biomass required to run their relatively inefficient stoves and dealing with the associated health impacts that inefficient, outdated stoves generate.
Unlike small households, micro and small establishments rely on purchasing fire wood and not on collecting biomass. These costs average around 2000 Rs. / ton. As such the inefficiency of stoves used by this category of users has a direct impact on their expenditure and thus on their income and savings. When compared to households these establishments utilize their stoves for much longer (upto 10 hours a day when catering to 100 customers) and thus the impacts on wood consumption and health issues are
exasperated.

Burning wood creates CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Establishments, based on size, generate between 20 – 80 tons of co2 a year. While small when considered at a national or global scale, this contributes to climate change in its own way.

Enter Biomass Cooking Stove, an innovation by Svati Bhogle of SustainTech India Pvt. Ltd.

The Biomass Cooking stove is an application specific high efficiency wood burning stove specifically designed for a range of cooking needs. The innovation offers to the end user: saving in fuel costs, by being up to 50% more efficient than conventional stoves and improved health impacts. The features that make the stoves innovative are, optimum air fuel ratios controlled by efficient vents, well designed combustion chamber volume resulting in high combustion and heat transfer efficiencies, good insulation to prevent losses to the walls and an optimally designed chimney to vent the flue gases away from the breathing zone of the cooks and designed to reduce heat losses to the atmosphere.

Who is impacted and how?

Owners of micro and small boarding establishments, including semi-portable food vendors will be impacted. This covers a range of individuals with daily revenues between 500 to 5000 rupees per day. A market survey revealed that the total number of tea shops, small & medium hotels and street food vendors to be 73,650 in the state of Tamil Nadu alone.
On the lower end of the economics scale – this includes street side food vendors who spend considerable amounts of their income on firewood. These individuals were shown to spend upto 30,000 Rs. annually on firewood with monthly take home incomes of around 7000 Rs. On the higher end of the economics scale – this includes proprietors of small size ‘hotels’ catering to the needs of approximately a 100 customers a day.

Environmental, social and economic benefits

SustainTech India Pvt. Ltd. (SIPL) is reaching out to the needs of a fuel stressed segment of society – initially the street food vendors, who operate on push carts and where cooking is done inside the cart or on railway platforms, roadside shops and small hotels who with a roof and some seating capacity.
A survey conducted shows that these stoves are in operation for about 10 hours every day and each unit caters to about 100 clients every day. The 65,000 fuel efficient wood burning stoves (considering only the tava, frying stoves and tea kettles) that would be sold by SIPL in the first five years would therefore offer a safer, cooler and healthier working environment to at least 65,000 cooks and 6.5 million people who would eat
around these stoves every day. India has a high incidence of respiratory ailments and a smoke free working environment would reduce the medical expenses of the affected people working around wood fires.
The survey data also shows that 38% of the street food vendors and tea shops use kerosene for their cooking needs. Very limited kerosene is available in fair price shops and this is inadequate. Very often the sector uses unfair means to procure kerosene creating stress and tension besides eroding the profitability.

Moving to a biomass stove would reduce the stress associated with procurement of kerosene, improve profitability of the business and show that it is possible to replace a fossil fuel with a renewable energy source.
At the global level the movement to a fuel efficient wood stove would significantly abate CO2 emission. A survey conducted in the project area shows that stoves are in use for about 8 -14 hrs every day and for 300 -350 days in a year. Data has also been collected about fuel consumption patterns in conventional stoves and performance of improved stoves tested and some of them certified. With a projected stove life of 5 years, the carbon abatement potential of the venture through installations in the first 5 year planning period would be 3.7 million tons of CO2. (1 kg of firewood saved = 1.5 kg of CO2).
Firewood is purchased by the end users of SIPL products at Rs 2000 / ton. The saving in fuel costs, because of energy efficiency should enable the end user to payback the cost of the stove without financial stress in 12- 18 months. Each stove purchased would on an average save Rs 20,000 – 30,000 of fuel cost every year.

The enterprise projects that through its intervention and in their life time, the stoves installed in the first
5 years period, it would conserve Rs 4000 million in fuel costs thus creating wealth for a very needy community.

Today, The Better India completes 2 years of its existence. What started as a personal quest for positive news is now shaping up into a media organization covering some wonderful stories of courage, entrepreneurship, compassion and development. For this, we would like to pause here and thank you, our reader, for encouraging us and showing us that we were not the only ones who wanted an alternative view of life around us.

We would also like to thank the following:

• All the readers (yeah, once again!) who believed in our vision and helped us by referring to individuals and organizations that are bringing about a change.
• The fantastic organizations and individuals who are working relentlessly to bring about a difference in our society, community and environment.
• Dr. Sandeep Kochar who, even though he didn’t know us, flew down to Bangalore all the way from the USA to meet us and help us in our endeavors! You can read his experience here.
• MAM movies for inviting us over to IIM-A, where we addressed an esteemed gathering and showcased this initiative.
• Sowmya, a regular reader with a visual challenge, who was inspired by the article “Blind with Camera” to follow her dream of pursuing photography.
• The hundreds of readers who write to us regularly with kind words of appreciation. It really helps us to keep going!
• The freelance journalists who have contributed guest articles and added new perspectives to this site.
• Our Twitter followers for spreading the word about every article lightning fast. Also for offering to help us get our own logo (which is due to come out soon!)

It has been a wonderful 2 years of trying to practice positive journalism. As we reflect back, we would like to feature some of our favourite articles:

• Mirakle Couriers: Career Haven for the Deaf
• Comics for a Cause
• Doctor couple does wonders for tribals at Sittilingi
• Khabar Lahariya – A Weekly Newspaper in Bundeli
• Interview: Smita Ram – Rang De

We are loving this discovery of the better India, we hope so are you.

In this article we bring to you an interesting invention by Mr. Vivekanandan, who is now being mentored and assisted by the Villgro foundation. Going by the good old adage ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, the device was invented by Mr. Vivekandan because of a real-world problem that his fellow villagers faced.

The Problem

Chili and coriander powder are so central to South Indian cuisine, that village residents will travel 25 km by bus to get it ground. They are forced to do this because the existing machines to grind chili and coriander are usually very large, have high installation costs, and use too much power to be suitable for rural areas.

Mr. Vivekanandan’s Solution

Mr. Vivekanandan’s innovative solution was a pin pulverizer that was modified for small capacities, yet could still grind chili and coriander. The material is centrally fed into the pin pulverizer’s milling chamber, which consists of two discs with pins: one is stationary and the other is rotary. The material that passes through the space between the stationary and rotary pins gets scissored, and converted into a fine powder. The perforated screen at the bottom filters the powder, and it is discharged through it.

When Mr. Vivekanandan applied to Villgro, pin pulverizers that could grind spices were already being manufactured with a capacity of 150 to 4000 kg/hr. A pin pulverizer that had a capacity of 30 kg/hr was also available, but it was only able to grind cereals.

Mr. Vivekanandan’s journey with Villgro literally began with a journey. He came to know about Villgro and its activities when he accidentally met an employee of Villgro on a train. At this point Mr. Vivekanandan had already invested Rs. 8 lakhs (approximately US$ 18,700) of his own money, and had created a 3 HP pin pulverizer without any external help. He thought he had solved 90% of the problems in grinding chili and coriander, and had manufactured 100 machines. But of these only 20 were sold. Even worse, three quarters of these machines were returned because the chili and coriander did not pass through the screen, and because they created too much dust. The work came to a standstill, and did not resume until almost a year later, when he was introduced to Villgro.

Villgro tapped several different resources to work on this problem. These were the technical expertise of their own staff, the assistance of a consultant from TANSTIA-FNF, Mr. Ashok Iyengar, and InnoCentive, an “open innovation” company that opens up research and development problems for anyone to solve. The solution arrived at was to increase the speed of the rotor to 6600 rpm.

While increasing the speed of the rotor is a seemingly simple solution, for Mr. Vivekanandan the key realization was that the chili and coriander were getting stuck in the screen not because of their high fiber content, but because of the speed of the rotor. In addition, Mr. Vivekanandan was concerned that to run the rotor at higher speeds, he would need much more expensive bearings. Consequently, if the cost of the machine increased, then grinding chili and coriander could not become a viable income generating activity for rural women. Mr. Vivekanandan is quick to emphasize that the main assistance that Mr. Iyengar provided to him was in giving him greater confidence, and in allaying his fears.

Mr. Iyengar first assisted Mr. Vivekanandan in producing a 5 HP, 3-phase machine, because his machine could not initially be run at the increased speed on 3 HP. However as in rural areas the preference is for a 1 HP, single-phase machine, Mr. Vivekanandan subsequently reduced his machine’s weight, wall thickness, size and diameter of the stator and rotor so that it is suitable for rural areas. Mr. Vivekanandan has also attempted to bring the cost of the machine down to cater to rural needs by focusing on the types and amount of materials used. However he has maintained the quality of the essential components such as the bearings and blades.

Below is a picture of a villager using the pin pulverizer. Fantastic innovation which is sure to benefit hundreds of villagers!

Note about the Villgro Foundation: Villgro is a not-for-profit company empowering rural development by identifying and incubating innovations that could be translated to market based social enterprise models thus impacting thousands of lives. In efforts to impact rural life, VILLGRO actively promotes social entrepreneurship and works with different stakeholders to create and support an eco-system that empowers social entrepreneurship by means of seed funding, mentoring, networking and recognition. Villgro has impacted over 360,000 rural users with technology & solutions reaching the grassroots. Villgro has identified and activated more than 2000 social innovators.

Spiti, a tranquil valley in Himachal Pradesh at an average altitude of 3600 meters is home to around 10,000 Buddhists. Spiti Ecosphere is a social enterprise formed by the collaborative effort of the local community and professionals from diverse backgrounds with the aim of creating sustainable livelihoods linked to nature and culture conservation.

Spiti Ecosphere is focussing on the economic empowerment, development and conservation of the region through their range of products and services. These include the following:

• Eco Travel which takes us close and personal with the mighty Himalayas and the nature & culture of Spiti. It is an initiative to promote eco-tourism in the region. Eco Travel offers various options to the discerning traveler ranging from a Spiritual Sojourn of the monasteries to the Pugmarks where one gets to track the elusive snow leopard and the Himalayan wolf in the midst of this treasure trove of biological diversity.
• Organics – Spiti’s unique ecosystem is richly endowed with various indigenous species. Ecosphere has streamlined the process for extracting and sourcing these rare Himalayan herbs including SeaBuckthorn popularly known as the “Wonder Berry”
• Conservation – Mountain ecosystem and economics share a symbiotic relationship, and maintaining the balance with the environment is critical to the sustainability of livelihoods. Muse, Spiti SeaBuckthorn Society and Spiti Trans-Himalyan Action Group have been working in the region on the issues of climate change, promoting renewable energy, waste management and the Dhangkar initiative. Dhangkar, originally called Dhakkar meaning ‘citadel on a cliff’, was the erstwhile capital of Spiti . The Dhangkar Monastery is one of the five major monastic centres in Spiti and belongs to the Gelug–pa sect of Vajrayana Buddhism. It is a heritage conservation site in a state of despair listed in the ‘World’s Hundred Most Endangered Sites’ by the World Monuments Watch Program. Check out www.dhangkar.com to know more about Dhangkar

In the near future, Ecosphere plans to come up with some very innovative projects. One of them includes “Environment education in schools”, the belief being that awareness about the environment should start early by educating children in schools. They are also planning to come up with a short documentary showcasing the Spiti way of living and at the same time sensitising travelers and communities on how to ensure that it remains preserved.

To know more about Spiti Ecosphere and the wonderful work they are carrying out in this beautiful valley of the Himalayas, visit their website at http://www.spitiecosphere.com/

You can also connect with them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55566667952

For volunteering and other opportunities, mail them at info[at]spitiecosphere[dot]com

Meet Anil kumar who has a hearing disability. He used to work in a papad factory earning Rs.1500 a month for a daily workload of 10 hours. Then he came to know about Noida Deaf Society and enrolled for their English course in the year 2007. Eventually he got placed in Leela Kempinski Hotels, Gurgaon much to his joy and satisfaction. “I have learnt to commit to my job from NDS, and the value of having a good job and a regular salary,” says Anil.

Noida Deaf Society was started in the year 2005 single-handedly by Ruma Roka and now this organization is impacting over 300 students through its various courses. Here is an interview of Ruma on NDS, her inspiration and the impact she is creating:

Here is a photograph of Ruma with the entire NDS family:

To know more about NDS and to go through their work, please visit their website: http://noidadeafsociety.net/

So what are the options you look at when you go out to buy furniture? Wood, metal, even plastic? How about getting home some bamboo furniture the next time you go shopping? Not only will you be making an environmentally friendly choice, you will also be providing employment opportunities to millions of rural and tnribal artisans living in abject povevrty in the bamboo belt of India. Thanks to the research and efforts by two young entrepreneurs, Prashant Lingam and Aruna, this is now a possibility.

With the idea germiating from their own search for an eco-friendly furniture option, Bamboo House India came into being officially in May 2008, after the founders spent about 9 months on study and experimentation. In this time, Prashant and Aruna Kappagantula were exposed to the miserable living conditions of the bamboo artisans of North-East India and decided that the aim of their enterprise would not only be to create a space for bamboo in the Indian furniture market, but also to generate employment for 5 million artisans. Lofty as it might sound, they went ahead and created a tangible business plan which included building expertise and spreading awareness about bamboo and its uses, creatively utilizing bamboo in multiple scenarios including furniture, structure and flooring, and setting up a chain of bamboo showrooms all across the country for retailing the products created by these artisans.

Their journey towards creating “green livelihoods” was not an easy one. There were several hurdles faced by these entrepreneurs, and not just from one source. Firstly, there is not much information available on bamboo and its properties and uses, and the duo had to almost start from scratch and build their own data bank through study and experimentation. They lost almost 4 lakh rupees on bamboo furniture they built initially because they were not aware that bamboo traps moisture and cracks. They gained a lot of knowledge from the artisans in North East who have been in the trade from centuries. However, communicating with these artisans and uniting them under one banner posed its own callenges. The severe lack of infrastructure in the areas where they reside caused great delays in execution. It sometimes took 25 days for the furniture design to reach the artisan by post, and he had to travel 40kms to inform Prashant or Aruna that he had received it. The provision of mobile phones, the internet and cameras has eased the situation now.

Not the least of the problems was convincing the government authorities and finding support for the venture. After considerable persuasion, Bamboo House India managed to get support from Confederation of Indian Industries (CII-Hyderabad) for setting up the stores, starting the first one in Hyderabad. They have also partnered with institutions like IIT-Delhi, National Institute of Design and National Mission on Bamboo Application to set up model homes and instill confidence in the utility of bamboo. Aid from entities like IL&FS and APTDC went a long way in providing the impetus and helping them to spread the word about their work.

Prashant and Aruna have great plans for the future. They hope to set up 3-5 exclusive bamboo outlets in the next 3-5 years and also expand into niche segments like bamboo flooring and clothing. We wish them luck and encourage you to support their cause by visiting their store today. Find out more about them on their website: http://www.bamboohouseindia.org/

Every one of us living in these bustling metropolises has always dreamt of a city devoid of traffic snarls, incessant honking and pollution. FreMo, India’s first bicycle sharing programme is a step in that direction.

FreMo derived from ‘Freedom To Move’ gives the commuter freedom to move from one place to another, without depending on the public transport or using their own car/ bike. Various FreMo depots have been established in Thane . All one has to do is register with them, take a cycle from one of these depots and deposit it in the depot nearest to his/her destination.

They have various membership plans, depending on the usage. Every FreMo member is entitled to a personal accident assurance of Rs. 5 lakh.

Here’s an interview with V. Ramesh , Founder CEO & Director of FreMo.

Q: What triggered you to start Freedom to Move?

After visiting Barcelona in early 2008, when I came to India, there was a huge petrol price hike.  And I saw many people trying to cut down their expenditure on petrol as much as possible.  This prompted me to think that making the use of bicycles convenient would make people accept the idea of cycling for daily activities.  Once a person signs up with us, he need not depend on autos or buses and has the freedom to move.  Thus, FreMo (short form for Freedom to Move) was born.

Q :Tell us about the  hurdles you came across while setting up the venture?

The hurdles started with people being surprised that I am moving out of a comfortable job as a CEO in a NBFC (Non-banking finance company) to become a “cyclewalla” and telling me not to do it.

Then came the struggle to get people to accept this as a workable idea.  Getting funds was the worst experience of my life.  All so called ‘venture’ capitalists never wanted to venture in to this social concept.  They were only interested in two things (a) How much will I make out of this investment (b) what is the exit route for me.  This gave me a confirmation that all those guys are only “investors” and not ‘venture capitalists’.  Even the requirement of a small amount of Rs. 2 crores did not find donors. Then I started looking to banks to support this project.  All of them, except one were unresponsive. Finally, Bank of Baroda supported this project.

Then there was a struggle to try and meet up with the government authorities like TMC whose support is vital for the success of this programme.  I drew a blank in their response.

Finally, the struggle was to get staff.  Many of them did not feel that this was a business they wanted to be associated with.  Most of them wanted to work in a call centre or IT or other such businesses which are well known.

Q: What is the general feedback of the customers?

Both customers and potential customers have excellent words to say about this project.  All of them feel that we need this project in the current context since the environmental situation is getting from bad to worse.  Besides, the traffic issues are so many that people traveling short distances are fed up with them.  They are also victims of high unpredictability on their travel time.  If one day they get an auto or a bus in 5 minutes, the next day they may end up waiting for 25 minutes.  Their plans often go awry.

The best aspect of this service is the predictability for a person to reach a station.  Every day, one reaches the station in 15 minutes.  Besides saving time and money.

Q: What is the kind of social impact your organization has succeeded in bringing about?

Social impact from this project is multi-pronged.

1. We will reduce the traffic congestion when more and more people start taking the bicycle route to travel.  Reduction in traffic means immediate reduction in pollution, both air and noise.
2. Health of the people will improve as they will be exercising daily as a part of their travel and also they will start breathing cleaner air.  Besides, since the unpredictability is removed, the stress level of people also reduces.
3. Due to reduction in travel expenses (which is at least 30-40 rupees daily, i.e. about 1000 rupees every month), the purchasing power of the people will increase, thereby improving their living standard.
4. It will release some  parking space in the city because, there will be less and less people using cars for the local 3-4 kms travel.
5. People will save time (perhaps at least one hour daily) and be able to do more things.
6. Finally it will also change the way we live.

Q : What are the future plans for FreMo ?Are you thinking of expanding to other states?

Yes.  Fremo intends to move to all other cities and make this a phenomenon across various cities.  Next we would look at launching it in Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and New Delhi.

*****

We hope the idea is a runaway success and we all get to reap its immense benefits at the earliest.
For further details, please visit their website: http://www.fremo.in/

Introducing ‘AVAZ’ – a product created by Invention Labs, Chennai. AVAZ provides a ‘voice’ to a non-verbal child with Cerebral Palsy, allowing him/her to communicate with friends, family and teachers. By enabling speech-impaired children to communicate easily, this device is helping them become much more independent and free from their existing barriers.

Cerebral Palsy – The Problem

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a congenital condition in which the motor cortex of the brain is damaged. People with cerebral palsy are unable to achieve muscle control and coordination. Cerebral palsy is non-progressive, non-contagious and permanent. The incidence of Cerebral palsy is 2-2.5 persons per 1000 live births, and the estimated population of CP cases in India is approximately 25 lakhs (cited from publicly available information).
Approximately 40-55% of people with CP are affected in all muscles below the head (quadriplegia and diplegia). In most of these cases, these include the muscles that produce speech, and such persons are consequently non-verbal. In conjunction with their inability to move their hands or feet in a coordinated manner, this impairment means that they do not have access to any of the traditional ways of communication.

Most children with CP are of normal intelligence, and are handicapped in education and employment primarily due to their lack of communication abilities.

AVAZ

AVAZ is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device for children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). AVAZ is a portable speech synthesizer which can be controlled by gross motor movements of a child with CP, such as approximate movement of the head or of large muscle groups. These movements are captured by the use of a touch-screen or an external switch to allow the child to create text sentences on the device using predictive software, and this text is read out by the device. AVAZ is thus an artificial voice for the child.

How did AVAZ achieve this?

Invention Labs began engaging with IIT Madras and Vidya Sagar to develop commercially viable Voice Output Communication Aids in 2008. Sustained research and development on the device began in May 2008 in collaboration with Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Departments at IIT Madras. Invention Labs received a grant of Rs 10 lakhs under the Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP) from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, in February 2009, which was used to fund the development of AVAZ in part.

Invention Labs continuously engaged with Vidya Sagar’s teachers and students to validate the usability and impact of the prototypes of the device. After a couple of rounds of prototyping and based on feedback from children as well as teachers, the design was finalized, and the beta version of the device went into production. AVAZ was launched in February 2010 and has been warmly welcomed by the community of special educators as a step in the right direction.

The Details

AVAZ consists of two components – a wheelchair mountable speech synthesizer and text prediction software that runs on this synthesizer. The speech synthesizer has been designed to be usable by children with different abilities and has the following features:

• Large 7” LCD display with Touchscreen
• Speakers and Audio Jack – for voice output and audio prompts
• USB port – to connect non-contact switches that get activated when they sense motion
• Mono Jack port – to connect contact switches that get activated when pressed
• Rechargeable battery (in-built)
• Wheelchair mount (optional)

The text prediction software helps children do two things – creating sentences and speaking them out. Sentences are created in AVAZ using a technique called ‘scanning’. The user can select an option by pressing anywhere on the touchscreen or by using any contact or non-contact switch that is connected to the speech synthesizer. In order to speed up text creation, AVAZ features learning and prediction. It is able to remember sentences and words used by the child in the past, and it accelerates the entry of commonly used templates. AVAZ currently supports nearly 10000 words in the English language, and many more can be added by the child if needed.

The text prediction software comes with many options to enable children to customize the device to suit their needs:
a. Scan speed can be modified to suit the child’s comfort
b. Audio mode is available to help visually impaired children hear the current position of the highlight
c. New words can be added by the user to the in-built dictionary of AVAZ.
d. Frequently used sentences can be added as a ‘template’ for quick retrieval

Benefits to the Children

AVAZ provides a ‘voice’ to a non-verbal child with Cerebral Palsy, allowing him/her to communicate with friends, family and teachers.

• AVAZ enables these children to express themselves – children can convey virtually any thought in their minds by creating messages dynamically and using the speech synthesizer to ‘speak’.
• AVAZ helps them become independent – children can interact with the device based on their ability. A number of interaction switches, contact as well as non-contact, are compatible with AVAZ and can be used to operate the device.
• AVAZ allows them to communicate easily – the software adapts to the child’s vocabulary, using words that are most frequently used by him/her as well as allowing the child to create ‘template’ messages for daily use.
• AVAZ is also portable, allowing the child to carry it around and even mount it on a wheelchair.

Future Thoughts

Communication plays a very important role in our lives and enables people to make friends, influence others and interact with their communities in meaningful ways. Our goal is to enable non-verbal persons with different abilities to overcome the barriers in communication that they face with the help of assistive devices like AVAZ. Just like a person with mild visual impairment wears spectacles to correct her/his vision, we envision that most non-verbal persons will have access to and use a portable assistive device like AVAZ to ‘speak’ and communicate.
Invention Labs plans to leverage the many features of AVAZ to extend its use to an educational environment, where the children could be taught using AVAZ. Special-purpose applications could also be built that work in specific employment opportunities to help such children take up gainful employment when they graduate. AVAZ could also be interfaced to a PC or a mobile phone in order for non-verbal CP children to use these devices.
Since a child can interact with AVAZ in multiple ways, the same principles used by a child with CP to communicate can be extended to help other non-verbal children. Children with lower levels of CP, Autistic children, children with learning disabilities and children with multiple disabilities could all benefit from having an assistive device that suits their needs. With the appropriate application, AVAZ could potentially be useful by adults who have been temporarily or permanently impaired by accident, stroke, disease or even old age.

About Invention Labs

Invention Labs is a startup based out of Chennai and incubated at IIT Madras. Voted one of the hottest startups in India by Business Today in 2009, Invention Labs was founded by alumni of IIT Madras. With a diversity of experience gained from working for multinational corporations at different locations worldwide, the founding members of Invention Labs returned to India in 2007 to set up Invention Labs as an organization that invents products for the unmet needs of the Indian consumer.

Read more about Avaz (and watch their video) here: http://www.inventionlabs.in/avaz/aboutAVAZ.html