Parampara: Looking Forward

On 16^th Feb, Tuesday, the Parampara(RED) team sat down in ANC to discuss two major ideas that it has been working on for the past one month, and finally, it seemed that RED is back in full swing after a very long time, maybe a semester. The team, now on a nine member high, which includes, Mohseen (Project Lead), Pratyusha, Yashasvi, Aaksha, Sachin B. and Sachin S., Sumant (Vice Prez), Shailesh (Vice Prez), Eshaan and Aniket.

RED, a project of CEL more elaborately, Rural Entrepreneurial Development Project, had been speculating and working of different ideas which included Mushroom cultivation as a rural co-operative (which failed in the weather conditions prevalent in nearby areas, but the idea has been actively pursued by Sumant and has manifested itself into a startup plan), manufacturing dustless chalk to sell in the very large and ready market of BITS, BET classrooms, and finally, the setting up and initiation of a Biogas movement in and near Pilani.

Towards the end of the previous semester, an angel named Mr. Kalyan Paul spoke to Shailesh about the idea of creating a Biogas revolution starting from BITS which would be a great exercise in renewable energy development in addition to being a rural development initiative. Kalyan Paul is an alumni of BITS who has taken to social work and runs an organization called Grassroots operating mainly in hilly areas of Ranikhet, to improve the quality of life of the rural people. His interest and knowledge in Biogas has inspired us to consider a construction of a Biogas Plant for the BITS Dairy as a start and exercise to understand the technology behind construction and to develop a set of five-six people trained enough to replicate the plants in future. The vision is long term and the idea far-thought. The first step, basically aimed at being an experience in Biogas plant technology is an attempt to help the dairy cooperative diversify its product line with the help of additional energy availability. The team is currently in the process of planning out funds, claiming subsidies, and organizing its trip to Ranikhet during march when we will take along with us some professional help for building the plant after having seen off-hand the work being done by Grassroots.

Another idea that has recently caught the team's attention is about helping a group of 6-10 women and more, earn a livelihood out of stitching clothes (kurtas, currently) and selling them in the nearby Pilani market. An organization called Nirmaan, operating as a student organization in BITS has successfully managed almost 10 women to get trained in stitching and they have developed a decent efficiency in that regard. The work at this stage involves understanding what makes their product sub-standard in the market, trying to improve upon the quality with available skill-sets and finding a consistent market so that a sustainable source of income is created out of this occupation.

So for now, the team is fully active, and looking at a great semester ahead.