Trichy :

For the first time in south India, a centre of the Rural Technology Action Group (RuTag), an initiative of IIT-Delhi to help rural development, will be launched at National Institute of Technology-Trichy by the Prime Minister’s principal scientific advisor RChidambaram on August 3.

The RuTag centre will coordinate with NIT faculty and students to provide solutions to various problems faced by the villagers. A similar centre will be opened in NIT, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh shortly. “We had a meeting with Chidambaram recently in New Delhi and he wanted us to open a RuTag centre in NIT-Trichy. We met the stakeholders and Trichy collector Jayashree Muralidharan on Thursday to get an idea of the demands of the villagers,” S Sundarrajan, director NIT-Trichy told TOI.

“The meeting with villagers and government officials in the collectorate was an eye-opener for us. We came to know of the exact needs of the villagers and now we will put forward the problems to our faculty and also students seeking solutions. It is a win-win situation for the villagers as well as for us,” said Sundarrajan.

The NIT-Trichy director said though the institute has the knowledge base and experts to address problems that the rural populace face, the faculty and students are unaware of the problems. “The RuTag centre will bring our people face-to-face with the rural realities and that will help provide villagers solutions,” Sundarrajan said.

Quoting an incident of how students are ignorant about the villages, Sundarrajan said, “Recently a group of Trichy NIT students, ignorant of villages, called up an alumnus, who is now an IAS officer in Allahabad, and asked him to explain a village. The officer immediately asked the group to come over to Allahabad and sent them in a jeep to a few villages. The group, on their return, submitted a report to us about the problems villagers face. We had a hearty laugh as the group had gone all the way to Allahabad to see a village when we have so many in our backyard.” RuTag initiative is aimed at alleviating such anomalies, he said.

In a meeting with the collector, the villagers sought solutions to prevent snake bite during plucking of jasmine early in the morning. “Many complained of snake bite as they pluck the flowers between 3am and 4.30am as only then will they be able to send the consignment to various places by 5am. During this hour, they encounter snakes sitting on the jasmine plants,” said Sundarrajan. Other issues include hygienic abattoirs, easy and cost-effective implements in agriculture and for MNERGS work, cold storage for vegetables and sanitation facilities.

While some villagers sought a mask and a gloves while working in construction sites as the dust from cement and bricks affect their breathing, sugarcane cutters sought a body cover as they get cut marks while working in sugarcane fields, said A Basheer, revenue divisional officer, Trichy.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by B. Sivakumar, TNN / July 20th, 2013